DEVELOPMENT – TRACKWORK (STEP 1.2.1) – Page 4
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Six months down the line – literally (uploaded 21 September
2009)
There is, of
course, a limit to how many times one can feature a group of cheeky chappies beaming up from their labours on the PWay before the theme runs a bit thin. However the last six-months has seen such
bloody-minded determination and crafty ingenuity in getting the job done, that
it would be criminal not to record their magnificent efforts for presentation
in the public domain. The big news is
that the apparently unremitting job of replacing all but a few selected wooden
sleepers with maintenance free, but very heavy concrete sleepers, has not only
remitted but has been
completed. With
the line blocked by work on the bridges, it seemed that work below them would
be made impossible. In the event the PWay team engineered methods of getting our minidigger to the work site by devious means, some rather
destructive, some rather precarious, and several of questionable legality. Nevertheless they did, and with this minimal
support they developed techniques to ensure productive track renewal. Renewal work thus progressed in a series of
apparently unco-ordinated bursts, but in fact, the
work, though undertaken as the opportunity presented itself, nevertheless
followed well planned priorities.
The images
below attempt to tell the story…
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Late April was still cold and often overcast, but that
didn’t stop a small team getting down to just north of Bridge 17 (Doncaster’s
Stream). Here, looking south, with no
more than a minidigger and a few bottles of pop for
support, they drop another 48 concrete sleepers. 2344-26 Apr 09 |
This northward view shows that one panel of track
has already been laid across 2360-26 Apr 09 |
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Spring really arrived in early May, and heartened
by some sunshine, volunteers in number start to bar another 60ft of rail into
position. This view looks north and is
about 100 yds south of Bridge 17. Tyre Mill Sidings once stood at this spot,
a reminder of the time when much of 2400-3 May 09 |
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By early June it was considered necessary to find a
supply of so-called double chairs or ‘check-rail chairs’ for fitting on the
curved tracks on Bridge 14 (New Pit Road).
Such chairs were to be found on the ‘up loop’, which, in turn, was
planned to be part of the Big Pit branch.
Since access further down the line was still effectively prevented by
bridge works, relaying this part of the Big Pit branch took precedence,
though not planned for this early.
Here the rails are dropped and the old wooden sleepers display their
double chairs 2486-1 June 09 |
A week later almost 150 concrete sleepers
(representing six track panels) had been laid. With two lines, side by side, replacement
work was easy. Here the newly laid
track is on the left, whilst on the right are the old sleepers, lined up like
rotten teeth. This view looks north to
Furnace Sidings station. In the event
the double-chairs were not used, ‘guard rails’ being the preferred solution. 2802-9 June 09 |
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Looking south from the level crossing past the
crossover, we see newly laid track in the foreground. New track continues beyond the crossover,
but this is difficult to see. 2803-9 June 09 |
On 25 June, the crash deck and scaffolding were removed
from Br 12 (seen in the background, in this view looking north). With the bridges clear the first job was to
re-lay, in quick succession, the track on Brs 13,
14 and 16. Here are the crew working
on Br 13 ( 2978-5 July 09 |
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Here’s a view looking south over Bridge 17 ( 3051-19 July 09 |
And here’s the corresponding view from south of the
bridge looking north 3052-19 July 09 |
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By the end of July, all the track on the bridges
had been re-laid, the ballast on Bridge 17 had been spread, and the track
over the bridge packed. This allowed
the PWay team to visit the ‘far south’ and make a
start on Campaign QA. This is the view
looking south to Blaenavon (High Level) 0004-30 July 09 |
Here are the team again. It may just be possible to make out the
station building at BHL. This is about
the last time that an eight-man ‘barring team’ would be used to drop rail
back into its chairs, before improved techniques using the digger were used 0006-30 July 09 |
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The meeting of the clans! Looking north from the end of the platform at
BHL, the New Works team see the PWay team
approaching them 0021-2 Aug 09 |
As the work continues through Campaign QA the going
gets increasingly tough as tummocks of grass, and
the number of tree roots increase. The
minidigger drops a rotten wooden sleeper it has
just pulled from the ground. 0025-2 Aug 09 |
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Tough going it may be, but with the end in sight,
morale lifts, and here is Jim ‘not as we know it’ tucking into some impromptu
lunch. 0026-2 Aug 09 |
By mid-August all the main campaigns had been
completed, with only a few ‘islands’ of track awaiting re-laying. Here, looking north, work is in progress
between Br13 ( 0083 – 16 Aug 09 |
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Another view of work in progress, but included to
show brand new chair keys sitting on the sleeper ends ready to be hammered into place 0084 – 19 Aug 09 |
The head of PWay is not
immune from being dragged into the fray, and here he is, undoing fishplate
bolts with a petrol-driven impact spanner.
