NYMR Winter works 2023

Here we go again. inter works 2023 have begun.
G44 Concrete Sleepers continue to arrive in the yard and then they are prepared. Before being loaded to train and delivered to the work site.
Rails have been in stock for a while now, just been waiting for the reintroduction into service of our specialist BORAIL rail carrier.
This has undergone a full strip down and rebuild of the cranes, a partial redeck and repaint.
The MACAW Bolster wagon will be used to carry the Adjustment switch which will be returned to Newbridge for temporary storage until it is returned to site for installation at the South end of the relay.
Once the old track panels are broken down the sleepers will be loaded onto wagons and returned to Newbridge for disposal.
It has been normal over the last 10 years or so for uplifted sleepers to be offloaded direct to Lorry within 48 hours of uplift.
Actual relay work will probably start after a few days of levelling and grading of the ballast bed.

 

Hello Bryan, How long is the planned relay this year, and will it include dropping stone/stressing the previous section once the entire length is completed?

 

From the infrastructure plan :
1300 metres to renew in FB G44 CWR between MP 9.75 and 10.5 ( aka the gap) Planned completion by 18 Feb
Welding, ballasting, tamping, 6 February - 24 February.
Stressing by contractor from 24 February.
Fen Bog twist fault 6-10 March (part us, part contractor)
Then final alignment works on track around bridges 24/5 at Goathland.
Then crossing nose on 15 points at GRO.
A full and varied programme.

 

Thanks for the reply, It'll be nice (from a footplate side) to have a smooth CWR ride over that section, there's a distinct bounce at the moment!

 

You should try a run in a 4 wheel vehicle.

 

Well yesterday saw the first run through with the Tamper accompanied as per usual by the Ballast Regulator.
Excellent results after a long day.

Ready for the run in to the renewal.


Nearly half way through the day with some rain around.


Next job is to clean off any remaining ballast on the sleepers prior to stressing and collection of all the old BH rails for scrapping.
All the old concrete sleepers have already been disposed of either to other railways or railway track material dealers.
Will need a slight top up of ballast on shoulders with a second tamp in a few months time before the Speed restriction can be lifted.

 

2024
Change of emphasis this winter, with no major relay works planned.
Instead:-
Work in the first week of the new year was concentrated at Grosmont, where rail and sleepers were lifted out of five road at the MPD. The base was then graded and replacement material re-laid followed by jacking, packing, and levelling. In tidying up afterwards, all the redundant scrap material was loaded to an engineer’s train which returned to New Bridge on the Friday.

In the following week, rotten sleepers were replaced in the south siding at Levisham station and five timbers were also changed in 15A points at that location.

In the week commencing 15 January, replacement rails were dropped off at Fen Bog, the redundant materials from the contractor completed temporary access crossing south of Levisham station collected up and, on the return trip, scrap rails were loaded from Bridge 13 near Farwath. A start was made on replacing the running rail on the east side in the check rail section south of Fen Bog, on Tuesday 16th, but this had to be abandoned in view of heavy snow. The rest of the week involved tidying up the boundary between New Bridge yard and the adjacent pig farm complex, principally because several trees were dead and needed removing.

In the week commencing 22nd January, further rails were changed at Fen Bog, ballast dropped at both Moorgates and in Newtondale in the ‘no sheep’ hut area and our digger repositioned from Fen Bog to Moorgates ready for the following week.

In the final week of the month, contractor Story Hire started work with a road rail machine in cleaning out contaminated ballast at Moorgates, whilst our team assisted in the creation of improved drainage at the site and the distribution and profiling of the resultant spoil. This was followed by tightening up the AD track fastenings and dropping fresh ballast after Story’s machine had completed its work.

Half term now comes upon us and the MPD want to play trains again.

On the wagon front:-
Work has started on Seacow DB982849 after being recovered from its prolonged stay at Levisham.
A lot of welding in of new sheet steel is envisaged plus renewing the hopper door pins.
Removal of the OHLE Safety screen has been done and a start made on removal of the old lighting system.
A repaint into Olive green is also ongoing, to match the other 2 Seacows / Sealion.
This year we have completed the redecking of 2 Plate wagons including some new steelwork, A Lowmac, the Borail, ongoing work on the 40t Welrol plus repaints and other works on the Plant machines.

Coming up at a date to be determined will be the renewal of 5 points in Pickering.

 

What's the issue with 5 Points? I've not found myself at the Pickering end of things for a little while.

 

Trains this weekend using platform 2 at Pickering i noticed. Is this a points problem? Thanks.

 

Yes.