Bluebell Railway General Discussion

Given how the quoted costs of waste removal dropped when a change was made from lorry to railway removal, I'm sure there must be broadly similar savings in delivering ballast by rail. All adds up when you are consuming the stuff 1,000 tons at a time! The other factor is that, pre-EG, I believe the normal practice was to deliver ballast to West Hoathly by road and then transport on from there by rail to where it was needed - meaning double handling. By bringing it in directly by rail, it can be delivered directly to where it is needed, as in Jon's comment about ballast being delivered directly to HK and to Freshfield Bank.

Tom

 

When we re-laid the first 16 panels on Freshfield Bank a few years back the figures that were quoted for bringing in ballast by rail were almost exactly half those of bringing in the equivalent amount by road. Of course we had no choice in the matter back then, but since we got through 700 tons of the stuff for that job alone it's not an insignificant saving!

As Tom rightly says the manpower saving is also considerable, and there is a time element too. Back then it took a JCB driver (literally) 2 days worth of cumulative labour just to load it all into wagons after it had been delivered by road, and it all had to be done in fits and starts due to the limited number of wagons available. Having everything on site to begin with should be a major plus this time around.

 

I'm bit intrigued. Not being a PW man but hopefully with a bit of practicality about me, surely you don't want to be dropping the ballast on Freshfield bank until you've done the relay? That is, unless you are wanting to raise the track level significantly?

 

I would suspect, and I don't know for certain, that they have unloaded the ballast beside the trackbed, rather than directly onto the current track. Certainly that was what was done on the Northern Extension. I suppose there is a possibility of a ballast drop by hopper wagons to finish the work off when new track is laid, but I'm not sure if that is considered a likely scenario or not.
Daniel

 

Yes, that's pretty much it. We're lucky in that the Bluebell was originally built to a double-track formation (although was only ever single track south of Horsted Keynes). Additionally a section of the embankment in the middle of the TSR has been extended outwards slightly with a bit of surplus spoil / clay. Hence there is just about enough room to stockpile materials nearby without them getting in the way of the job itself.

 

That makes a bit more sense but evokes more questions from me. Is the existing ballast(?) not fit for use, otherwise, wouldn't you just scarify it, etc. and lay the new track on this, then drop new ballast straight from hoppers and tamp? I'm just curious, that's all. I can see the need for ballast mountains when you are laying down a new formation as on the East Grinstead extension but, with an existing line, it seems a lot of dumping and picking up of stone the way it's been described.

 

They might only might be stockpiling surplus ballast for the Ardingly branch you never know,

 

I believe the track is coming out, formation dug out then start again with Terram matting. There is currently no ballast shoulder on that section where it has all sunken into the chalk(?) formation there. I believe about 75 new lengths of rail are going in.

 

Like a previous section that was done in 2011 I presume see http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pway/relaying2011freshfield.html

 

I think the article Paul linked to about the first relaying on Freshfield Bank a couple of years ago gives a pretty good overview of the process. In particular, the quote, re ballast: "The old ballast was loaded into wagons […] and was removed from site – some of better quality to be re-used for drainage, but most just kept for fill on non-trackwork jobs." The new ballast is also a lot deeper than the old, so more is needed.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that, apart from routine maintenance (spot re-sleepering, turning rails or replacing the odd rail here and there), Freshfield Bank was last completely relaid in 1932. In particular, it never seems to have had drainage sufficient for the underlying ground conditions: hopefully this work will solve that problem once and for all.

Tom

 

That's a bit higher than I was led to believe, but either way hope it ends up being an even number ;-)

I think the other posts have just about covered all the other questions (ie. old formation completely removed, new base installed, brand new ballast added etc)...

 

Question for Tom and/or Jon - do the Bluebell have any paid PWay workers or is all work undertaken by volunteers?

Many thanks

Steven

 

Steven - we have a full time Infrastructure Manager and in recent years have had a variable number of paid "infrastructure assistants" (not sure of the current number, but think it's only a handful at the moment). There are also a number of contractors (eg. builders / carpenters / plant operators) who have been almost permanently employed on various jobs around the railway in recent years what with the focus on completing the extension and subsequent backlog of maintenance work to catch up with. Since they split their time between P-Way and other infrastructure matters it's tricky to give you an accurate answer.

As you'd expect though what with the extension and other major projects in recent years, there is also a very healthy and well skilled volunteer base. This certainly helps reduce the need for a large complement of paid staff, enabling us to bring in specialist contractors for the occasional more skilled jobs associated with major renewals (eg. extra plant operators and the like).

 

Thanks Jon - track, structures and buildings are presumably dealt with under the same department from your answer.

Steven

 

Indeed Steven.
Cheers,
Jon

 

Thanks Jon

 

Thanks for this and the other replies. It all makes more sense, now.

 

Copied and pasted from Faceache, I understand this is due to a landslip:-

We regret that on Boxing Day 26th and Friday 27th December our services will only be operating between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes, an emergency timetable will be in operation with trains departing hourly between 10am and 4pm. For further information please check out our website or call customer services on 01825 720800.
Neil.

 

Yes see post 6 of this thread -http://www.national-preservation.com/threads/post-christmas-running.188543/#post-734008

 

Obviously not a civil engineer by any definition, but logic would dictate a landslip down onto a railway is inherently less of a problem than those where an embankment gives way (as seen at the Glos Warks and SVR in recent years)?