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The rail was far from new when the railway was built but ex Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, as evidenced by the “Dowlais
Steel 1901/2” markings on the web of the rail, see
Pic.1.
Pic.1 : Dowlais Steel 1902”, which would ‘match’
With the
laying of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.
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It was originally 50lb/yd rail, but although the head is
a bit worn the rail is generally in fairly good condition and more
than enough ‘life’ left in it for the Hampton to Kempton
Railway, see Pic.2.
Pic.2 :
The rail head may be worn, but the ‘web’
and ’foot’ look
in good nick
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The turnouts at B, D and K (these letters refer to points
on the plan Fig.1) which might even been a
heavier spec. were said to be ex. National Coal Board and are also suitable
to us, see Pic.B1.
Pic.B1 :
This Canteen Loop point is also very substantial
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The TWI Railway had two unusual features: a 35 m
long 5-span viaduct on the loop at one end, every strongly built and
protected by hot-dip galvanising; this viaduct was included in the deal, and
indeed TWI wanted it removed first. See Pic.V1.
Dismantling the viaduct was quite a difficult task
Pic.V1 :
The Viaduct curves round on the loop by the main
TWI
Building.
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The
second oddity was that the track was buried up to rail-top height with earth
and turf so that the groundsmen could ‘mow’ over the top, hence it was more
tramway-like, although the rails were of a standard profile. This resulted in
several problems in recovering the rail – first you had to find it – often it
was all-but invisible, see Pics.F1 and D1,
the second problem was that there was obviously a lot of digging to do, but
even worse, in the dry weather the ground set like concrete and eventually we had
to call in mechanised assistance, see below.
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Pic.F1 : The
track (long-welded rail as it transpired)
across the open field is barely visible
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Pic.D1 : The turnout at the start of the Canteen loop is well
buried. On the far right you can just see work
starting
on Train Shed turnouts.
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.A third problem was that the track fixings were often
rusted solid (although the rail itself was fine) and lastly, of course, 99% of
the sleepers were rotted beyond re-use. The few sleepers that were not,
were in the ‘dry’ area under the trees of the Canteen loop; see Pics A1, C1, C2 and B2.
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Pic A1 :
The Train Shed is in a branch off the
Canteen loop. This Shed was not part of the’deal’
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Pic C1 :
The Canteen loop curves under the trees;
despite the rain the ground is fairly dry.
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Pic C2 :
The rail by the
Canteen Platform is just
visible.
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Pic B2 :
It was tough digging up the Train Shed turnouts on the Canteen loop.
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The railway had been constructed 2003 with help from a
local contracting/transportation firm Welch’s. Some of the men who helped
in the transport of the materials to Kempton, including loading and unloading
the lorries, had worked on the construction of the railway. The system was
opened in 2004, see Pic.V2.
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Pic V2 :
Opened in 2004!
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Of course we would be working on what was in effect an “industrial”
site and so we, that is the Members of the Metropolitan Water Board Railway
Society, who were going to be working on-site dismantling the viaduct and
lifting the track, had to comply with TWI site health & Safety
requirements and present to them our Method Statement, Man-Handing Training
and Completed Risk Assessments. While they seemed onerous at the
time, they were useful exercises and a good discipline for our construction
phase as well. You will note that in the several Pictures that we are wearing
hard-hats when under the Viaduct and always Toe-Tector boots and,
usually, Gloves.
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The first task, after we had “found” most of the track, was
to dismantle the rail and other ancillary parts of the viaduct,V, and to
uncover the foundations so that the viaduct itself could be
lifted by Welch’s at a later date:
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Pic V3 :
Dismantling the rail on the viaduct,
showing also how the rails were moved.
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Pic V4:
Getting at the “underside” of the
viaduct needed a ladder.
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Pic V5 : One of the toughest jobs was
digging out
the viaduct foundations.
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However while were in the middle of this an even more urgent
task arose as TWI were about to build a test-rig/building which would have
buried the track near point G on the plan. Near this point, already
partially covering the track, was a pile of earth and rubble see Pic.G1 and we had to do a ‘rescue’ recovery of this
short length of track, which we quickly did, but then we could find no joints
in the rail beyond this, across the open field, F, almost as far as the road
crossing by point D. We had chanced upon the length of rail which had
been “long-welded” during trials of a “Thermite Process”; seems logical for a
railway at The Welding Institute! The TWI Railway
was also the test-bed for the development of 'Long-Range Ultrasonic Testing'.
See, Pic.F5.
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Pic G1 : This pile of rubble and earth partly covered the track,
which was also in the way of a proposed TWI experimental
rig at "G".
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Pic.F5. Long-welded rail
across the open field ‘F’.
