Werrington Junction Upgrade 11th July 2021

[@dmegrailways]

This has to be on the list of “World’s most mesmerising machines “. Brilliant.

[@werringtonjunction]

I agree with you David. I find it very addictive too and keep watching both mine and Trackside ECML's videos of this machine in action.

[@krayzkatman1990]

An excellent demonstration of how new track is laid. Thanks for getting up early to film this

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you Kray. Now, who could possibly not get up to see something of interest that won't happen locally again? 😀

[@davidbailey533]

Watched that doing the Oakhampton line in Devon its an astonishing machine and saves a lot of time in laying truck wonderful filming

[@werringtonjunction]

Agree with you David, it is quite adictive watching it in action. Thank you for watching.

[@bellers13]

Yes, so fascinating watching this operation, did similar at Kettering when OHL were installed and they renewed track, amazing technical development, enjoyed watching your vid, thumbs up from me

[@werringtonjunction]

Thanks David, I'm glad you liked the video.

[@davidcowie2462]

What an amazing machine! I have often wondered how they could lay tracks without an existing rail track existing alongside. Thank you for sharing this. At this rate all the track work should soon be completed.

[@werringtonjunction]

Two ballast trains this weekend. No services on the Stamford Lines all weekend so we are presuming that the Down Line will have the switch installed at Marholm Junction.

[@TheDaf95xf]

Really interesting seeing how new sleepers and track are laid 👍🏻 The concrete sleeper machine is like a fun fair ride tooting as it goes lol 😆 I’m hoping to travel on the new line on Saturday the 25th of September with the Flying Scotsman to Skegness from Kings Cross 😄 Fantastic as always cheers Stevie.

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you Stevie. It is an incredible machine to watch, although a little bit noisey.

[@box1444]

The more interesting part is the rails getting a bend in them and the machine having the torque to straighten them out. I know there is some bend because of the length but it is still pretty amazing what some of these machines can do.

[@werringtonjunction]

Amazing piece of equipment.

[@carljoss]

Just a heads up I’m working there tonight for the next install of the S&C on the south end kicks off around 01:00 in the morning👍

[@werringtonjunction]

At least you will have some warm dry weather. Thanks for watching.

[@markneilson6380]

Excellent Stuff! Thanks for sharing

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you for coming back and watching again Mark.

[@jamesburnside3023]

Always nice to see MOW crews keeping it working.

[@werringtonjunction]

I presume you mean Maintenance Of Way crews?

[@MalcolmCrabbe]

Could have watched more.... quite mesmerising, did the machine also press the green clips to the rails as well ? - Thanks for making the effort to get up early and document this - Really enjoying the footage

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you for watching Malcolm. There is a hand machine that comes along after to press the clips in. Now why didn't I video that? If you have a look at this link it shows the machine. www.pandrol.com/product/clip-driver-cd200-iq/

[@werringtonjunction]

Malcolm, I stand corrected. The machine does push the clips in. Have a look at Tracksides ECML's video at 5:09 in. Look at the bottom left corner and you will see a hydraulic pusher plate doing the clips. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5bdnYx3hrplbpI

[@WaylandJoe]

You mean fastclips as we called them. Use to clip them by hand on a fair few relays. Most of the time, without any trouble, but if the sleeper was out of alignment or not flush to rail bottom, they can be a pain to get into position, no amount of hitting with a hammer would get them in. The nylon sleeves, that provided insulation between the metal fastclip and rail went by the name of 'condom'. On one particular shift, we ran out of spare condoms and someone was sent to the site access control office on site to ask if we had anymore? You could almost imagine, what they were thinking, just what are they upto? 😉 I have worked on something similar to the train featured down at Woodborough, sitting underneath one of the wagons with the cradle running overhead with the concrete sleepers. Adjacent to me, was a warning notice to grab hold of the rail above my head, for obvious reasons. My job on it, was to make sure all the old rail clips, in this case the 'e clips' were removed from the chairs on the sleepers, if I saw any, I would press a stop button and the whole thing would come to a stop and the e clip removed manually. The TRT train was top n tailed by two class 66 locomotives.

