Our permanent way department takes great pride in the standard of the railway's permanent way. At this time of year and with no passenger trains running, its an opportune time to carry out routine maintenance tasks and also undertake those larger tasks. The first major work for the start of 2022, is the replacement of worn rail and life expired wooden sleepers in the upline platform.
Planning was undertaken in the weeks leading up to the work to ensure that all the required rolling stock was in the correct position within the PW train and prior to the start of the work, all rolling stock was removed from both the down and uplines in order to give the PW members full access to the upline in the station area.
The first task was to remove all the rail clips holding the rails into the chairs, once these had been removed, the rail is then 'loose' although still located in the chairs. The fishplates are removed and then using a petrol-driven angle grinder, the rails were cut into 30-foot lengths and have been sold for use at another location. The rails were then lifted out of the chairs and positioned into two of our Grampus wagons to enable their removal from the working area.
NB. Working with heavy rail and machinery can be potentially hazardous. All PW members are briefed ahead of the work to be conducted, wear safety clothing and hard hats when any lifting is taking place on the work site and ensure that at all times the work is conducted using safe systems of work.