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Major Track Upgrade 2020 - 2021
In line with current government guidelines regarding coronavirus we are suspending all public activities of the KDMES for the time being. We are as disappointed as you are but are taking the opportunity during these uncertain times to make improvements to the track.
Please note that Marley activities centre is a restricted area as it is used for Covid 19 testing. Please do not attempt to visit the site.
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This was the sight that greeted us when we visited Marley railway track for the first time after lockdown. Marley was being used as a Covid 19 testing station so we had special permission to assess what we planned to do while public running was suspended. |
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First job was to cut the grass. Fortunately the weather had been hot with little rain so it was not too bad. That was to change in a few weeks. |
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Derek brought his theodolite to help the survey. It went in the middle of the first curve and we then took readings to find out how much the track went up and down. |
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We got into our stride and in week two got down the back straight and then on to the curve behind the bushes where the tunnel used to be. |
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Week three and we took the readings round by the car park and on to the steaming bay. |
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The last job was along the station as it started to rain. At least all the measuring was finished for Derek to draw out the track and start to work out what quantities of materials we might need. |
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Derek and Ian set off round the top curve with a couple of chains dangling from a cross beam on a truck. The grass was spray painted to mark out where the excavator should dig a trench. |
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The trench was marked out on the grass either side of the track to the beginning of the back straight. This is as far as we will go for the moment as the back straight was rebuilt only a few years ago. |
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All the bolts holding the track down had to be removed so the curve could be dismantled.Colin took a major role supervising the work. |
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With the bolts undone the track was loosed before being stored away. |
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End of a good afternoon's work. All the track on the first curve stored away. |
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Starting to remove sleepers. Most were quite rotten but have gone to good use in people's gardens. |
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Unbolting and carrying away the sleepers went remarkably smoothly. |
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All the first semi circle from the station to the back straight was cleared of sleepers, leaving only the posts in the ground. |
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Then we had some mechanical help to dig the footings. Many thanks to both Lingfield Services (Cross Roads) and Judsons who kindly undertook the excavation works for the track. |
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The digger team made light work of clearing the bases and digging the footings. |
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The footings were dug as far as the back straight and some chippings put in the base. |
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The bridge is constantly being vandalised, so the opportunity is also being taken to make it as sturdy as possible.First thing was to attack with the angle grinder. |
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The old upright sprang a leak which was unexpected. |
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Day one saw the first two replacement uprights going in. |
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Four new uprights were put in along with handrails across the top. |
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The footings being checked for the gradient. The plan is to make it a little easier to get a smooth start away from the station. |
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Colin mowing and moving concrete blocks at the same time. Who said he couldn't multi task? |
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Close up to show the board hitched to the back of the mower to move the concrete blocks from one end of the field to the other. So Colin doesn't just supervise. |
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The grass got really long and sometimes we overdid it. Here the mower is having the belt replaced. |
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Supplies arrived by lorry on a rather hot day. |
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Off loading the concrete beams was easy with the hiab crane. |
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Next was the plywood for the concrete shuttering. |
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Just the steel mesh for reinforcing the concrete left. |
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The pegs for the concrete shuttering boards needed a sledge hammer to get them into the ground. |
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Fixing the plywood shuttering to the pegs. |
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First piece of shuttering screwed in place. |
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This is how far we had got at the end of the first day fixing the shuttering. |
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Day three of the concrete shuttering and we worked on the outer plywood. |
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At the end of day three we left everything neat and tidy. |
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Good to have Colin back supervising after his eye operation. Unfortunately he can probably see what we're doing now. |
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Chris banking the soil up on the outside of the shuttering. We need the ground level with the concrete for the mower. |
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At the end of day four we were about half way round. |
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There had been a delivery of road scalpings for us. This is what the pile looked like at the beginning of the day. |
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During the morning working party we moved scalpings to the track bed and to fill some pot holes on our access road. We had started to make an impression on it. |
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As we were tidying the piles of earth by the track we found another concrete block. Quick work to move it with the mower and sled. |
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By the end of day five we had made good progress.Probably 2/3 the way round now. |
