Back to Sleep(ering)

The north end of Oswestry station has returned to being the storage and working area for the next lot of wooden sleepers that were recently delivered.  The wooden sleepers, which give more of a heritage feel, are used in the stations and  surrounding areas.  Although the look more historic they require more ongoing maintenance than the concrete sleepers that are used these days on the national network.  The track that was left over from British Rail days on our line is a mixture, we have both wooden and concrete sleepers which all require some degree of attention after many years out of use.

Guy was on hand with a camera as the sleeper pile started to be sorted.  We have no say in what arrives and the quality is highly variable.  But there are no complaints from us as the source is in line with our budget. The first job is to roll out the sleepers from the pile on to the track so that they can be assessed.  Basically we have four categories. 

Main line use:  For the passenger carrying part of the line

Sidings Grade:  For use to store stock.

Garden Grade:  Sleepers that can be used for landscaping 

Scrap:  As it says and easy to spot as they fall apart in your hands.  Also useful for firewood!  

In the first picture the crew start to prepare, joined by new volunteer Norman (And a very warm welcome!).  You can see the size of the sleeper mountain. 

Norman gets cracking on loosening the nuts on the chairs and removing the bolts.

 With one end done it's over to the other end to get the chairs off.

There are still a few to go, in fact so many that we have almost buried the starter signal at the end of the platform.  That will keep the crews busy for a week or three.

 Looking back towards the station the pile almost dwarfs the station building as well.

Once in to the swing of it the selection process yields results.  It is a bit hit and miss as the loads are mixed in quality but every reclaimed sleeper will be used along the line.  The first couple are ready and will be joined by other as the work progresses.

 The next sleepers to be worked on are rolled in to position.

Once examined and graded they are moved to the appropriate location.

We finish with a view looking north along the platform in which we can see several features.  In the foreground the water crane and heater are coming along.  Behind the water crane to the right is the Cambrian Railways works which was the main centre for the Cambrian Railways system.  Between the signal and the water crane is the footbridge which gave access to the works, this is now a listed monument.  Gradually the station will return to full operation but it will require time and money to achieve.  Donations are always welcome and volunteers too!

It will be some time before all of the sleepers are processed and it will be a regular weekly job, but then again with all of the track we will have inside the station limits we are going to need plenty of wooden sleepers.

Thanks to all who joined in and to Guy for the pictures.

Until next time.