Geotextile as a wagon load

[Jim Martin]

I'm thinking about modelling something that I vaguely recall seeing in a siding at Edge Hill several years ago, but for which I need some additional information. It was a set of Railtrack PNA wagons loaded with sand, coupled to a single FJA module carrier which was loaded with what looked like rolls of black polythene, similar to visqueen. I assume that this would have been geotextile - is that a reasonable guess?

 

In normal trackbed construction, roughly how many wagons' worth of sand would you need for each roll of geotextile? According to my calculations (based on product data sheets I found online) a single PNA could carry enough sand for a layer 0.1m (4 inches) deep across the area of one roll. Would that be deep enough in normal use or would you need two or three times as much sand as that?

 

Finally, what's the diameter of a roll of geotextile? I'm guessing it's about a metre, yes?

 

Many thanks for any help here.

 

Jim

[Trog]

Rolls of geotextile are generally about 18" in diameter sometimes perhaps a little more it depends on the type used.

 

Sand back in BR days would generally be laid about a foot thick with a layer of thousand gauge polythene about 4" up from the bottom with a cross fall to the drain or cess as required.

More recently it has become more common to use geotextile with a thinner sand layer.

[Jim Martin]

That's useful information. Thanks a lot

 

Jim