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Now we could set-to on exposing the rail and in particular
the fish-plated joints, see Pics.3 and 4. and
the turnouts. The later were of two types: two were welded as complete
units on cross-bars (like giant Hornby Doublo), see
Pic.D1 much more difficult to excavate, but of course far easier to
reuse, and standard turnouts on wooden sleepers (rotten of course!), a bit
easier to recover, see Pic.B1, above, but far
more problem to re-build/re-use.
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Pic 3 :
The first task was to expose the nuts
& bolts of
each rail length…...
Pic 4 : ….which of course meant a lot of digging.
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Pic D2 :
The complete turnout
of the entrance to the Canteen loop
is in one ‘welded’ piece – mechanical help is essential!
Note this is the same turnout
"buried" in Pic.D1 above.
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T rack lifting then continue apace and rail was transported
by hand and by hand-trolleys, brought from Kempton to TWI for that
purpose, to be stacked by the road-side, near points K, H and D,
for subsequent recovery. See Pics. V3 (above,)
V6 and J1.
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Pic V6 : Crowbars
in use to shift the rail by the viaduct
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Pic J1 :
A pair of lifted rails on a trolley on their way to
the rail stack.
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Moving the rails on trolleys was not trouble-free as the
trolleys tended to de-rail, unless heavily loaded. The solution was to
laboriously clear the rail-head and flange-way all the way to the rail-stacks, see Pics.M1 and H1. . This tendency to de-rail
with grass/soil up to the rail-head probably contributed to the problems of the
original operation.
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Pic M1 : Clearing
the flange way near the viaduct.
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Pic.H1.
Clearing the flange way at the far end of the Car Park..
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Once the foundations of the viaduct had been dug-out and all
rail, footplates, hand-rails similar items had been removed Welch’s were called
to disassemble and remove the viaduct, see Pic.V7. and
V8. And soon the viaduct is loaded on to Welch’s Lorry and is
transported to Kempton and is safety stored under the A316, ready for possible
re-use, see Pic.7.
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Pic V7 :
Welch’s crane making short work of
dismantling the viaduct.
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Pic V8 :
Robert poses with a smile, as the viaduct behind him is no more, and the track to
the left has also been lifted.
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Pic 7 : Parts of the viaduct are stacked
underneath the A316 at Kempton,
ready for re-use.
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Meanwhile the work of recovering the rail was proving very
hard, particularly when the ground dried-out in the summer and made a good imitation
of concrete. To speed things up the TWI offered the use of their
mechanical excavator to help clear soil and turf from the track and then lift
the rail. In particular this was useful across the open field F See Pic F2., where the long-welded rail was situated,
and also for the lifting of the welded unit turnouts, see
Pic.D1, above. Once the rail had been lifted, see Pic.F3, the long-welded sections were chopped-up
into 30ft lengths with an oxyacetylene torch, and then stacked with the standard-length
rail
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Pic F2 : The TWI mechanised digger attacks the hard ground
on the open field where the log-welded rail was buried…...
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Pic F3 : ….and the rail is extracted and cut-up into 30ft
lengths
by TWI with their oxyacetylene torch.
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And finally the rail lifting was finished and stacked ready for
Welch’s to load-up, see Pics,J2, C3 and F4, collect
and deliver to Kempton, and it is now stacked
and ready for reuse see Pic.5 – and by
the time you are reading this it may have already started to be re-laid on the
Hanworth Loop, see Pic.6.
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Pic J2 :
The bulk of the rail is loaded on to the
right-hand lorry,
while on the left-hand
lorry, with the built-in Hiab. crane carries
the points and handrails from
the viaduct.
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Pic C3 :
Welch’s Hiab. Lorry loads rail from the
Canteen loop.
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Pic
F4 :
Welch’s Hiab Lorry is loaded with turnouts
and viaduct
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Pic 5 : The rail is stacked neatly at Kempton ready for re-use.
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<<<----- Pic
6 : One of the ‘ready-made’
turnouts, ‘K’
from the viaduct loop, is lowered into place on
the Hanworth Loop.
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Hard work it certainly was, but there was much satisfaction in
retrieving a railway, rather than it going for scrap, and there lighter moments
– many in fact, see Pics.J3, B3 and 8.
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Pic J3
:
Peter and John take a lunch-time break
on the trailer.
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Pic B3 :
Jim laying-down-on-the-job as he
un-bolts the fish-plates of the Train Shed point.
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Pic 8 :
One of the biggest MWBRS gangs
takes a
break for lunch in the sun.
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We started work at TWI in end March 2010 and the task was
completed in September 2010.
Out thanks to TWI for their assistance and to Welch’s for
their expertise.
Many dozens, perhaps even hundreds of pictures
were taken of this exercise. And although they were not taken for that purpose
would
form an archive of knowledge for anybody writing a
‘complete’ history of the short-lived TWI Railway. Anybody wishing to
make use
of this archive has only to join the MWBRS (see
Membership Page of
this Website) will be free to dip into this extensive
pictorial record.
Douglas
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