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The Track moves!


DonB

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A week or so ago,(Friday 3rd June about 11am ), I filtered in behind the second of a pair of heavy-haul lorries carrying pre-assembled point/crossing rails on concrete sleepers.

The sleepers on the one I followed were long (wide) enough to prevent overtaking on the A38/Derby bypass, they were heading South.

The sleeper ends were numbered, a sequence up to "83". Obviously part of a large crossing replacement. Any idea where these would have been assembled, and where their likely destination?

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There's a company near me in North Plainfield called "Tracks Unlimited" that do this - prefabricate track sections offsite then ship them. I'm sure there's probably quite a few scattered around the USA and UK.

I first came across them by accident because I could see a stack of in half turnouts (they make them in two pieces) from the road. Another site to model?

 

http://www.bosstunnelvision.com/profiles/tracksunlimited.html

 

Best, Pete.

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Until recently junctions were usually assembled on a piece of flat ground near the site to check everything went together (so presumably delivered by road) then dismantled for re-assembly on site during the possession. The use of the tilting wagons is (I think) intended to supersede this, bringing switches and crossings directly to site in large sections, but it may not have fully replaced the traditional method.

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Anything goes in a free market :cry:

It could well be that they were going to a destination off the Network Rail system, as NR owns the tilting-deck wagons, and might not be too keen for them to be used for third-party work. Equally, it could be that there were none of the tilting-deck wagons spare, or that the S&C were due to be stockpiled somewhere in readiness for a major job. In the latter case, if the laydown-area was next to a main line, (rather than in some sidings) it would be easier to use lorries, as using the tilting-deck wagons would require a possession of both running lines during the unloading.

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Quite a lot of fabrication and pre-assembly is done at Beeston (Notts) on what used to be the Freightliner depot. The tilting wagons are usually there. When passing you can usually see something being assembled. They've also been extending the sidings over the last few months.

We keep hearing mutterings that our units will be going there during the re-modelling of Nottingham station, they're normally cleaned and stabled in the platforms.

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