Track Laying - is this how you do it?

[Ian Everett]

Clearly P87 rather than P4 but nevertheless probably the best practice in current tracklaying techniques:

http://tinyurl.com/32mbcu3

I presume this is how Jim has made such quick progress on New Street?

Ian

[steamraiser]

Interesting to see that the old sleepers apeared to be 2 bolt chair type that were recovered in a condition that could make them reuseable for heritage railways.

Gordon A
Bristol

[Paul Willis]

Clearly P87 rather than P4 but nevertheless probably the best practice in current tracklaying techniques:

http://tinyurl.com/32mbcu3

That really is amazing to watch... I was totally bemused by the idea of a train running down the same track as it is currently tearing up and relaying!

Belgian Railways, by the way, in case anyone missed the two brief references.

Flymo

[David Thorpe]

Belgian Railways, by the way, in case anyone missed the two brief references.

The graffiti, however, was in English

DT

[Captain Kernow]

We have these systems in use in the UK and have had for several years.

Network Rail has bought 2 or 3 each of the High Output Ballast Cleaning System (made by Plassers and costing circa £25m a piece) and of the High Output Track Relaying System (built by Matisa in Switzerland and costing circa £17m a piece).

One of each system has been working out of the NR base at Fairwater Yard, Taunton since around 2005. The way these systems are now used in the UK is very innovative, in that we have very few long blockades to relay track in what some might consider traditional on the continent, rather we use overnight possessions mid-week and Sat night/Sun morning possessions at weekends, often with the adjacent line open for Single Line Working.

Here is a view of the Taunton base, taken a couple of years ago:

F07c.jpg

F07e.jpg

And one of the trains working in a possession:

F07b.jpg

[Will L]

This clip shows work a little earlier in the track laying process


Its fun though.

Widening the Cob at Porthmadog to allow Welsh Highland trains and Ffestiniog trains to co-inhabit.

Will

[DougN]

Interesting Will. The use of a high quaility back fill with a Geotextile fabric as a base over the natural surface. I have used the Geo Fabric a couple of times once on a temporary roadway to a school building so we could allow delivery of materials. the site manager thought I was mad to use $300roll on that road (it was only 150m long) BUt when he say how the road surface didn't break up and turn to slush (imagine wet concrete that never cures) he agreed that it was a good idea. The other advantage was the roadway material was recycled with out contamination of the NDCR rock. So in the end the whole lot saved money!

Interesting in the use of a drott to push the material around but not to compact it though they did track it in. (they have wide tracks soto work in soft soils hence not compact but flattten) I will not use one ever again on one of my building sites since I had one do a site cut and managed to rip out the electrial main to the school! which caused 2 days of 14hrs for me (no overtime here ) they are a machine that can cut and move large amounts of material but a excavator is more accurate to cut to level.

Makes me think when I was working as a site manager I had a driver in a 25tonne machine clean the top off a 100mm fire service and I was spoting....if he had punctured it I would have been very very wet but the closest he got was about 5mm! (remember the arm on one of these big excavators is about 6-8m from the driver)