Railway Infrastructure Work on the Mid-Hants

Re-aligning the track and installing new points, track-circuits and signalling past the Up starter at Ropley station

From: Pat Butler Sent: Saturday, 15th December 2007 5:23 PM Subject: Ropley Signal Box Fully Commissioned Gentlemen Just to let you all know that at lunch time today, 15th December 2007, the New Ropley Signal Box was fully commissioned. A very big thank you to all those who helped out, especially as this recently included the modifications to the token machine circuits, and the extra signalling works required for all the permanent way work at the London End. Thanks. Pat Butler
28th November 2007: Points and rodding Photos (28th November 2007): Tony Wood
From: Rod Wicks: The first of these photos (25th November) shows signalmen Rod Wicks and Alan Daniel at work with S & T gang at Ropley, digging holes for the trackside trestles that support the extended rod run to the new points at the London end of the station. The holes have to be about 30" deep and require careful vertical and horizontal alignment to ensure there are no binds over the rollers. The rod run for both the point drive and the FPL were completed by around 3.00pm, the unwanted spoil removed and the ballast made good to keep Frank Twine happy. Both Alan and Rod had an invested interest in ensuring a perfect job as they will be the ones pulling the levers in the newly-commissioned signal box after the new points are connected to the frame tomorrow. The other photo shows the space left at the end of the Main Line platform now that the old signal cabin is gone. Next job will be extending the platform by about half a carriage length. Alan and Rod retired home late afternoon after a tiring but extremely fulfilling day. FPL=Facing Point Lock
	(25th November 2007)

19th November 2007:
"I'd like to say a big thank-you to all departments and all from outside who came to help. Without them we couldn't have done the job.
"The manpower was absolutely tremendous and we've turned out with a super job.
"At present they're jacking and packing and I'm just on my way to see how it's going"

- Frank Twine, MHR Infrastructure & P-Way Manager

Relevant correspondence

Linked signalbox work

14th November 2007:
The line is now laid and ballasted and will be allowed to settle before fine tuning. To extend the points rodding, new trestles and roller frames were being sunk. The bell-crank for the yard points was mounted but not connected up by the time the light went.

Photos (14th November 2007): Tony Wood

12th November 2007: Another fine day saw the track completed. Pat Butler's team had got the points working smoothly and precisely, but rodding is yet to be run to the signalbox. The yellow machine shown being used by Paul Hawley drills twin holes for track circuit continuity links across the rail-joints. Next job looks to be the ballasting ready for the jacking and packing.
Minutes of MHR Ltd October 2007 Board Meeting includes: "It was noted that the HMRI complimented the railway on its track."
Click thumbnails
			Cameo shots of 12th Nov work : Movie (6.2MB) Photos and movie (12th November 2007): Tony Wood

7th November 2007:

Good weather and good progress with the current Ropley job: I hope the photos tell the story. I took the stepped fishplates one because the question was asked: "How do we align the top surface of the rails when there is a step at the rail-joint?" Today's work - The Movie (15MB) Photos and movie (all 7th November 2007): Tony Wood

Infrastructure Work on Mid-Hants Railway

(2007-2008)

12th February 2008: We have now finished the re-timbering job at Alton, with the insertion of the last seven 20 footers. Whilst on site we turned two worn rails. Progress was, however, hampered this week by some very welcome interruptions, as can be seen.

	Photos and report (12th February 2008): Dave Tilbury

5th February 2008: Fortunately the weekend guys didn't get to do any digging, allowing us to enjoy the full P-Way experience with more digging this week. As can be seen, timbers nearest the camera have been replaced and we are working toward Alton, and the twenty-footers...

On the shorter ones we can, in this location, slide out the old and slide in the new... The screw-spikes are undone over a number of timbers either side of those to be replaced. The track is jacked up and the old timber slid out. . Report and photos (5th February 2008): Dave Tilbury
And here is the new, with that heap of ballast in the background ready to be put back in place, once the timbers have been packed

14th December 2007: Following the excitement at Ropley P-Way matters have returned to the mundane - gathering scrap, mending fences, drinking tea and generally sheltering from the rain. The good news is, we have a new man on the mid-week gang and he is under 70 and fit, giving the rest of us the luxury of a little more 'shovel leaning' time. Welcome John. Photos and report (14th December 2007): Dave Tilbury

	17th July 2007:
With most of the fencing issues dealt with, the mid-week P-Way gang are back to the more usual tasks of jackin' n' packin'. We have also spent a couple of days clearing vegetation down at Butts Junction and recovering a significant amount of metalwork that we cut up, craned out and shipped away to the scrap merchant. The replacement points for the north end of Ropley loop have been prefabricated and broken down ready for shipping to the site, some time this coming winter. There is no shortage of maintenance tasks to be dealt with and the wet weather has added a couple of minor land slips to the list of things to be done. When walking the track this week it was apparent, from washed debris and flattened grass, just how much water had poured down through the cuttings. In places the ballast must have been submerged. We have also started to address the mess at Miller's Crossing, where unsightly bags of spoil have have been dumped. We will need to return at some stage with the Atlas wagon to shift the remaining bags and conceal with a layer of soil. Hopefully next year this eyesore will be invisible.
	Our resident photographer has left his vantage point on several occasions and applied his winning ways to the serious matter of scrounging strawberries & cream for the gang. With a daily service through the 'summer' our working day is dictated by the train timetable - and one of those trains has a buffet... Still, all work and no play, etc. Our safe working practices invariably make for an incident free work environment, with little in the way of excitement to comment on. That said, the recent ban on smoking in the work-place has caused some friction. One of our number smokes and we have pointed out that the track is our place of work and that he should desist from his foul habit. Quoting from the statutes has thus far only elicited a monosyllabic response. Now, if only we could apply the 'No Smoking' ethic to the Wickham. Report and photos (17th July 2007): Dave Tilbury