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Major Track Upgrade
by
Keighley and District Model Civil Engineering Society
Now government guidelines regarding coronavirus have eased we are planning to resume public running in spring 2022. We are taking bookings for birthday parties and plan to run public days again from April 17th. During this winter closure we are still taking the opportunity to make improvements to the track.
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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. |
 | There are a lot of holes to drill in the concrete to fix the supports down. |
 | Today we reached the last support pillar before the back straight. Here is the fixing compound being injected in to the hole. |
 | And the last bolts going in. |
 | We decided to extend the platform both sides of the track at the end of the station to help the steam loco crews. |
 | We finished the shuttering for the concrete and refixed the water supply so this is now ready for he concrete pour. |
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The following Friday the hard core was whacked down and the reinforcing mesh laid as last time. All was then ready, hoping the rain would ease. |
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When the lorry arrived it was all action. Fortunately the ground was firmer than last time and the lorry could get on to the site so the concrete went straight in to the prepared shuttering. |
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There was no option but to get stuck in to the job, hopefully not literally. |
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There was a sea of concrete to deal with. |
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It was all neatly finished off in the end, and taped off to deter the inquisitive. |
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We made new pillars and swapped them out with the old ones to smooth the transition between the curve and the back straight. |
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We then fixed the track back down. |
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This is what the transition between the new curve and the back straight now looks like. |
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This is how much we now have finished. |
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Two weeks later and all the supports are in place and the track joined up. Still work to do making the final alignment, but running trains again is in sight. |
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We also made a start on tidying up. First job is cleaning the club house tables before Janette notices ;-). |
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Well we had to get a loco out. This is the first trial round the new cuve. |
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When we went to check the water supply in the tower we discovered the floor had gone rotten. The tanks came out and a new floor went in. |
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Sunshine and rain turned some of the field into a jungle. We started cutting back so we could open the gate. |
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We also tidied up the hedges round the track and trimmed the trees back behind the station. |
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Having got a complete track again we decided it was time to try things out. We had a running session for club members and some of their children. Here we are getting all the toys out. |
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This is what it now looks like at the end of the station with trains running. The grass is starting to cover the bare soil. |
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Plenty of smoke as James raised steam on Charles. |
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Everyone enjoyed running trains again for the first time since Covid started. |
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Father and son with tram engine Toby. |
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Here we see Mr Cool and Theo with Derek's Metropolitan-Vickers locomotive. |
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Janette came down of course, and wanted a ride behind anything steam! |
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With reduced head height under the bridge it was decided we ought to make it a little safer for the loco crews. A preformed sheet of metal was purchased. The next job was to attach it to the underside of the walkway. |
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There were lots of holes to drill. |
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Then painting and more drilling on the footbridge walk way. |
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And more painting when the sheet of steel was in place. |
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It looked very smart at the end of the day. You can also see how the grass is growing over the new soil banks. |
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Withe the smoke deflector in place it was time to put on some new railings. |
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Colin was making sparks fly cutting off the bolt heads. |
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All the handrails done. Just needs painting. |
Next Step - The Back Straight
We had another club running day on a rather wet Saturday in October 2021. This was prior to starting the next phase of trackwork. Having completed most of the work from the station round the first curve, our attention has turned to the back straight. The wooden sleepers have been in place for many years so we are replacing them with concrete beams. We will also take out the couple of dips caused by the rabbits burrowing under the bases. At the moment there is an incline between the curve and the straight as we transition between the concrete and the current wooden sleepers. The theory is that we can put the incline further down the straight if we want to stop the work and run trains!
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The Concrete beams are heavy. It takes four men to lift them. |
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The beams need cutting so careful marking under supervision. |
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The wooden sleepers we are replacing are not quite the same length, so all the new beams need a little bit trimming off the end. The concrete beam is resting on a couple of modified bogies we are using to transport the beams. |
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Once in place the concrete beams need lining up to make sure we have a pefectly straight base for the track. |
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Tidying up at the end of the day. Some more concrete beams moved ready for next week. We had made a good start. |
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After the first week it was decided to put rubber pads between the concrete beams and the steel bases. Here Colin is drilling holes in the rubber pads. |
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When drilling the concrete beams it's quite important that the drill is vertical, so the onlookers are not standing idle! Meanwhile, the track is getting fixed down on the concrete beams positioned last week. It was quite a quick job to slip the rubber pads in first so this section is all finished. |
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Any rails not fixed down are stored in the clubhouse during the week. We had just moved some beams in preparation for the next working party, so used the bogies to take the rails back. |
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This was not a good day with the rain quite heavy at times. However, we want to get this finished so we can run again, so work carried on in the rain. |
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These bogies are really proving their worth moving the concrete sleepers. We're finding them useful to move all sorts of things back and forth to the clubhouse. |
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There are not many sleepers to replace now, but the rain got too heavy and we had to abandon for the day. |
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So we can have a private running session over Christmas we need to make an incline from the concrete sleepers to the old track base. Here Derek is notching out an old wooden sleeper with a chain saw to make it thinner where it meets the concrete sleepers. |
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We put a number of the rubber pads to act as packing pieces under the last couple of concrete sleepers to make a gentle gradient up to the wooden sleepers. Lesson learnt and a jack was used to raise them rather than manually lifting. |
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This is a view of the temporary transition. Looks like it should work. You can see how near we are to getting this back straight to join up with the concrete sleepers on the curve. |
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We had a track inspection (passed) by the local robin, though I think he was more interested in the grubs we had disturbed. |
 | Robin Inspecting
This is probably the straightest the 'Back Straight' has ever looked. |
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Last working party of 2021. We came down to tidy a few things up and make sure all was in order for our private club running session over the Christmas period. However, with the increse of Covid 19 it has been decided to postphone the club running and suspend working parties for the time being. Here moss killer is being applied to the existing concrete sleepers to stop water being held in them which might cause them to break in the freezing winter. |
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Not all the track fixings had been put in so we went back around the curve drilling and fixing the missing ones. |
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The station is the other are of existing concrete track support, so we cleaned the moss off and sprayed there too. |
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This picture was taken on December 29th 2019. It was our last public running day, now 2 years ago. Little did we know what might happen a few months later. When I titled this page 'Major Track Upgrade 2020-2021 it was with the thought that we would be running in October 2020, and then work some more over the following winter.
When we are able to continue working the title will no longer reflect the contents of the page. Maybe I should offer a prize for the best new page title of a free ride behind Charles at the first public running day. Look forward to seeing you there anyway. Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year. Charles' driver. |
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Lovely and sunny at the start of the final day on back straight. |
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The last last two piers are original concrete blocks so these needed a bit more work to get the concrete sleepers at the right level. |
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The concrete sleepers are all lined up and ready for track. |
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It never goes back together in the same way as it came apart, so here a small adjustment is being made with the angle grinder. |
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This is the last joint being put together at the end of the long back straight. A few things still need adjustment, but essentially the track is a complete circuit again. |
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This is the transition between what we have just finished and the next section round the hidden curves.This bit was relaid in concrete sleepers a few years ago, so just over half the circuit now is concrete sleepers. Hopefully this will cut down the maintenance. |
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There were a number of dips along the back straight that we wanted to look at. |
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At each dip we jacked up the sleepers and put more rubber pads under the joints. |
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We obviously needed to try it out. |
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The back straight looks much better now. Any dips and peaks are much more gentle. |
Webtrains by Mike Badger
This page
was last updated on Monday 7th March 2022 at 19:00.