How to re-align a railway siding manually!
(added 16/07/07)

Working Bee Report 9, 10 & 11th of June 2007

Members of SDSR took on probably their most ambitious “track project” to date. The project was to disconnect the old workshop siding (#15), and realign the new workshop siding (#14) onto the newly disconnected points.

This would help allow us to get these roads commissioned for use with locomotives.

Saturday

Workers: Alwyn Clark, Rhonda Clark, Bob Bingham, Ted Colley, Ian Roberts, Stuart Roberts, Bill Mason, Rebecca Wiener, Michelle Cole, Adam Cole.
Weather: sleet, cold gusty SW winds, 4.3C to 12.7C

After a cool and clear Friday, it was expected to get a real cold frosty night followed by a cool day. We were surprised to wake to drizzle, cold gusty SW winds, and an air temp of 5C. And there was not much change for the whole day. With the wind chill it was probably about –2C all day. The workers from Wallangarra reported overnight snow. It amazed us that the temperature did not get past 10C until after we finished the days work.

Alwyn and Adam setting up the rail drill.

The task for the day was to disconnect roads #14 and #15 and straighten #14 road. To complete these tasks, much earth work had been completed on the days preceeding the working bee. The first task was to light the coal fire drum, which gave us our only warm spot for the day.

From here, sockets and wrenches were used to remove the fishplate bolts. This was to allow us to remove the fishplates, which are the 2 pieces of metal that are used to join 2 pieces of rail together. There are 4-6 bolts per joint, so all up we undid about 50 fishplate bolts.

While this was being done, all the dog spikes were removed on the road to be removed, so as the track could be lifted off, and the sleepers removed. With 41 sleepers on this line, it did take time to remove the 152 dog spikes.

Rhonda lending a hand with the trackwork.

These tasks were finished, and it was time to cut Road #14 to allow us top straighten it. With no volunteers to use a hack saw to cut through this rail, it was up to the use of a friction saw. This magnificent tool reduces the time from manually cutting the rail with the hacksaw from over 1 hours to a few minutes.

The line was straightened bit by bit, using a large forklift tractor to lift sections of rail, and to pull the line into the new alignment. This process takes time, as the rail doesn’t want to straighten easily. However, with half a day of using block and tackle, and brute man power, the line finally came into place late in the day. With the day so cold, everyone went out to a social dinner at the Warwick RSL, just to warm up.

Sunday

Workers: Alwyn Clark, Rhonda Clark, Bill Mason, Rebecca Wiener, Michelle Cole, Adam Cole, Peter Burkitt.
Weather: cold, SW winds, 8.2C – 19.1C

Today saw some real visible evidence of what we were achieving, after leaving the site a bit unfinished yesterday. Down on number, and sore after yesterdays hard effort, most the the project was completed today.

The first order of business was to light the fire again, as even with sunlight, we had a cool morning of 8C with a SW wind still blowing.

From here we worked at placing sleepers into the new position so as we could move some of the 63lb rail into it’s new position. 5 members looked after placing the sleepers in positions, while 3 members did the rail moving.

Bill and Alwyn operating the 5 ton crane to help with the trackwork.

Bill Mason and Adam Cole did the heavy lifting, moving 2 x 6m sections into their new location about 9 meters away with a set of track lifters. After this, the utilization of the 5 ton crane moved the 2 x 10m lengths as close the new alignment, before the use of iron bars levered it into the right position. This left us with 2 4.5m gaps we had to fill.

This job involved using a hole boring machine to drill the new fishplate holes into one section of rail. Another job, that with mechanical means cuts the job time in half.

As the sun was setting, work continued to progress, with the measurements obtained, and the rail marked out for cutting. Once again the friction saw made light work of these cuts, and after 20 minutes, the new sections were ready to be lifted into position. Work continued well after dark with the hole boring machine, drilling 8 of the 12 holes required. This allowed to join another 2 fishplates with the bolts.

Peter overseeing the trackwork with Adam and Bill.

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Monday

Workers: Bill Mason, Rebecca Wiener, Michelle Cole, Adam Cole.
Weather: early Frost 1C – 18.6C

Finally, the end was in sight. Our bodies were hurting, hands sore, and legs tired. With 4 holes left to drill, work progressed quickly. The final 2 fishplates were fitted and tightened, and we called it a day.

Adam cutting a section of rail with the rail saw.

At approx 11:15am, Rail Motor 1901 entered from the South and proceeded through the yard and onto Brisbane. SDSR Member Ken McAndrews was on this service, which ran from Brisbane to Warwick on Friday night, Warwick to Dirranbandi on Sat, Dirranbandi to Inglewood on Sunday, and back to Brisbane on Monday.

After ensuring the site was cleaned up and tools secured, it was time to finally sit back and enjoy the work we completed. Or get some well deserved rest.

Although a great deal of work was completed, more work is required. Re-spiking of the sleepers, two sections of rail to turn around, and general alignment fixes, as well as another section of line to re-spike.

The Warwick Railway Precinct is continually in need of track maintenance work, and volunteers to learn how to do some of these tasks are always welcome. Believe it or not, some track work tasks are easy to do, and full credit to Michelle Cole, Rebecca Weiner, and Rhonda Clark, who came and got their hands dirty. Without them chipping in, the work may not have been completed. As the old saying goes, many hands make light work.

The new road starts to take shape.

The final join.

If you are interested on finding out when the next working bee is on at the Warwick Railway Precinct, contact Adam Cole on 0407 126 658 or enquiries@southerndownssteamrailway.com.au

Remember, the steam train cannot run if it has no tracks to run on!

As a personal note, I would personally like to thank all the members who attended this Working Bee over the weekend, especially on the Saturday. It was horribly cold weather, and to brave those conditions, shows how committed you are to the successful operation of this train service. I have valued the time spent with all of you of this weekend, and look forward to working with you all again soon.

Many Thanks!

Adam Cole

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