Maclise St

Following on from yesterday’s efforts, today saw some additional drainage works, focusing on the up side of the crossing.

The patch of sleepers that needed ballast, had that applied, jacked and tamped to height. Around the same time we discovered the drains through the crossing were block at the ends, so a few feet were removed and they started flowing very impressively, hopefully this allows the crossing to be much dryer for next week’s works.

Once the ballast had been regulated and tamped, it all came up looking pretty snazzy. A keen eye will notice we’ve removed the ballast shoulder on the left hand side, this is to allow caught water under the sleepers to drain. We’ll renew the shoulder with fresh ballast next week once it’s had a good chance to drain.

We also took the opportunity to remove a number of small geometry defects, particularly lifting the Down Side approach to Rowe Street Crossing, we always intended to come back here once the ballast settled, today was the day.

These relatively small jobs make an enormous difference to the overall appearance and ride comfort. As we move to having a more stable track (big rails, good sleepers and ballast) we’ll be able to dedicate more time to these jobs.

Next week’s looking busy, with workdays everyday in readiness for the Crossing Rebuild on Thursday and Friday. Monday we’ll be meeting at Maclise St at 8.30am to disable the lights and remove the track leads.