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Day six and Derek shuttering the outside curve. |
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Having to make use of taller boards here. |
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Nearly there. View from the station. |
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By end of day six we are nearly there. |
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Day seven and Theo came down to help move the scrapings. Here he is filling yet another barrow. |
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At this point the surrounding ground is so low we are starting to need really deep boards. |
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We did as much as we could to bank the sides up as we left for lockdown 2. |
 | All the scrapings were used and the area left tidy. |
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Really close now. Just tidying up the ends to do, but we have to stop for LOCKDOWN 2. |
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It's now February 2021 and we haven't been on site for over 3 months. Its LOCKDOWN 3 so we are all staying at home because that's the law. |
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However, the construction industry is still allowed to work during this third lockdown. |
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So we hired in the people who could work. They tamped down the hardcore scrapings to make it all nice and solid and put ends on the shuttering. They also laid steel reinforcing mesh on top of this. |
 | The Concrete lorry had to park in a particular way to get the load up the conveyor belt as the dump truck scoop was so high. 10.5 cubic meters of concrete was to be used - the full wagon load with 1/2 a bucket full left spare. |
 | The dumper truck was used to transfer the concrete to the shuttered strip. This was a lot easier than the proposed gang with wheel barrows that we would have done if we had not got the contractors in. |
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The Pour was started from the back straight, furthest away from the lorry. |
 | The concrete mix was a bit wet at this stage so some slopped over the edges. We'll tidy it up when it's dried out. |
 | The concrete was levelled up between tips from the dumper truck. You can see the reinforcing mesh here. |
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This is the pour half way round.The finish is lovely and smooth. |
 | Looking towards the station and the pour is nearly finished. |
 | Here you can see the end shuttering with the concreting finished. The steel reinforcing will tie in to the concrete pour from here to the station. |
 | All tidied up at the end of the day. It had taken just 2 hours to do the pour. You can see the tracks from the dumper truck. They could have been a lot worse as the ground was quite soft. |
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This is the end of the day looking from the station. We are now keen to get on, but we will now be able to do some measuring and preparation of the pillars. |
 | We needed some top soil to bank up the sides of the concrete. |
 | So we got a big lorry to deliver some the last week of lockdown 3. |
 | First job for recomenced work parties is to spread it out along the sides of the concrete. |
 | Actually, the first job was to tidy up the spilled concrete. There is a suggestion of getting some mechanical help as there was a second lorry load of spoil. |
 | 5 steel bases were made up and then the concrete sleepers were put on top. A bit of track and a passenger truck and it was all looking pretty good. Ian is providing some ballast as the trucks do go down a bit with weight on them. |
 | There has been much discussion about putting cant on this curve section so that the trucks lean in slightly. The spirit level is calibrated in degrees and the posts were packed to see what would work best. |
 | This is what the new stands look like close up. |
 | This is how it will look with the stands, sleepers and track. |
 | All the concrete sleepers need to be drilled for fixing to the upright stands. |
 | Heavy work these concrete sleepers. |
 | Time for a think about how to transition from the curve to the existing back straight. |
 | This is join from curve to back straight. |
 | Drilling the new uprights for the fixing bolts. We were working between showers so Ian is sheltering in the doorway of his van. |
 | Colin then got on with painting them in the clubhouse. |
 | Today's view from from the back straight. |
 | View from the bridge of progress mid May.Uprights and concrete sleepers in position ready for final fixing. |
 | Unloading the digger to level out the mounds of earth. |
 | The digger was used to spread out the mounds of earth that had been delivered ealier. You can also see the progress with the track bases and concrete sleepers. |
 | This view is towards station showing the mounds levelled out and how close the track bed is to the bridge. |
 | Some of the piles of earth had been placed on the far side of the access road. These were spread out to make more parking space near the club house. |
 | At last, fixing the track down round the rebuilt curve. |
 | Some of the fixing bolts now fouled the cross sleepers in the track so first some new sleepers were welded in. |
 | The offening steel sleepers were then cut out. |
 | The cross sleepers were then all checked for flatmess as some had distorted during their life on the old wooden sleepers.. |
 | It's a two man lift to turn them over and position the track. |
 | The seemingly never ending job of painting the support pillars continued, but out in the sun. |
 | It was hard work with a pick axe preparing the banked sides for grass seeding. The work that had been done with the digger had now baked hard in the hot weather. |
 | Not everyone had enough energy to keep going in the hot sun and had to have a lie down. |
 | The footings for the last bit of concrete to join the curve with the station were also started. |
 | When a mounting hole had been drilled in the concrete it then had to be cleaned out thoroughly. First with a bristle brush.... |
 | ... then it was blown out with compressed air. |
 | A very sticky compound was then injected down the hole. |
 | A bolt was then inserted in the goo. When the compound sets it will secure the bolt in the concrete. |
 | Gently tightening the bolt in the base. They will be fully tightened when the track is all in position and adjusted for level and cant with the 4 jacking screws that can be seen in the bottom plates of the pillars. |
 | Where we got up to at the end of today's working party. Nearly all the track positioned round the concrete plinth. |
 | Couple of pieces of track still missing here between the curve and back staright. We need to make the transition gradient a bit smoother. |
 | Today there was a big effort to prepare the last section ready for a concrete pour. We got shuttering in, added some hardcore to the base and ramped up the sides with the soil. |
 | You can see there is just a short gap left before we have the track connected up again. |
Webtrains by Mike Badger
This page
was last updated on Sunday 13th June 2021 at 21:00.