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 Current Infrastucture NewsArchive of Infrastucture News: 2013-14 - 2015-16 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021-22 - 2023 Archive Reports: Northern Extension Project - Permanent Way and Lineside News (2007-2011) - P-Way News (2002-4) 
Nine days later, the Sunday Permanent Way gang worked on the relaid trackwork on the Saturday, clipping up the new rails and the S&T were to be found working, in slightly better weather conditions, on the Sunday on the new point. As of Sunday 13 November, as seen in David Chappell's photos below, there were still some track panels to lay to reconnected the line, ballast to drop, and lots of other little jobs just to finish. Note the signal wire running though the base of the relocated S&T location cabinets.
Our workforce engaged on replacing the Leamland point received some additional help. Through Community Investment work with the Princes Trust, the Charity which assists getting un-employed 18-25 year olds into paid work, Costain have been helping 5 candidates work towards attaining PTS accreditation for use on the National Rail Network.
What better way to help in this undertaking than giving some hands on experience at the Bluebell when they, together with 2 Costain Engineers, visited the railway on Friday 11 November. A confidence boost for the candidates, and an opportunity to improve social skills and provide a constructive contribution to another volunteer led organisation. Ben Coughlan's photo below shows them at Horsted Keynes.
After a possession lasting three weeks (two weekends), we rather hope that River Slip isn't slipping any more, after propping up the embankment with sixteen deep piles and about seventy tons of reinforced concrete. Mike Hopps' photo on the right shows the completed capping and regraded embankment side/formation. Quite what we will call it now that it is no longer on the move remains to be seen - perhaps Lindfield Bank is appropriate. Cue for a competition perhaps? Hats off to Matt and his team for a job really well done in the face of the sort of unhelpful weather that we have come to expect when doing jobs like this.
Track laying went according to plan with eleven panels laid, and the tamper finished off the job in time for the line to be reopened to traffic for full working the following Saturday, as seen in Mike's two photos below.
The next week saw the remainder of the cables connected up by the S&T Department as well as general tidying up, concreting around cable duct chambers, landscaping and some final ballasting near Holywell Bridge. The tamper was in action again on the following Tuesday, working south from Holywell and on the Wednesday it was busy north of Horsted Keynes. This week the Infrastructure gang moved to Freshfield Bank where the plan was to relay three sixty-foot panels, connecting up with the sections previously relaid.
Our usual method of formation improvement with a terram / polythene sandwich is applied before ballasting (re-using existing ballast - seen in the photo on the right), levelling and compacting, laying the new panels (photos below) and the tamper was on hand to finish the job afterwards. There has been a speed restriction there, so drivers will be very pleased to see this lifted now we have completed this work.
The slip is being stabilised by layering with plastic grid netting like that which we used on unstable areas of Imberhorne tip. This is being done to the slip depth of about 1.5 metres, now that we have found the slip plane. Rather than digging out the bank completely, the decision has been made to pile the foot of the slip and cast a retaining wall to link all the piles together. Sixteen 500mm diameter piles, 4.5 metres deep and each reinforced with an old rail, are spaced about 2 metres apart. Another old rail is set in front of the rails in the piling and the whole arrangement is encased in concrete using the same shuttering that we recently used for the culvert headwall near Holywell.
The sequence of photos below shows the first eight piles, being linked together, then the process will be repeated for the next eight to complete the job before the ground behind is compacted ready for relaying to take place. Other topside drains have also been cleared and new drainage will be linked to those as soon as the polythene/ terram sandwich is laid. Finally, new S&T ducting will be laid to replace the old concrete troughs which are in a poor state of repair.
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thanks to Jon Goff, Andy Palmer, Dave Wilson, Barbara Watkins, Stuart Pay, Ben Coughlan, David Chappell, Chris White and Mike Hopps.
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