RMweb Premium Ncarter2 Posted October 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2021 On 15/10/2021 at 00:15, Donington Road said: In the area where the cutting and welding of the rail takes place the clips are replaced with new ones, perhaps about twenty clips per rail from the bit I watched. All though I missed the stressing bit and only captured what you saw in the video I don't know how many cuts and re-weld there was in a given length of track. Judging by the amount of blue boxes on the hand trolley and those at the trackside it did seem an awful lot of clips to exchange. I really don't understand how the rail is stressed on curved sections. On straight sections the rail is stretched then welded up again but on a curved section my thought process thinks the radius will be pulled tighter rather than stretching the rail. Does it need more cuts and stressing per length on a curved section and less on a straight section of track? I was a bit mad with myself about missing the stressing operation but I have yet to find a way of being in two places at the same time. I would be surprised if they replaced the clips with new, it would be a bit of a waste. Stressing can be completed on lengths up to 1800m in a single pull, but this will depend on numerous factors including curve radii, what is to be pulled, if there is S&C etc. The blue boxes contain the stressing rollers, not the rail clips. Stressing on curves is the same principle as stressing on straights. In the UK we stress the track to a ‘stress free temperature’ of 27. The process is the same regardless, curves just have limits on the length that can be pulled depending and the radii, if it goes through a reverse. The safety risk is greater, as you say, the rail will want to pull straight, which is why rollers are used. These come in two basic type, under and side rollers or combination rollers. For a curve, the radii will dictate how many rollers will be used, ie every 6 sleepers a roller would be installed. Side rollers will be put on the inside of the curve, combination rollers will be paced either side. They allow the rail to move freely during the pull, but also keep the rail in place around the curve. As I noted in a previous post, stressing can be done up to 1800m, though the tighter a curve gets, the less you can pull. There are other factors, but that covers the basics behind it. I would be happy to give more detail on the stressing process if you would like, NWR have three levels of stressing. Level 1 is stress restoration Level 2 is re stressing (plain line only) Level 3 is stressing in and around S&C and natural stressing. 2 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ncarter2 Posted October 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2021 On 14/10/2021 at 17:52, Donington Road said: Short summary of ongoing work yesterday. I was surprised to see them using a bar like you captured. Definitely not the correct process. Some bad habits still need addressing, a friend of mine did something similar back during the WCML modernisation and the bar slipped, he was ok but the poor lad helping took a right whack to his head. He still has the scare to remind him. 1 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 24 minutes ago, Ncarter2 said: I was surprised to see them using a bar like you captured. Definitely not the correct process. Some bad habits still need addressing, a friend of mine did something similar back during the WCML modernisation and the bar slipped, he was ok but the poor lad helping took a right whack to his head. He still has the scare to remind him. Thank you for your recent posts about stressing, very interesting. I have seen quite a few safety issues over the time I have been recording this project, not to the extent of life threatening, but those that could end in broken bones , pulled muscles, etc. As I was an engineer for my working life I have been through many courses on safety, the use of heavy machinery and lifting practices so it is easily recognisable when watching others working what the outcome will be when corners are cut and shortcuts taken. In most instances when I see something that is a bit dubious I cut the relevent footage from the video out, out of respect for those who stray slightly from working practices. In the instance I recorded with the two leaning on the bar, that was a accident waiting to happen, I have seen those bars break and they can shatter and splinter under extreme pressure, plus those holding it would have gone down with their knuckles on the ballast and their body weight on top. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 6 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said: Can you say anything about the activity? I'll elaborate a bit on the work that has been going on at the north portal/Hurn Road this week. Using Crun's photo below. The area between the green arrows is new green fencing and they are working towards the fencing on the middle right. The yellow arrows indicate where the soil at the bottom of the embankment has been pulled up to create a gentler slope near the cess. The red arrows are where the office complex was situated next to the bungalow, this was all removed by Wednesday. The large red skeleton jib crane that had been on site since the beginning was being dismantled on Monday and the smaller crawler crane in the background has also gone. The clearing up has started from near the ECML and piles of spoil and other rubbish are being moved nearer to the entrance at Hurn Road. No of it appeared to be moving off site, just shifted along a bit and dumped again The only work at Lincoln Road this week was the loading and removal of six concrete barriers on Monday. 2 2 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 Something tells me that there is going to be some laying of tarmac at Lincoln Road this week. 7 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crun Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) Monday 25th October Views from Lincoln Road looking north. The first layer of tarmac in the entrance to the service road: Edited October 25, 2021 by Crun 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crun Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) Views from Lincoln Road looking towards Werrington. Fresh tarmac in the entrance to the new service road: Edited October 25, 2021 by Crun 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crun Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) Views from Hurn Road. Fresh tarmac in the entrance to the old service road: Edited October 25, 2021 by Crun 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crun Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) Views from Hurn Road bridge. Soil being removed from the re-profiling of the embankment slopes and then being dumped: Edited October 25, 2021 by Crun 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crun Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) Views from Hurn Road bridge looking east. Tarmac being laid in the entrance to the new access road: Edited October 25, 2021 by Crun 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted October 25, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) That last picture looks like a lot of standing around, potentially asking " are we laying this in the right place Fred." Jamie Edited October 25, 2021 by jamie92208 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) A few more of the tarmac laying. At Lincoln Road the area either side of the gate has had a rough base layer laid. Beyond the tarmac to the bottom right and around the corner to the existing haul road alongside the railway has had the hardcore rolled. Still unsure if this is going to get a thin top layer of tarmac or if it will be left as just hardcore. The new entrance along the side of Brook Drain is getting a rough base layer of tarmac, all barrowed in by hand. There is always one who couldn't wait for the lorry to