Tiiiiiiimber!

So at last we have timber on site for the new project. One thing remains and that is to start laying it out!

The gang taking a breather before the 'mega' timbers. (Pic E.Dyer)

As you can see we have laid the timbers out on the remains of the old siding. This was the reason we wanted the old p/way wagons shifted. The advantage of this is that it provides a flat base on which we can start to construct the point. Obviously as we go along, the timbers will get longer and the centre of balance will move away from the rail it is resting on. To get round this a sizable amount of scrap timber has been acquired to block the ends up to prevent tipping. This will become a non-problem (1984 speak there...) once the straight stock rail has been placed, thus preventing the sleepers from tipping.

The main outcome of today was to have the timbers placed in order according to the timbering list and have them in roughly the right place. As you cane see, its going to be a fairly massive bit of kit!

As far as the eye can see! Well, nearly... (Pic - E.Dyer)

All that remains of this job is to align the timbers above on a straight line to the left (picture perspective.) and to space the timbers correctly. To aid this some gauges made of blocks of wood will be cut to size this Sunday. Once the timbers are in the correct place, they will be held in position with a shed-load of battening that will be tacked to the sleepers. This will hold it all steady until the rails can be craned into position and bolted down.

One final task for the day came in the form of a pile of 15 inch piping for the culvert being reconstructed by our Civil Engineering Dept. You may remember the post about a hole opening up near the track. This is excavated and rebuild to prevent any further collapse. As we were on site, we sprang to the rescue and helped unload the pipe from the truck.

 

A homemade rocket sled? I wish! (Pic - E.Dyer.)

This was then loaded onto our trusty trolleys and propelled down the siding as far as our timbering. This has saved the Civil Engineering chaps the effort of having to drag them all the way to the work site, every little helps. 

 

Who said P/Way was inconsiderate!