Track renewals on heritage railways

As heritage railways around the country have enjoyed what was hopefully a busy summer period, it is worth remembering what an industrious winter many of those railways had prior to the summer. Many now operate ‘Santa’ or ‘Illuminated’ specials in the run up to and over the Christmas holiday which tends to be a busy, and for some, lucrative operational period. But outside of the Christmas period, many heritage railways take the opportunity that the lower patronage gives, to shut down their passenger operations and carry out critical maintenance and renewal activities to their infrastructure, locomotives, and rolling stock.

This article covers two very different heritage railways that did just that last winter, replacing critical parts of their trackwork including switches and crossings (S&C). These two are the North Norfolk Railway (NNR) that runs from Sheringham to Holt on the North Norfolk Coast, and the Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch Railway (RDHR) narrow gauge railway that operates between Hythe and Dungeness on the South Kent Coast. Both have taken a very different approach to the trackwork, and both have completed the work at far less cost than the S&C renewals on the mainline railway, although that is a bit unfair as we are not comparing apples with apples. Nevertheless, there are learning points that the mainline railway may be able to pick up on to help control and reduce its capital expenditure and unit costs.

It must be pointed out that although the costs of S&C renewals are much lower on the heritage railways, the works involved represent a huge investment for both railways. For the NNR it was the major capital investment of the year. Consequently, these renewals are not seen as everyday, or indeed, every year activities.

NNR S&C Renewals

The S&C renewals carried on the NNR consisted of a new crossover and a turnout at Weybourne, mid-way along the five-mile-long railway. The location of the S&C is critical to the operation of the railway, the crossover providing an operational route from the double line platform at Weybourne to the single line to and from Sheringham. In addition, the renewal included a turnout to the railway’s main maintenance depot and engine shed.

The existing track was a very old and worn bullhead layout, operated by point machines. Much of the trackwork was manufactured in 1940, during the Second World War. The timber bearers and sleepers were showing signs of decay and the wear on the head of the stock and switch rails in the S&C was approaching critical limits, with evidence of the wheel flanges contacting the oversail which the point operating equipment connects to at the toes of the switches. To maintain the track gauge on some of the timbers, particularly in the turnouts, tie bars had been fitted for additional restraint.

Various options to either refurbish or renew the track were considered by the NNR. Doing nothing was not an option due to the condition. The NNR has a very small but able track maintenance capability, but refurbishment using just its available resources was too big a job.

Therefore, the decision was made to carry out a complete renewal of the S&C. The railway contracted Trackwork Ltd to carry out the work as the NNR had previously successfully employed it to renew part of the track layout at Sheringham.

The scope of contract included survey, design, manufacture, delivery, and installation of the three units of S&C and the associated plain line trackwork. The signalling works were carried out by the NNR’s in-house experts.

Pragmatic approach

While the NNR aims for heritage realism and bullhead rail section would have been the preferred option the availability and increased cost, along with ease of ongoing maintenance, meant the railway decided to renew the track in flat bottom vertical material, the designs and components for which were readily available.

The survey was carried out and the design developed and accepted by the NNR which is fortunate to have access to two former British Rail track design engineers to review and accept the track design.

It also had the internal signalling expertise which allowed it to disconnect the signalling equipment including the existing point operating machines, and refit and test the machines and signalling associated with the track renewals once the trackwork was installed.

The renewals at Weybourne were carried out from 16 January to 3 February 2023, during the winter ‘no-train period’ with a team from Trackwork Doncaster basing themselves in Norfolk while the work was undertaken. The plan for the work was developed by Trackwork and agreed by the NNR.

Following removal of the existing track, which consisted of a crossover, turnout, and plain line, the ballast was skimmed to a depth of some 50mm below the new sleepers and bearers. The ballast removed was stockpiled for removal from site towards the end of the project. The new ballast was also stockpiled in the adjacent sidings so it could be reached and utilised as required.

The track was re-laid using the road rail vehicle (RRV) and manual labour, taking care not to cripple the new S&C during the lifting arrangements. Apart from the single RRV, the renewal was mainly carried out using traditional methods. The new track work is jointed with fishplates used to join the various rails. Nylon encapsulated ‘666’ insulated fishplates were used to separate the track circuits, and junction fishplates used to link the new flatbottom rail to the existing bull head rail.

When installed, the track was lifted to the correct level using track jacks. The ballast was then packed beneath the sleepers and bearers using a tamping bank mounted upon the RRV. The final alignment adjustment and re-ballasting was undertaken manually prior to the final fitment of the signalling equipment and the associated signal testing. The existing point machines were re-used with new cabling back to the location cases.

The work was completed to time with some follow-up work to the plain line sections either side of the S&C undertaken following a few weeks of traffic running over the new track.

For a heritage railway like the NNR, work like this represents a huge investment. However, without reliable points at a key location at the entrance to the railway’s main depot at Weybourne, the railway cannot reliably function, so the NNR sees it as a worthwhile investment. The overall cost of the works was in the order of £400,000 including disposal of materials and contaminated ballast as well as signalling costs, giving a unit rate per turnout of around £135,000.

RHDR Track Renewals

The RHDR narrow gauge railway is a very different heritage railway from the various standard gauge railways around the country. It is often known as Kent’s mainline railway in miniature, with some wonderful scale steam locomotives operating on the route as well as a couple of diesel locomotives.

