Volume 1: Issue 3 : To The End of The Line November 2015 Page 1 The long orange, yellow and gold fingers of Autumn have started to envelope the Dee Valley wherein at Corwen Central work has moved on a pace. Major developments have included the laying of a board crossing at the west end of the run round loop, clearance of a main drain by Welsh Water, the extension of the embankment, stability tests at Corwen East, and Corwen Central, an environmental award from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and the opening of a dedicated bank account for the Corwen Central Project Board Crossing At the close of last month a board crossing was installed to mark the point for the emergency evacuation route for the station via Green Lane. This would also allow wheel chair users a safe entrance and exit from the site. Main Drain After a somewhat delayed response from Welsh Water to come and clear the 300mm drain running under the formation towards the riverside treatment works a suitable vehicle arrived and cleared and flushed – who knows what from the drain, allowing for a proper survey, discussions for which are still ongoing. The Embankment Daewoo 330 and dumper at work moving material from the Rhyl Spur Some heavy plant arrived on site at the beginning of the month in the shape of a
Transcript
Volume 1: Issue 3 : To The End of The Line November 2015
Page 1
The long orange, yellow and gold
fingers of Autumn have started to envelope the
Dee Valley wherein at Corwen Central work
has moved on a pace. Major developments have
included the laying of a board crossing at the
west end of the run round loop, clearance of a
main drain by Welsh Water, the extension of the
embankment, stability tests at Corwen East,
and Corwen Central, an environmental award
from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural
Wales and the opening of a dedicated bank
account for the Corwen Central Project
Board Crossing
At the close of last month a board crossing was
installed to mark the point for the emergency
evacuation route for the station via Green Lane.
This would also allow wheel chair users a safe
entrance and exit from the site.
Main Drain
After a somewhat delayed response from
Welsh Water to come and clear the 300mm
drain running under the formation towards the
riverside treatment works a suitable vehicle
arrived and cleared and flushed – who knows
what from the drain, allowing for a proper
survey, discussions for which are still ongoing.
The Embankment
Daewoo 330 and dumper at work moving material from
the Rhyl Spur
Some heavy plant arrived on site at the
beginning of the month in the shape of a
Volume 1: Issue 3 : To The End of The Line November 2015
Page 2
Daewoo 330 hydraulic excavator, a 10 ton
capacity Benford Dumper and road roller.They
were soon at work stripping back material from
the Rhyl spur and relocating it alongside the
treatment work’s fence in order to build up the
width of the station/run round area. The Rhyl
Spur has been relieved of about 3metres of its
western shoulder right down to ground level
and back to the “junction” with the Corwen
line. So far, this has resulted in the relocation of
about 6000 tons of material, for the new
embankment, which is being laid and
compacted in half metre layers.
Daewoo 330 “grading in”
Compaction Tests
The building of the embankment is not just a
matter of dumping lots of material and
ramming it down! The job requires some skill
and precision, after all the embankment will
have to carry the weight of trains and heavy
locomotives and not be seen to be slowly
slipping towards the river or sinking in the
middle, once it’s been asked to work for its
living! The photos show the work involved in
raising the embankment layer by layer, the
excavator grading in the piles of material and
carrying out some preliminary rolling and
compacting before the road roller completes the
job. The next part is to test the compaction –if a
downward pressure is applied to small areas on
the compacted site then to what extent does the
ground move or push outwards? The first tests
were carried out between the rails at Corwen
East. How did we get on?With the use of the
Excavator being made ready for jacking for the
pressure test
12ton Hydraulic Crane as a jacking item a
downward force of 5tonnes produced a 1.25mm
deflection after 4mins followed by another site
with a 7 tonnes force producing 1.25 mm
deflection in the same time.
Volume 1: Issue 3 : To The End of The Line November 2015
Page 3
The technicians from the testing company
“Celtest” declared the site “better than a
motorway, could even take a Jumbo Jet
landing!!!” – Praise indeed for our civil
engineers. On the new layering the 14 tonne
Daewoo excavator provided the jacking point
and better than satisfactory results were
recorded.
Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales
(CPRW) award
RD-G and Dr.Jean Rosenfeld, Chairman CPRW
At the end of the last newsletter it was stated
that Corwen Central and Corwen East were
inspected by representatives of CPRW as a
preliminary to receiving and environmental
award. The Corwen Central Project Team were
informed in the last week of October that they
had been successful and a short ceremony to
mark the occasion took place at Corwen Central
on Saturday October 31st. The certificate and
plaque were presented to Richard Dixon-
Gough, the Corwen Central Project Manager by
Presentation Group : L-R Dr. Jean Rosenfeld, Chairman
CPRW, RD-G, Carys Matthews, Resources Officer
CPRW, Dr. Christine Evans, Chairman Clwyd Branch,
Tom & Kay Culhane , committee members, CPRW
Dr Jean Rosenfeld, National Chairman of
CPRW, supported by the nominating Clwyd
Branch Chairman Dr Christine Evans. Dr.
Rosenfeld said that CPRW were delighted to
make the award because the Corwen Central
Project was delivering sympathetic restoration
of an historic railway route, attracting visitors
to Corwen and encouraging business
development and stabilising employment in this
part of rural Wales. The presentation concluded
with a welcome round of Corwen Central Tea
and home made cakes courtesy of Dr. Evans
and John Mason.
New Bank Account
It has been a long held ambition of the Corwen
Central Project Team to be able to administer
its own funds for financing and managing the
Corwen Central Project. After seeking advice
Volume 1: Issue 3 : To The End of The Line November 2015
Page 4
from the Charities Commission as to the best
way to proceed it has been decided to operate a
separate account – named Corwen Central
Railway Development from within the
Llangollen Railway Trust. The CC’s view was
that a Trust with all the legal powers and
safeguards already existed at Llangollen and it
would be both sensible and effective to use
these facilities. Thus an independent bank
account has been established under the
umbrella of the LRT, but with signatory powers
resting exclusively with the Corwen Central
Project Management Team – Richard Dixon-
Gough, Phil Carson, John Mason and Paul
Bailey (Treasurer). Contributions to the
Projectcan be made payable to either the
Llangollen Railway Trust – marked CCRD or to
Corwen Central Railway Development and
forwarded to Mr Paul Bailey, Dolwen,
Bryneglwys, Corwen, Denbighshire LL21 9LY
Volume 1: Issue 3 : To The End of The Line November 2015
