Tamping

Yesterday’s work needed to be tamped and the approaches to the crossing lifted considerably to match what will be the new track height. The crossing us currently 60mm below the road level so we’ll aim for a 75mm raise and that’ll allow 15mm for future asphalt re-topping.

This meant that the whole length of Walmer Road Bridge needed a lift also, of around the same amount, this was also needed as there was little to no ballast between the sleepers and decking, so there’s around 75mm of rock between them now.

It certainly looks much better, as we also fixed any issues in the track at the same time. We could still go more at the UP end, however we were starting to run out of ballast to do much more.

With a good run over with the bucket, it’s come up looking very clever! The concrete sleepers either side of the roadway will remain and any timber we’ll be digging out with the works and renewing the ballast below to ensure drainage.

Next week we’ll be running ballast trains and hopefully lots of them! Tuesday’s crew will meet at Maldon at 8am, when we’ll set off ready to start dropping out rock.