Mainline track extension - Summer 2018
A selection of photos of recent track work, extending our mainline to a point opposite the Maymorn station building and platform.
19 April 2018
Head of steel
Track is being built at Maymorn station, including our future mainline and loop tracks, along with points and yard track leading into the rail vehicle shed.
We've made a start on building our future mainline track at Maymorn. Track has reached the 150-metre mark and plans are afoot to extend it to the Kaitoke end of our Maymorn site.
Recent posts
Loop track ballast drop
On Saturday 26 September 2015 the track gang joined up the track sets on the new loop track, and dropped three wagon loads of ballast. By the end of the day the track was able to be used to store five ballast wagons, freeing up our mainline track.
27 September 2015
Loop track construction update
More progress with our loop track at Maymorn, following on from the previous Loop track build starts story from July and August.
Rails have been crowed to form the curve off the double slip, cut and drilled. Good to finish that part of the loop and get on to the straight lengths.
7 September 2015
Loop track build starts
During July and August we have started building the loop track at Maymorn, which extends eastwards from the double slip. The formation is already prepared for the loop, sloping to the cess drain to the north side. The loop passes through a short curve past the slip, then its straight-running through to and past the pedestrian crossing.
The loop will initially be used as a storage siding and will be useful to shunt wagons and carriages that are 'uphill' of our shunt loco.
8 August 2015
Track extended past gate
On 7 February 2015 we extended our mainline track past the gate towards Maymorn station. Just a short distance, but great to be heading "up the hill" with the track again.
A few tasks had to be completed in the preceding weeks, including excavating and installing a field-drain to take surface water away from the pedestrian crossing area, rails cut and drilled, sleepers adzed and pre-bored. Further extension of approximately 100m is pending removal of hard fill from the future loop formation.
Photos: Glenn Fitzgerald, Hugh McCracken
8 February 2015
Ballasting operations 23 August 2014
On Saturday 23 August 2014 we were fortunate to have Peter O'Flaherty, local Upper Hutt Contractor, load up ballast wagons for us at Maymorn.
Four of our fleet of Yc ballast wagons were pressed into service, including recently overhauled Yc817, hauled by our Hillside Tr189. Ballast was discharged and spread at a few different spots, including the shed yard and a stretch of our mainline.
29 August 2014
Work progress 14 December 2013
Today we had an excavator on site to form a truck crossing just to the Upper Hutt side of the pedestrian crossing. House trucks and other over-dimension loads request to cross both KiwiRail and our railway lines on a reasonably regular basis — and we had a few tasks to complete before the next crossing can take place. A low concrete wall at the base of our security fence needed pouring. Hard fill had to be placed between our mainline track and the wall, and a ramp from the wall down to the driveway level.
17 December 2013
Track extension reaches pedestrian crossing
In the past few weeks we have further extended our mainline track eastwards, finally reaching the pedestrian crossing opposite Maymorn Tranz Metro station. Despite some fairly awful weather we made reasonable progress. The 50kg rail required cutting, drilling and straightening, and the TPR sleepers needed adzing true and reboring. A large pile of ballast near the crossing was both a blessing and a curse - in that we had ample ballast available, but a good amount had to be cleared out to permit sleepers to be laid.
29 July 2013
Mainline extension June 8th
Our mainline at Maymorn was extended a further two tracksets on Saturday 8 June, now just 10m shy of the pedestrian crossing gates.
We're keen to shift the rake of Yc ballast wagons along - to give a little more running track length ahead of our official commissioning of shunt loco Tr189 on 22 June.
All photos by Glenn Fitzgerald
9 June 2013
Mainline now connected to shed yard
We have been working on connecting our mainline to the shed yard, including a double slip and two turnouts, all in 91LB/yard rail. The double slip has been extensively rebuilt from a donor asset purchased ex KwiRail during the Wellington rail upgrade programme. Both turnouts have essentially been built from scratch from individual components. The 91LB rail has been cascaded out of our mainline to build the turnouts.
10 January 2013