Doing it manually is well-nigh impossible with bolts that have rusted
into place in over thirty years. 0087 – 16 Aug 09 |
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The workhorse diesel ‘Llanwern’
was indisposed for a week or two leading to the use of No19 on PWay trains.
Hardly economical but much more satisfying. Here is No19 drifting slowly southwards on
the rebuilt Br 14 ( 0096-22 Aug 09 |
Here is No19 on the ‘core’ vehicles of the Pway train, namely Shark, Pooley
Van, and Weltrol, with the minidigger
in its well. The track on Br14 is
curved and heavily banked. Trains
rumble deliciously on this long bowstring girder bridge. 007-22 Aug 09 |
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Another ‘island’, the track between Br14 and Br16 (Cycletrack) 0101-23 Aug 09 |
A change in circumstances made for a change in policy,
and meant that another ‘island’,
previously partly relaid with wooden sleepers, was relaid a second time with concretes. The wooden sleepers thus released would
fill a potential shortfall in the numbers needed at BHL, but would not have
been considered without our newly-found confidence in handling concrete
sleepers 0102-23Aug 09 |
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PWay supremo, Alastair, stands at the door of the Shark. Recently branded ‘DCE Three Bridges’,
reflecting its Southern origins. At
first sight it seems a long way from home, but it turns out to be curiously appropriate
considering the three rebuilt steel bridges over which the main line runs (Brs 13, 14 and 16) 0336 – 19 Sep 09 |
Unloading the last of the concrete sleepers – just
60 feet north of BHL platform 0337-19 Sep 09 |
Blaenavon (High Level) is reached (uploaded
Finally, effectively 14
months after they started, the PWay team has extended
the line by 1.25 miles and pushed into Blaenavon (High Level). Over the next few weeks the track will be relaid trough the platform, and slightly beyond. Beyond the platform is a barrow crossing for
use by pedestrians and this must be installed.
Shortly beyond this, some way of stopping runaways will be needed (not that
we are seriously expecting any!) . This
will most likely take the form of a sand drag and earth bank, but the
possibility of a conventional bufferstop has not been
entirely discounted. And that you might
think, is the end of the matter – not a bit of it! Over the next few months we have to instal several Facing Point Locks (FPLs)
south of Furnace Sidings, re-ballast the entire track and line and pack the
newly laid track, and change more than forty lengths of rail that had been
installed in BR days with flame-cut ends.
This was an unfortunate legacy.
In days of yore it was deemed satisfactory to use oxy-acetylene to cut
rail ends to the correct length on mineral lines, but now that the line is to
carry passengers again, such a technique is strictly forbidden and adjustments
in length have to made with cutting discs.
Even when passenger trains start running we still have more to do, and
timbers are standing by in the yard ready for the time when the opportunit presents itself to change the timbers that
support the points and crossings – and all before we make a serious start on
the branch to Big Pit.
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In steady rain, the very
last panel to require wood to concrete replacement lies almost ready for
lifting, with just a few stumps to be pulled.
The last panel was unquestionably the most difficult and time
consuming. 0372 – 11
Oct 09 |
It’s about midday, and the
exhausted, wet and muddy PWay team finish the last
panel. They are about to descend on
the New Works team for reviving tea and biscuits, and, as they do so, the
cloud lifts and the sun breaks through 374 – 11
Oct 09 |
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Somebody appears to be
getting a ticking off – but nobody seems to be taking it too seriously! The concretes are behind us – thank goodness! 375 – 11
Oct 09 |
Into the platform, and the
fishplates are dropped ready for the rails to be flipped out. New wooden sleepers lie ready on the left
of the picture. Insofar as tree stumps
are concerned, the going here is as bad, if not worse than the earlier
panels, but in the platforms it’s wood for wood replacement, so, overall,
things are just that little bit easier. 0377 – 11
Oct 09 |
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In the platform at
last! Some said it couldn’t be done,
but it could and it was. With just the
keys to be driven in, the first 60 ft panel of track lies completed in the
platform. The ballast in this area is rather dirty but it will be replaced in
due course 0381 – 11
Oct 09 |
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