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Major engineering works between Taunton and Exeter


Captain Kernow

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  • RMweb Gold

I was back out in the blockade today, visiting Tiverton Jct again, which this week is having most of the S&C relaid.

 

First of all, though, I stopped off at the overbridge at the Stoneshill plain line site, which we saw being re-laid last week, now virtually finished and not an orange jacket in sight!

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Having got to the rather narrow confines of the Tiverton Jct access point, where the signing-in cabins etc. are, this just shows how ordinary traffic must share with road rail vehicles...

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Anyway, here we are, walking out to the first of the S&C relaying sites at the north-end of the site, where both main-to-main crossovers, plus the entrance points to the Down Loop are being relaid:

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As we got closer to the site, the support wagons for the Kirow crane came into view:

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The crane was busy positioning one of the new S&C track panels in the distance:

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The entrance points to the Down Loop:

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Connection with existing track:

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Looking along the re-laid Down Main line, in the Up direction. Bear in mind that these new crossovers are right in the middle of installation, and haven't been fully aligned yet:

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I was rather intrigued by this foam packing material between the diverging sleepers:

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Cruel telephoto shot, rails yet to be fully aligned properly:

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Kirow still at work on one of the crossovers further on:

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Close ups of some of the new track components:

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Slightly arty-farty telephone shot of the Kirow, shortly before it started back from the site towards where we had walked from, to collect more track panels:

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More photos in the next post...

 

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More views of the new crossovers going in:

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The Kirow crane starts back on it's return to the loading location next to the old platforms at Tiverton Jct station:

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An engineering train was sitting on the Down Main line in the distance, with wagons full of top ballast, waiting it's turn to unload:

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Scrum down!

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More photos of the work site:

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Not all the replacement S&C panels, plus some plain line panels, had been installed at the time we were there, so there were some stretches of bare, compacted new bottom ballast on the formation of the Up Main line:

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Any modern image modellers fancy building one of these?!

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Another view of the waiting ballast train:

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Looking back towards the work site from the north end of the site:

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Another Kirow support wagon:

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Rail ends:

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More photos in next post...

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We now return to the former Tiverton Jct station, where the crane is moving more track panels around, prior to taking another two panels up to the work site:

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And with 23 tons of load, off it goes back to the work site:

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Walking the load, to keep it steady:

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Not many track panels left on the old Up platform now, if you compare this with a similar view taken last week, earlier in the thread:

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Before we walk down to the south end of the site, a few photos showing the 'old' Tiverton Jct...

 

The girder bridge that used to carry the Hemyock branch:

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The Hemyock 'bay' was on the left hand side, hidden in the undergrowth:

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On the old Up platform, the old floor tiles of what I suspect was the Gents toilet:

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Anyway, this is the view looking south:

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Road railers waiting their next shift:

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At the south end of the site, both the entrance to the Up Loop and the exit from the Down Loop are due to be relaid in the next few days, these are the 'before' views:

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  • RMweb Gold

Some superb shots.

 

I have a feeling that tiled floor was the old ticket office but unfortunately I didnt take any of the floor in our visit in 1986.

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However I do have a few shots which might be of interest including the old Hemyock and Tiverton platforms.

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Wonderful set of photos of something most of us never get to see! Many thanks for sharing..... fascinating.

 

I'm surprised to see wooden sleepers in some of your last shots ("due to be relaid in the next few days") - I just assumed that all wooden sleepers had long since been removed from main lines and could only still be found in loops/sidings or non-passenger lines or preserved railways. How much of the network still has wooden sleepers? 

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Wonderful set of photos of something most of us never get to see! Many thanks for sharing..... fascinating.

 

I'm surprised to see wooden sleepers in some of your last shots ("due to be relaid in the next few days") - I just assumed that all wooden sleepers had long since been removed from main lines and could only still be found in loops/sidings or non-passenger lines or preserved railways. How much of the network still has wooden sleepers? 

Regularly anywhere where a concrete with not fit or is unsuitable.

 

Adjacent to catchpits in the 6ft in platforms, for example - you can shorten timber sleepers to fit. Hardwood sleepers/timbers are virtually indestructible in normal situations (like not putting a tamping tine through it).................

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Sleepers have long lives, so I suspect there'll be quite a few left ;)

 

Tim, I'm surprised to see you guys use a mechanical link for those types of points, we have twin-point motors ;)

Back drives are quite common on the older type of clamp lock installation, although in-bearer clamp locks or HPSS are generally the favoured type these days.

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Wonderful set of photos of something most of us never get to see! Many thanks for sharing..... fascinating.

 

I'm surprised to see wooden sleepers in some of your last shots ("due to be relaid in the next few days") - I just assumed that all wooden sleepers had long since been removed from main lines and could only still be found in loops/sidings or non-passenger lines or preserved railways. How much of the network still has wooden sleepers? 

Indeed, many new works even on mainlines will still incorporate wood bearers and wood sleepers, especially where switches and crossings are concerned. If wood can be used on lower speed, lower track category lines it will be, as concrete bearer S&C installations are extremely expensive. It would make no financial sense whatsoever to install the kit we see in Tim's pictures on a lower speed / lower tonnage line so wood is still widely used all over.

Just as an idea of costs, just a half switch without any bearers, that is- 1 switch rail and its matched stock rail is upwards of 20 grand!

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Did the Gent with the bar make much effort to move? (see circled) or was he propped up all day?

