Thursday and Saturday Progress

It's been a busy week on the CHR, we now have the Tuesday Team, the Thursday Gang and then Weekend team, before long we'll be working all week!

Following on from the Tuesday Team the Thursday Gang were active on many fronts around the site, Andy's pictures show the activity down at the cattle creep where another three panels were assembled and clipped up.

Looking north towards Oswestry we now have five panels assembled

Still a little way to go to link up to the rest of the extension, which lies just beyond the run of sleepers.

Thanks to Andy for the pictures

Kevin and the weekend team were in action on Saturday down at Llynclys working on keeping the running line and surroundings clear of vegetation.  The intrepid team have the most important item in hand with the kettle in action to support this thirsty work.

Once the important job is completed it's time to start work.  Tim attacks the vegetation up on the side of the line.

Kevin gets busy with the chainsaw.

Keith works on the cutting sides in manual mode.

Tony gathers the cut vegetation with Kevin hiding in the undergrowth.

Looking along the line to wards Llynclys the team are busy, how many can you spot?

Tony and Tim keep an eye out and find Kevin hiding at the top of the cutting.

Towards the end of the day the final braches are trimmed.

At the end of the day the team pack up and head back to base.

The line is looking a lot better and the final piles of trimmings will be disposed of next time round.

Thanks to the team who turned up Colin, Keith, Kevin, Tim, Tony and Andy who took the pictures.

Until next time.

Tuesday Team

The first 2019 meeting of the Tuesday Team took place this week and four people turned up to continue with the work on the extension.

The excitement is growing with every week as we push on towards Weston.  The four intrepid volunteers, both Glyn(n)s, Andy and John, soon got stuck in to work down by the cattle creep.  Two track panels were made up by inserting the rails in to the chairs and keying up.  The keys are the S shaped steel type or Mills keys as they are called, In days gone by these were oak blocks.  The keys are hammered home on the outside of the rail forcing the web of the rail in to contact with the inside of the chair, this maintains the correct gauge.  The keys are knocked in from alternate sides of adjacent chairs so that this evens out the potential movement by expansion or vibration.

In the first picture Glyn is knocking home the final key on the first panel. 

With the first panel done the Glyn(n)s on the left take a breather with John looking on from the right.

By the time tea was called the Tuesday Team had put in two panels worth of rails and had them keyed up.

From here it's over 3/4 of a mile back to Oswestry.  Thanks to Andy G for the pictures and to the Tuesday Team, will we get any extra volunteers next Tuesday?  Keep checking back to find out.

Until next time.

Beyond The Bridge

Following on from the earlier post we continue our pictorial survey along the extension.  We start at the slab under the bridge with the centre line and dots indicating the alignment of the track and baseplate positions.  From the edge of the slab we move on to new concrete sleepers with new flat bottomed rail, this will be the second of the two lengths that will be welded together to have a continuous rail over the slab.

At the end of the new concrete sleepers we move back on to used concrete sleepers with used bullhead rail.  The sleepers are waiting in stacks on the left and the rails are on the right.  As this is the main delivery route in to the site the ballast has not been laid yet as the passage of vehicles would soon disperse the stone and push it in to the earth.  Once the contractors have completed their work on the track under the bridge we can then ballast this section and position the sleepers.  At the end of the gentle curve to the left you can see the Haras site fencing, this is where the site access is and from where we will see later the next section.  The line regains it's previous level at roughly the point where the site fencing is positioned.  For those with really good eyesight you can just make out the ballast screener waiting for it's next turn.  

Looking the other way back to Oswestry station you can see the new rail on the left waiting to be moved in to position once the baseplates are in position on the slab.

In the next view we have moved up to the access point behind Travis Perkins and are now looking along the trackbed towards Weston.  Site access is from the left and further stocks of used concrete sleepers can be seen waiting on the right.

Looking further down the trackbed we can see the line of sleepers and ballast bed being laid north from the cattle creep (bridge 51) to meet up with the line extending from the bridge.  The sleepers are currently laid out on the prepared ballast bed for about one quarter of a mile. On this section the ballast bed needs extending up to meet the line and then the sleepers moved in to position.  The ballast piles are waiting on the left. 

Now we are looking back from the cattle creep towards Oswestry and we can see here that the used concrete sleepers are laid out on the ballast bed and the rails are waiting to be dropped in position and keyed in place.

Thanks to Guy N and Andy G for the photos.  You can see that once the rails are positioned on the slab we can move forward fairly quickly as all materials are to hand.

There are always more spaces for people who want to be involved and there are opportunities in all areas.  There are lighter jobs as well and tea drinking is an essential ritual for which we are already world famous.  Fancy joining in?

Until next time

CHR on Television

Thanks to our friends at Central News we have been able to get copies of the two short pieces about CHR that have been broadcast recently.

The first is about the restoration of Oswestry South signal box and the formal reopening carried out by Keith Wilkinson from Central News.

Central News - Oswestry Signal Box

Last Thursday Keith came back again to see progress on the extension and a follow up about the government plans to reopen closed lines.

Central News - Thursday Gang

Many thanks to Keith for his visit and to Central News for supplying a copies of the news items.  Plus a big thanks to all who turned out and provide ongoing support to the Thursday Gang.

Until next time.

New Year, New Rail

Thanks to Guy N here are a series of pictures along the extension to recap on what has been achieved in 2018.

The reason for this work was to lower the trackbed under the Shrewsbury Road bridge, aka Gas Works bridge, so that CHR trains can pass underneath.  The bridge was propped by Shropshire County Council after the last stone train ran in order to extend the life of the bridge deck and to cope with the heavier axle loadings that are now allowed on the roads.  Although the ultra long term solution is an uprated bridge deck the pressure on local government funding has allowed us to reach a suitable compromise to enable trains to run through to Weston.  A very big thank you to SCC for their support and cooperation with this project.

