19th February saw the start of the track relay of 19 track panels at Ketches. The 96 pound rail is life expired and will be scrapped although the concrete sleepers will be retained for re-use.
A ‘rail snipper’ was used to cut the track into short sections for easy removal later. This part of the trackbed is in decent condition and as that section is slightly raised, a terram and polythene sandwich layer was not required (unlike the remaining 23 panel section south of the present relay where the track bed is in poor condition.
By close of play on Wednesday 21st, the bed had been bulldozed and then compacted with a triple ‘whacker’ and the first four 60 foot track panels had been laid. Wednesday the 21st was a particularly wet day with further rain predicted for Thursday 22nd.
The prepared trackbed – the white posts to the left were put in before the relay and mark 2 metres from the old rail. Having removed the old track, the posts can be used to reinstate the former line of the track as marked by the yellow line. This line marks where the sleeper ends will come.
All images – Jon Goff
