We have been working on connecting our mainline to the shed yard, including a double slip and two turnouts, all in 91LB/yard rail. The double slip has been extensively rebuilt from a donor asset purchased ex KwiRail during the Wellington rail upgrade programme. Both turnouts have essentially been built from scratch from individual components. The 91LB rail has been cascaded out of our mainline to build the turnouts.
Progress December 2012 - January 2013
Work on the double slip had reached the stage where we could bolt on running rails for the road 2 turnout and align with the ladder road centreline. Careful measurement and survey work was done to locate intersection points (IP's) of the ladder road, the turnout, and the short curve between road 2 and road 1 turnouts.
Once survey work was completed we could lay out all the turnout components and lengths of rail.
Next steps
A lot of work remains to be done on the double slip, with many of the plates to make and fit, as well as the points motors. The turntable road will be extended by 2 or 3 tracksets - which will prove to be a useful shunting stub in the short term. The mainline is set to be extended through to the pedestrian crossing in the not too distant future, once we have sorted out the gate arrangements at the site entry.
John, Colin and Glenn working on the running rails of the road 2 turnout on 1 December 2012. The rails were painstakingly laid out, cut to length, drilled and crowed, about the ladder road centreline - marked by the stringline in this image.
Spock, Rob, Steve and Ray fastening down rails connecting the existing road 1 and road 2 turnouts in front of the shed on 1 December 2012. Photo: Glenn Fitzgerald.
John and Colin drilling heel bolt holes in the straight stock rail, whilst the curved closer rail is being crowed to required radius.
Mike, Steve and Peter fastening down rails between frog and heel of the road 2 turnout on 22 December 2012.
On 29 December we also installed a Wynn Williams turnout lever to secure and operate the switches on the road 2 turnout. We have since replaced this with a refurbished cast lever unit.
Mainline finally connected to shed yard on 29 December 2012 - great to achieve this before the end of the calendar year!
New road 2 turnout, connecting our mainline to the shed yard at Maymorn.