 

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Now what's that rubbish 70's American film where they slew the track to divert a runaway train onto the adjacent line but the PW gang all stand and hold the temporary track in place with pinch-bars as the runaway thunders past at breakneck speed ? ...................... :no:

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Southernman46, on 30 Jan 2014 - 18:38, said:

Now what's that rubbish 70's American film where they slew the track to divert a runaway train onto the adjacent line but the PW gang all stand and hold the temporary track in place with pinch-bars as the

runaway thunders past at breakneck speed ? ......................

 

Aye, I remember that too! What a complete load of old tosh it was! Im thinking "Silver Streak" but pretty sure im wrong.

 

 

Siberian Snooper, on 30 Jan 2014 - 17:03, said:

Did the Gent with the bar make much effort to move? (see circled) or was he propped up all day?

 

Every job has atleast one!

 

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OK folks, here is today's batch of photos! It was a rather gloomy and very cold day in Devon and Somerset today, so apologies for the fact that some of the photos are a bit murky, especially some of the telephoto ones.

 

I first called in at Tiverton Jct, this time from a couple of road overbridges, and took some views of progress on the site. Note that the exit points from the Down Loop have been removed since yesterdays photos:

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The next few photos were taken from the road bridge that leads to the food processing factory, that used to be Lloyd Maunder. The security guard in the gatehouse very kindly lifted the entry barrier to allow me onto the bridge:

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On now to Victory AHB level crossing, where there is another plain line renewal site (Up Main line). The crossing was closed to road traffic for the duration of the blockade, as the Up Main was being relaid through the crossing.

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Due to logistical issues, this long (over 1 mile) relay was split into two halves, the first half (including the section through the crossing) having been completed a couple of days ago, whereas the second half was started yesterday.

 

Fortunately for photographic purposes, a couple of engineering trains had been stabled either side of the level crossing...

 

This train was standing on the Down Main, the nearest loco at the Taunton end, and was loaded with new concrete sleepers:

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This one was stood on the Up main, with it's single loco at the Exeter end, and it was formed up with autohoppers:

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Auto-hopper weathering detail:

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More photos on next post...

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As this was the second part of this relay, I then drove round to Norton Fitzwarren, where today's relaying was taking place, virtually next to the WSR's triangle and then on upwards towards Silk Mill.

 

The train in most of these photos is a spoil train, standing on the Down Main, with the Colas Rail loco at the Taunton end. The empty formation nearest the camera is that of the Up Main, which had been scarified and was waiting to be compacted by the triple whacker:

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The dozer puts the final touches to the alignment before the whackers arrive:

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The triple whacker was some way back towards Victory Crossing, so had a bit of catching up to do:

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More views of the site, as we walk gradually up towards Norton Fitzwarren Junction and Silk Mill:

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We've now arrived at the Taunton-end of the planned relay and the train in this photo is that loaded with redundant track panels, awaiting movement into Fairwater Yard:

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Looking back towards the relaying site:

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More photos in next post...

 

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  • RMweb Gold

 

 

attachicon.gifIMG_0574.JPG

 

 

I always find it amazing how flexible rails are on the real railway, as seen in this photo.

 

Thanks for posting these photos. It really does put into perspective how much work is required with boots on the ground and heavy plant to maintain the permanent way.

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Sleepers have long lives, so I suspect there'll be quite a few left ;)

 

Tim, I'm surprised to see you guys use a mechanical link for those types of points, we have twin-point motors ;)

 

Can you be more specific as I don't quite understand what you are getting at?

 

In the UK, it is a legal requirement that both sets of switch rails MUST be tied together by a minimum of two stretcher bars (in addition to the 'lock stretcher' bar on machines or the 'A-bar' on clamplocks) which makes the provision of driving each side independently a big no-no. IIRC Ansaldo (who won the Manchester south resignalling contract under Railtrack) found this out the hard way when the HMRI refused permission for them to simply import Italian point kit which doesn't utilise stretcher bars. The closest the UK gets to two sets of point operating equipment being fitted to a single turnout is where the linespeed is such that a swing nose crossing (a moveable frog in model terms) which removes flange gaps and allows the angle at which the two rails would cross to be extremely shallow.

 

As to why mechanical backdrives are preferred, well it is a relatively simple exercise to devise and fit a mechanical linkage to ensure the switch and stock rails are kept tightly closed throughout the switch. The provision of two machines requires the duplication of tail cables, control equipment etc. to ensure the two machines talk correctly to each other because if they are both trying to move the same rail and one moves yet the other doesn't you can end up causing serious problems. Note that 'traditional' backdrives (i.e. not the 'torsion tube' design seen on HPSS and some IBCL setups) are usually mounted on the ends of the timbers outside of the 4ft - except on the SR where the provision of a conductor rail makes this impossible so they standardised on the 4ft position even on lines not 'juiced'.

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Finally, we move on up to Taunton West, to have a look at the completed S&C relay, which was done last week (my photos taken on Monday 20/01/14 show this in full swing at the time). The orange jackets have virtually gone, except for a small team of S&T testers, who were checking the functionality of the new points with Exeter Panel.

 

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Taunton station is still functioning as a terminus until the blockade is over:

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More views of the site:

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Another view of the High Output shunting spur, looking towards Fairwater Yard. This is a slow speed shunting line only, and was relaid shortly before this blockade, when it was slewed across from it's previous alignment on the old Through Goods Lines to be closer to the main lines, in order to allow the council to construct a new road on the old Goods Lines formation:

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More views of the S&C relaying site:

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The Double-O gauge Association strike again!

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That's it for site visits for this week, then.

 

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