leave. Tying in with the old entrance which gave access to the relay room near the footbridge at Hurn Road. It was said that this entrance and the old track to the relay room was going to be abandoned once the Brook Drain entrance was opened. Not sure if this is still the case. Edited October 25, 2021 by Donington Road 7 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) More from Hurn Road. The dozer had just arrived mid afternoon, within 10 minutes it was unloaded and pushing soil over the area where the offices once stood behind the bungalow. The field north of Hurn Road now appears to be the temporary site for offices and car parking and all miscellaneous bits and pieces from the area around the north portal which is gradually being cleared. The green area bounded by the barrier fencing is a retention pond. Beyond that and before the rail fencing is the south embankment of the dive under with the soil nails visible. On the west side the fields look to be completely re-topsoiled. A lot of excess soil now covers what used to be the main site at Bretton. Hopefully next week when Cock Lane footbridge re-opens we shall get some idea of what is going on over on that side. Edited October 25, 2021 by Donington Road 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted October 25, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 25, 2021 7 hours ago, jamie92208 said: That last picture looks like a lot of standing around, potentially asking " are we laying this in the right place Fred." Jamie Or "We've a bit "left over". "Do you think we can find somebody that would like a cheap driveway job?" Just to make it clear, these contractors are perfectly honest and wouldn't think of such a thing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 In other news, about two weeks ago four short lengths of old rail appeared in the four foot of the Down Stamford line and in two in the cess. They were covered in dirt and looked as though they had been dug out of the undergrowth. At some time on Saturday night about a 50-70 foot section has been replaced on the Up Stamford line directly under Hurn Road footbridge. The other rails have now disappeared. It looks as though there is a bit of a dip on the top of the right hand rail at the welded joint. 6 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 4 minutes ago, melmerby said: Or "We've a bit "left over". "Do you think we can find somebody that would like a cheap driveway job?" Just to make it clear, these contractors are perfectly honest and wouldn't think of such a thing. I asked and was politely told I was way down the queue. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Laying more tarmac on the work area at Glinton Junction this morning. This had already been done previously when the haul road was installed alongside the railway. Yesterday the farmer was spraying his crop in the adjacent field following the previous tyre tracks which were quite full of standing water. We have not had that much rain recently so I hope that nobody forgot to put some drainage in when the field was re-instated. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted October 26, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 26, 2021 8 minutes ago, Donington Road said: Yesterday the farmer was spraying his crop in the adjacent field following the previous tyre tracks which were quite full of standing water. We have not had that much rain recently so I hope that nobody forgot to put some drainage in when the field was re-instated. That's 'compaction' and every farmer worth his salt knows how to sue for it I remember being told by Eastern Electric engineers, that when they did overhead line work they would book a digger for a day to follow them so that it 'fluffed up' the ground, and broke up any hard pan that had been created. They said that many farmers would lock the gates and try and stop the digger so they could make a very generous claim for lost crops ! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 18 hours ago, Donington Road said: I asked and was politely told I was way down the queue. When the road through our village was resurfaced, the local council sent out a letter, and E-mail, advising the villagers, with a note warning them not to accept any offers of a cheap resurfacing job on the QT. They claimed they knew exactly how much had been ordered, and there wouldn't be any spare. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 53 minutes ago, chris p bacon said: That's 'compaction' and every farmer worth his salt knows how to sue for it I remember being told by Eastern Electric engineers, that when they did overhead line work they would book a digger for a day to follow them so that it 'fluffed up' the ground, and broke up any hard pan that had been created. They said that many farmers would lock the gates and try and stop the digger so they could make a very generous claim for lost crops ! After the topsoil was re-laid the dozer did go over the whole field with a single blade subsoiler to a depth of about 30 inches. You can see the lines that it took in the photo below. Perhaps they didn't do enough passes. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Some photos from the Walton end today. Workmen installing mesh fencing panels on the non-railway side of the footbridge ramps. Marholm Junction and the southern ramp to the dive under. The sleepers and red flags are still across the new lines here and at Glinton Junction Creating an embankment alongside the access road to the west side. The access at Walton is still no further forward. 8 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) A chance excursion to Cock Lane this morning found the footbridge had just been opened, shear bliss, I had it all to myself for a few hours. The dozer has now pushed all the surplus soil from the fields and everything is now concentrated in this area. The large heap of soil is being taken away with a near continuous stream of lorries. The bridge itself has had repaint in darker green on the inside but apart from that I could see no other changes to it. A larger image (main site 2021-10-27) can be downloaded from here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N5vtAGCCr4WnKMJDQeP8B95ooqkO5YsY/view?usp=sharing Edited October 27, 2021 by Donington Road 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 A few more from Cock Lane today. New access gate to the road that goes alongside the Down Stamford line in the direction of Hurn Road. The access gate alongside the Down Stamford in the direction of Walton. Tarmaced hard standing between the two access gates across the footpath from Bretton which leads to the west side of Cock Lane footbridge. The spillway from Marholm Brook to Brook Drain. The grass is growing nicely in the interlocking concrete blocks of the road coming down. The inlet from Marholm Brook on the left which feeds the siphon that distributes water to Werrington Brook on the other side of the railway. The outlet to the right is a storm water drain from the industrial estate. The newly painted panels in a darker green compared to the upright stantions. All the bright stainless steel screws that hold the panels in place have had a good coating of paint too. The handrails have not been repainted. And yes, the signal on the Down Stamford is that close! The outside has not been repainted. 7 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donington Road Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Cock Lane the movie. 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crun Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) Thursday 28th October Views from around the Lincoln Road bridge. More tarmac being laid. Rollin', rollin', rollin'... A big turning area as the new tarmac joins up with the old on the Glinton Junction service road: Edited October 28, 2021 by Crun 5 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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