[@bernicewild5979]

Great !!!!!!!!!!Brilliant

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you Bernice.

[@Legolash2o]

These videos are great! How many metres can it lay at a time or per hour?

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you Liam. If you have a look at the specifications of the machine on page 54 from the link below I calculate it to be around 275 metres per hour. www.balfourbeatty.com/media/317250/rail-plant-services-overview-a.pdf

[@Legolash2o]

@@werringtonjunction thanks!

[@tinkermccardle7393]

Seems to me the fellow sitting in middle of lead end of car starring @ yellow/orange line would be cross eyed in about 2-3 hours! They should give him a break every 2-3 hours & change color of centerline paint as well!

[@werringtonjunction]

Ha! What I noticed was that he followed every slight kink in the line and didn't mentally straighten it out. He was also sat in the noisiest place as well, perhaps they replace him when he falls asleep.😁

[@MrBook123456]

good work

[@werringtonjunction]

Thanks Darren, I hope it was an interesting watch.

[@MrBook123456]

@@werringtonjunction yes it was

[@peebee143]

Really pleased that someone is recording all this for posterity.

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you Peebee, comments like yours makes it all worthwhile.

[@colinbrooks228]

@@werringtonjunction really interesting that you get to see how this actually gets laid

[@werringtonjunction]

@@colinbrooks228 Thanks Colin for watching.

[@georgethomas7814]

How does that work on the curve..... there must be a different system. Here the sleepers are moved by wheeled loaders and then the track is dropped in top.

[@werringtonjunction]

It certainly can do curves. In the first part of the video where the train is being propelled around the curve, that track was laid with the same machine. Have a look at this link www.balfourbeatty.com/media/317250/rail-plant-services-overview-a.pdf and go to page 54 for specifications

[@librarian16]

Marvellous.

[@werringtonjunction]

Thank you for watching David, it is a very interesting operation.

[@BJHolloway1]

Do I see something strange? At the front of the crawler is a man with what looks like a direction control in his hand. It appears that he is trying to ensue that the crawler follows the yellow line which seems to have been sprayed on the ballast. Surely in this day and age an automatic system could be devised? Do the Chinese do it this way?

[@werringtonjunction]

I don't see that as being strange. It is a system that works well. Why the reference to the Chinese? There are many more countries around the world whose railways are innovative and use the latest technology, Network Rail being one of them.

[@BJHolloway1]

@@werringtonjunction Check the equipment - I have seen this equipment in old Chinese rail KZbin videos. Not sure that I saw a man at the front but I could be wrong. In my view not a good system Lasers would be obvious.

[@colingraham1065]

With all that dust from the new ballast and concrete a laser would be seriously impaired fairly quickly so I think this is one of those occasions for the k.i.s.s principle Keep It Simple Stupid. Also let's stop knocking how we do things in this country, it's an awesome piece of kit and nobody gets a slipped disc like the 'good' old days lugging sleepers around by hand!

[@BJHolloway1]

@@colingraham1065 Dust who says - example please.

[@werringtonjunction]

@@colingraham1065 "Also let's stop knocking how we do things in this country" Spot on Colin👍

[@breeze1472]

whats that horn tooting every now and again?

[@werringtonjunction]

It is a warning the white transfer carraige makes each time it is about to move.

[@HARRY_SKOOTZZ]

I worked on this but the ole isolation side of it

[@werringtonjunction]

Good memories I hope Chris?

[@va3krs]

As Spock would say, "Fascinating"...

[@lawrence18uk]

Now we've just got to make a battery version so it's truly zero-carbon... (from the sounds of it, parts already are)

[@jackrowland5256]

You should have seen it's big brother In action the TRT

[@werringtonjunction]

We often see it passing through but I have not seen it in action locally.