Looking after the Line

Since the 1850s the East Coast Main Line has been an intensively used high speed railway, reliant on the maintenance of its track for the safety and comfort of passengers and the reliability of its fast freight and heavy mineral trains.

There are many tasks involved, and the work carries on in all weathers.   Each pair of running rails must be well supported, accurately aligned, and either dead straight or smoothly curved and correctly canted.  Methods have evolved from manual techniques requiring skill, experience, basic tools and a strong, hardy physique to today's automated machines guided by lasers and GPS.

A keen awareness of hazards has always been vital for the safety of engineering teams.

Here we illustrate some of the work involved in the Grantham area in the 1960s, when machines were just being introduced, following on with some more recent scenes.

Track Surveying

The Cross Level Gauge. When trains travel over the railway at high speed there are forces which can move the track out of alignment, so regular checks are vital. Checking the condition of the track was traditionally carried out by the local permanent way inspector using a device called a cross level gauge.  Here is a photograph of Grantham's Inspector Fred Brewin carrying his gauge past the Carriage & Wagon Examiners' cabin at the south end of platform 3 (it's now platform 2).

A Track Recording Trolley. The Matisa Type PV6  of the late 1950s travelled along the railway making a record of the condition of the track on a roll of paper.  A driver from the loco shed, acting as pilotman, would accompany the operator of the trolley when out on the line in the Grantham area.

The parameters measured by the PV6 were:

• Gauge
• Skew
• Cant (superelevation)
• Versines (the smoothness of curvature) over a chord of 10 metres, measured for both rails
• High and low points for each rail

The information recorded on the roll of paper guided the work of the permanent way gangs who would go out to correct defects.

A short film made in 1959 by British Pathé showing one of these recording trolleys at work on the Eastern Region can be seen here.

Lifting and Packing

The first of the following four photographs shows train 1A35, the southbound Flying Scotsman, passing through Grantham station on Thursday 15th August 1963.  The locomotive is Deltic No. D9013 The Black Watch.

The Flying Scotsman did not call at Grantham at that time, so its speed at this point was probably 60 or 70mph and accelerating, following a permanent speed restriction through the curve approaching the station from the north.  Now, look along the down line to a point opposite the train’s third carriage and you will see three figures.  They are two men who are working on the track accompanied by a Look-Out (the man on the left, wearing a jacket and a cap).  The second photograph is an enlargement of the group of men but, before moving on, note the short posts, a pair of which is seen in front of the locomotive between the tracks.  They are reference points for track alignment, which is particularly critical between station platform edges (hence "Mind the gap!").

 

The man on the right of the group is well into in the ‘six-foot’, the space between the two tracks.  He is bending over attending to something, with his head quite close to the passing train.  Although indistinct, there is another figure further along the line towards Grantham North signal box.  Standing on the platform near the main group may be a fifth member of the gang.

For the next photograph we have walked along the platform to where the men are working.  You can see that, having cleared ballast from around alternate sleepers with their shovels, they are raising the right hand rail with a hydraulic jack to remove a dip.  Nearby, in a galvanised ‘tin bath’ type of container, is what appears to be a finer grade of ballast material, chippings, and a canister to measure out a quantity.  This will be packed into the void created beneath the sleepers to maintain the correct level when the jack is released.  The man nearer the  signal box in the previous picture is sighting along the rail to watch for when the joint has been lifted sufficiently.

This is part of a process known as ‘Measured Shovel Packing’, which is explained in detail in one of the videos below.

In the third photograph, below, the men appear to be making ready to move onto the platform, perhaps because a train is expected; or, maybe, the job is largely finished with only the ballast to replace around the sleeper ends.  It’s apparent from this picture that the problem is a 'dipped joint', because the fishplated rail joint can be seen above the man's left hand.  Dipped joints were common defects resulting from wear at the areas of contact between the rail ends and the fishplates.  At this particular location good track maintenance would be critical because it was on the approach to a curve where there was also a junction.  A dipped joint here might cause a heavy steam locomotive travelling at speed to lurch into the curve and junction.

Attending to rail joints was a  seemingly never-ending task on a busy high-speed main line where there was a joint in the rails every 60 feet.  Today's main line track is formed of continuous welded rail, so regular joint lifting and packing is no longer needed.

Turnout Maintenance

The regular lubrication of points was important because the switch rails which move when points are being changed are heavy; on a crossover (two turnouts worked together) they might weigh more than a tonne. The signalman’s muscle power also has to move the heavy rods linking the signal box lever frame with the points. Today, most points on main lines are worked by electric motor.

The man on the right is Augustus (Gus) Summers, a former German PoW working for Terson’s, a contractor who carried out track maintenance and repairs.  With his pot of oil and long-sticked brush he is lubricating the point mechanisms near the north end of the station. If you look at the track in the foreground you can see that there is fresh oil around the 'slide chairs' which are special rail chairs fixed to the crossing timbers on which the switch blades slide.

The man on the left is Tom Plummer, the North End Ganger at Grantham, who is acting as ‘Look-Out’ – he is carrying a pair of flags under his left arm, on which he also has strapped an enamelled ‘Look-Out’ armband.

Look-Out Duty

This is Ken Lee acting as a Look-Out when maintenance is being carried out on the down (northbound) main line through the station.
This was, and still is, a vital role.  Its purpose is to keep watch for, and give warning of, approaching trains which might not be noticed by track workers preoccupied with a maintenance task on lines which are open to traffic while the work is being done.  The warning was often given by sounding a horn, a type of signal deliberately distinct from other sounds on the railway.

In the upper photograph Ken is raising his arm to acknowledge that he has heard the driver of an approaching train sound a warning. The train - a diesel unit - has appeared in the photograph below.

 

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Here are links to some historic instructional videos explaining track maintenance:

Measured Shovel Packing (L.M.S. Advertising and Publicity Department)

Day-to-Day Track Maintenance Part I : Plain Line (British Transport Films)

Day-to-Day Track Maintenance Part II : Switches & Crossings (British Transport Films)

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Forward to pages showing more recent mechanised operations:

• Track Relaying through Gonerby Tunnel

• Relaying the Down Main Line at Grantham South

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