Following the track inspection last week, we found quite a few small faults, mainly of the tight gauge variety, that needed rectification.
Why track gauge tightens rather than widens, as the sleepers begin to deteriorate is open to many theories, however this is typically our experience, especially on the straight track.
It’s easily remedied by cross boring (unspiking one rail, drilling new holes to correct gauge and then respiking), however it is only a short term fix as it’s an overall sign the sleepers are nearing the end of their life.
Today’s sizable gang certainly got stuck in and made excellent progress in knocking over a few of the faults, unfortunately there is still many more and that will be the focus of our upcoming workdays, Thursday and Friday we’ll be meeting at Maldon from 8am.
VGR Civil Blog 