We decided we needed to practise our level crossing renewal technique, so we got stuck into Boundary Track Crossing.

It’s a very quiet road crossing, we’ve only seen 1 car cross it in the past two weeks!

We simply excavated the crossing, removed the old timber, jacked the track to take the concrete sleepers and slid them under.

We’ve gone for 100% concrete so apart from changing rail, it should be many many years before we need to expose it again.

As we’ve lifted the track either side by 50mm we needed to achieved a similar lift through the crossing. We achieved this the old fashioned way with jacks, by eye and with a level.

Thankfully when the crossing was laid it was put down on a bed of crushed rock and as we didn’t disturb the roadbed at all it should remain a very stable and solid piece of track.

The finished roadway, it is actually 99% the old ballast and crushed rock with a skim of gravel (stockpiled nearby from the original relay some 18 years ago) over the top to offer a smooth path for all the cyclists and pedestrians who use the crossing regularly. We had John run the gang truck back and fourth to compact the surface which seems to have given a solid result, first rains will tell though.

Believe it or not, all that only took the morning!

Earlier this week all the sleepers down the hill to curve 8 were inserted (98 sleepers), pads installed to about 2/3rds of the way down the hill (until we ran out, more due to arrive on Friday).

This afternoon was spent clipping up all those sleepers that had pads, leaving only about 50 to go to complete the tangent. Not a bad effort for a gang of 3.

Tomorrow will be onto the next tangent, removing fastenings and hopefully lifting the track ready for the beginning of insertion on Friday. Meeting Maldon 8am or Rifle Range Bridge from 8.30am.

Another very successful day’s work, with all 170 on the down side of Boundary Track clipped up by lunch time.

After lunch we made a start on inserting sleepers on the UP side of the crossing, with a very respectable 60 inserted and fully clipped up.

There’s only about another 100 concretes sleepers to go into this straight until we begin on the next.

Hopefully early next week they’ll all be under the track down to curve 8, with boundary trk crossing itself due to be resleepered around midweek.

We’ve run out of pads for the sleepers but hopefully the delivery will arrive this coming week, otherwise we’ll simply forge ahead removing fastenings in tangent 7-8 in preparation.

We’re certainly making excellent use of no train running to maximise on preparing for the upcoming re-railing and generally catching up on maintenance.

Today saw us with a total of 170 sleepers installed this week, all their jewellery dropped out, ready for clipping up tomorrow.

Installing a few sleepers was really a side line to today’s work. The main task was removing the fastenings for the remainder of Tangent 8-9, about 200 sleepers were unfastened, all the jewellery collected.

We even managed to do the 50mm lift for the full length, ready for sleeper changes next week.

We’ll be out on site again tomorrow, from around 8.45am clipping up the 170 sleepers already inserted.

Well thankfully the seemingly endless piles of concrete sleepers were still exactly where we left them last week.

Unfortunately they hadn’t miraculously moved themselves to beside the track.

But after a few hours of excavator work, they are all sitting nicely awaiting the beginning of insertion tomorrow!

The next three days we’ll be based at Boundary Track, where we hope to get the majority of these inserted.

Meeting at Maldon 8am or on site from 8.30am.