So let's take a pictorial walk along the extension so far and look forward to the next phase.  We start at the head of the current running line, the current limit is marked with the Stop board.  Here we are looking south towards the bridge with the footpath alongside on the left

All extensions start with a joint and this is where the fun starts!  The current track is bullhead rail in to through-bolted chairs on wooden sleepers, the first two transition sleepers are in wood and then we move to concrete sleepers for the first bullhead rail section, reusing the existing rails.

The extension has begun! The line from here starts it's gradual descent at a gradient of around 1 in 80 down to the bridge to achieve the necessary clearance of around 18 inches or about 450mm for those reading in colour.

After the used bullhead rail on to concrete sleepers we pass to the new rail, again on concrete sleepers to start.

Here you can see the old and the new, just right for the New Year.  This joint will require specialist action.

Midway along the section we change to steel sleepers, these are over the concrete sewer cap where the ballast depth is limited, this solution allows the falling gradient to continue.

Here we are looking back along the track  towards Oswestry from the change to steel sleepers.  In the centre of the track are the rods indicating the centre line.  String is run between these to assist in placing of the sleepers, final alignment will be carried out before trains can operate over this section.

Looking south again we see the change back to concrete sleepers once passed the sewer and the continuing fall towards the bridge.

 The steel sleepers have 'spade' ends which dig in to the ballast to hold them in position.

At the end of the section of bullhead rail on concrete sleepers we move to flat bottomed rail on new concrete sleepers.  The new rail is seen to the right.  There will be two lengths of flat bottomed rail with a welded joint in the centre of the concrete slab under the bridge.  The flat bottomed rail will be welded to the bull head rail in the foreground.

On the slab the rail will be held in place with special pads which are glued and bolted in position.  This specialist work will be carried out by contractors.

On the far side of the bridge there will be a repeat with the welded flat bottomed rail running on new concrete sleepers until it is joined to the bullhead rail that forms the rest of the extension.  The marks of where to position the chairs are visible in this photo.  Beyond the gentle curve to the left lies the long straight which reaches almost as far as Weston.  Work is already well advanced on this section and further photos will follow.

Looking back from the bridge with this telephoto lens shot shows the slope down to the new level.  As a rough guide the bottom of the sleepers used to be about the level of the concrete platform on the right.

Many thanks to Guy for the pictures.

Until next time.

Thursday Gang

Our friends at Central News were back on site and did a feature of around 3 minutes on their Evening News last Thursday. There was a interview with Dave Roll who is our Thursday Gang leader.  Filming also took place along the extension. 

Dave posted this report about the activities underway.

"A good turnout for the first Thursday of the New Year. I counted about 20 of us scattered around undertaking various tasks.
There was a group using the JCB to straighten the sleepers and move rails into the 4' just north of the Cattle Creep.
A second team tackled the fishplates starting at the end of the current running line and working north as far as Plas Fynnon pond.
Holes in fences where we suffer trespass were dealt with, the Christmas Decorations and banners came down and the work on the Suburban Carriage continued in the shed.
General tidying of the yard and shed continues. I have recently noticed that there has even been a workbench revealed, which probably has heritage value in itself."

Andy G and Tom S were on hand to take some pictures.  We start with a photo by Tom showing the JCB tweaking the sleeper positions to ensure alignment, the old manual methods of a crowbar stuck in the ballast and a heave are still used on occasion but the excavator makes it so much easier!

With the sleepers aligned it was time to position the waiting rails in the 'four foot' to then be lifted in to position in the waiting chairs.  Here we are moving north from the cattle creep.

At the end of the day John and Tom review their handiwork and propose to celebrate with a brew back at base.

Thanks to Andy and Tom for the pictures and to all who turned up on Thursday.  Some people like it so much that there is now also a Tuesday session planned as well.  Work has been undertaken on an informal occasional basis on Tuesdays already, so from now on that will also become a full working day.  Let's see how that develops.
 
Have you signed up to receive the E Newsletter which will start shortly?  Details are in the previous blog post or on the CHR website, link in the top right of this page.

Until next time.

Welcome to 2019

Thanks for reading this.  Happy 2019, a year which we hope will bring even greater things for the Cambrian Heritage Railways project.

Already we have started in fine style, over the holiday period further progress was made with connecting up the new bullhead rail to the running line.  Thanks to Glynn and CHR for the following picture taken on New Year's Day.

As Glynn says.
"Sleepers are now spaced out from end of running line to the start of the concrete slab. They need to be teased into line in order to line up to the middle of the slab without having corners instead of curves.
The dark area of sleepers at the very top of the picture shows the end of current running line (wooden sleepers there plus the first 2 in transition) before we moved onto concrete (pale) , steel (grey) on the sewer slab, leading onto more concrete by the 18m60c post and finally G44 flat bottomed (white) where rail isn't yet in place. A total of 245 feet (75 metres) of bullhead pairs laid, leaving 33 feet (10 metres) of paired flat bottomed rail overhanging from the slab
All keyed but some joints still to be drilled for fishplates and others prepared for welding."

The steel sleepers over the concrete sewer slab and are used where the depth of ballast available for traditional sleepers is limited. 

The contractors who will install the special baseplates, lay the flatbottom rail and carry out the required welding should be on site shortly.

Another new item for 2019 is an electronic newsletter which will allow more in depth coverage, if you want to receive this Sign Up Here

So off we go in to 2019.

Until next time