Monday saw an action-packed destruction fest, with the 2nd turnout removed – this one came out in kit form very readily, multiple rails broke as soon as they were lifted and quite decent sections of rail foot were just ornamental – it’s need for replacement was certainly not before time.
Today’s crew undertook all the horrid jobs, namely pulling all the spikes, screw and undoing any bolts that didn’t break during the removal – not a fun job, however it’s done now – thankyou everyone.
We then spent the rest of the day correcting the levels, by adding dirty ballast and gravel to form what has already become an incredibly firm roadbed.
Unfortunately, the ground immediately in front of the digger in the pic above has told its secrets regarding why we had so much settlement. About 50mm below surface level is pure plastic waterlogged clay, thankfully railways spread the load well over most surfaces and hopefully with much less water coming off the shed the issue will resolve in due course, however it’ll take a long time to dry out, so we’ll likely be here correcting minor dips for some time into the future.
It’s come up looking quite smart however, tomorrow will see us place a bit of cross drainage in and hopefully we’ll get the turnout laid out, or at least the beginnings of.
Thursday’s crew will meet here from 8am
VGR Civil Blog 