Infrastructure Department
Tuesdays and Thursdays at EOR
These two days we've taken the opportunity to work at the railway as there is very little chance of a train running. The Tuesday is dedicated to North Weald and Thursdays at Ongar.
Tuesday
Work at North Weald has included jobs on our Signal Box as well as other jobs like keeping the approach green mowed. Other jobs like the flowerbeds weeded and watered are undertaken. We've mainly concentrated a lot of effort on the Signal Box restoration - this is in addition to the work done there on Sunday, which is of a more technical nature led by the Signal Box team. We are assisting the team with the painting, exterior is virtually finished but now the interior is being worked on including the levers and ground frame. Also the sliding window frames and their bars have needed some attention as they rotten in parts. See some of the pics
Various team members work at North Weald and on the line. Kevin and Richard giving the levers a new coat of paint. Mr Muscles Ron and Daniel are fixing a sliding window. The team are taking a well earned break while cutting back vegetation along the line: Richard, John and Mike enjoying a bite & refreshment.
Thursday
Various teams work from Ongar. This is because we have access to motive transport. This allows a team to go up the line to tackle the growing vegetation. The other teams stay at the station doing various jobs to both building and rolling stock. At this time the team are cleaning and chipping the loose rust from the flatbed wagon. At the same time the prepared sections of the frame on the flatbed are being painted and treated with Waxoyl. Hope to have some pictures of it finished. It's looking very smart now.
The team that goes up the line have been trying to cut back the vegetation both within and outside the cable fence (this used to hold the electric cables for line power as it was part of London Underground Central Line and tube trains used to run over this section of track). The idea of this is to keep the vegetation at a manageable distance away from rolling stock.
If you want to lend a hand on any of these days then come along or contact us via the email address on this website
Civil Engineering
Mike Cornish who is a retired civil engineer carries out this work on both station area buildings and track. After 10 years of having no traffic on the line, areas have tended to become neglected. Mike will go to inspect bridges to see if any works needs to be done and what effect vegetation, especially ivy, has had on these structures. Although the lineside has pealed away some of this vegetation, this hasn't revealed any serious damage. It doesn't mean we should be complacent. Constant vigilance is required and Mike will continue with this task.
Mike along with Tubelines engineer Bill Gleadell have also looked at various embankments along the line to see how they have stood up over the years and what effect the continuous running of trains will have.
Stations yards require checking, especially the building structures as well as drains. Ongar has been subject to serious flooding when we've had a real downpour as was witnessed in 2006. This is being looked at by Mike and he has made some preliminary reports.