The railway has some 21 miles of track stretching 13.5 miles from Hythe to the northeast to Dungeness in the south. The main depot is located at New Romney.

First opened in 1927, the railway has a track gauge of just 15” (15 1/8” to be precise with 15 1/4” through the points). It is one of just a few passenger-carrying railways, including the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway and the Bure Valley Railways, that operate with this track gauge, making its infrastructure fairly unique. While, in some respects, working with track of this gauge and scale makes some activities easier than on standard gauge track, it also brings its own issues and problems.

The route is laid across part of Romney Marsh, meaning much of it is founded on wetlands with marsh and shingle formation. None of these are the ideal foundation material for a railway and, as a result, parts of the railway are prone to movement and settlement.

The railway went through a period of decline in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its saviour was Sir William McAlpine who purchased the railway in 1963. For many years, apart from short lengths of renewals, the policy for managing the track was to carry out patch repairs.

Significant renewals

It was not until 2017 that the RHDR took the decision to restart significant plain line track renewals. These targeted the older, poorer sections of track, some of which were still formed of 25lb or 30lb/yd rail. It is believed the oldest of this rail saw service in and around the trenches during the first world war.

In the winter of 2017, some 1.8 miles of plain line track were re-laid. The plain line track renewal programme has continued each winter since then, despite the covid pandemic adding to the challenges of safely delivering the work.

The work is carried out by the very small, dedicated track team employed by the railway, along with some of the railways operational staff who during the operational season carry out other duties, and a few hardy volunteers. Contract staff are sometimes employed to operate the excavator machinery.

The new rail section used on the railway is 35lb/yd flat bottom profile, mounted vertically upon softwood sleepers. On plain line the rail is held in place with traditional dog spikes in pre-drilled holes. This arrangement, although traditional and cost-effective, can present the railway with a rail creep problem which can in turn lead to potential track buckling risks in warmer weather and rail joints opening in colder weather. To overcome the creep, the railway has developed a special rail clamp that is fitted to the sleepers towards the middle of the panels of track.

Winter 2022/2023 saw 1,380 yards of plain track re-laid with sites at Hythe and both tracks through Romney Sands station. In addition, four new sets of points or turnouts were installed. The renewal of all the points was driven by the condition of the pointwork which required significant maintenance input to maintain the reliability.

The new turnouts were designed and manufactured by KGJ Price Railway Contractors Ltd in their Caerphilly Depot. They were fitted with additional gauge retaining soleplates with spring clip housings welded to them. Because of the smaller gauge and relatively light weight construction each of the turnouts were delivered and installed in just two panels.

The RHDR undertook all the S&C installation including the associated signalling works, employing a local HIAB contractor to transport the panels from RHDRs track depot at New Romney. The HIAB was then used to lift and lower the track panels in place.

Two of the new turnouts were installed at either end of the loop at Romney Sands Station. Apart from minor alterations to their positioning to improve the track alignment, these turnouts were renewed in the same location as the turnouts they replaced. The third turnout renewed was at the entry and exit to the Dungeness Loop, known as Brittania Points.

This Brittania Points turnout was moved approximately 50 metres towards Dungeness to improve the alignment both off the loop, and the overall alignment on the through, straight route. The existing turnout was positioned at a change of direction of the track which tended to lose its alignment and distort in hot weather. Its repositioning improved this alignment and reduced a section of double track railway which passed through one of the occupation crossings, thus reducing ongoing maintenance requirements.

The re-positioning of the turnout also made the renewal operation easier as the track panels for the new turnout could be located by a road mounted HIAB crane from the occupation crossing. The HIAB was unable to operate beyond the crossing area as the surrounding shingle is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Area, with strict criteria in place to manage this nationally important area.

The signalling alterations were carried out by the in-house signalling team, where possible, re-using the existing signalling detection equipment. The points, themselves are sprung with the normal position being for the straight track allowing clockwise movements around the Dungeness Loop.

The final location of the new Brittania Points turnout resulted in a much improved alignment on both the straight track and the turnout route. The improvements were soon noted by the drivers on the route.

The fourth turnout was installed on the Up Line at New Romney giving access to the maintenance depot. This was the easiest of the four turnouts to install with access for the HIAB immediately adjacent to the site, meaning the S&C panels could be lowered from the HIAB straight into their final position.

Helping hand

The RHDR relies heavily on volunteers to support these types of activities and, where possible, re-uses materials and components. They used a flexible workforce, many of whom, in the operational period, are operating the trains, but when there is no service, support the track and engineering teams to carry out the various seasonal roles.

These factors, along with the smaller scale of the RHDR help to bring down the unit costs per turnout to less than £20,000. Nevertheless, like on the NNR, these costs still represent a very significant investment for the RHDR.

While neither of these two projects can be directly compared with the mainline railway, there is a huge variance in the unit costs involved per turnout between the £20,000 on the RHDR, £135,000 on the NNR, and often in excess of £1 million on mainline infrastructure.

Apart from the use of volunteers to support the installation, the mainline railway could benefit from reviewing the scoping, especially on lower speed layouts, increased daytime working on lower category routes, less paperwork, less bureaucracy, less project management, flexibility of workforce, and greater use of in-house expertise including signalling personnel.

Readers wishing to volunteer with either the NNR or RHDR can contact:

North Norfolk Railway: [email protected]

Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway: [email protected]