An amazing amount of work has resulted in a complex picture of the construction of the new track.
Most of the original track has n0w been replaced by the new structure and is at various stages of construction along the route.
One surprise on viewing the work is that grey, what appear to be, plastic pipes are being fastened to the metal rails then the composite rail is lowered into the precast concrete slabs. Some apparently alignment is then carried out, after manually measuring the gap between each pair of rails. Any adjustment of the gap is manual by levering the rail and inserting some sort of wedge (see IMAGE 6 below).
Article and photos by Geoff Caine
GALLERY
Click/Tap on any photo to open a slideshow of them. Then click the x in the top right of the window to show the opening page again.
MAGE 1
View down Bull Street from start of works towards intersection with Corporation StreetIMAGE 2
Corporation Street looking North towards Bull Street junction
IMAGE 3
Corporation Street looking North towards Bull Street junction
IMAGE 4
Looking South along Corporation Street to Grand Central
IMAGE 5
Shows grey pipes – some inserted into metal tails
IMAGE 6
Rail being aligned by levering it against the supporting precast concrete slabs
IMAGE 7
View down Stephenson Place to the bend into Stephenson Street
IMAGE 8
The rails round the bend are supported differently using concrete sleepers
IMAGE 9
Rail being lowered onto sleepers using a manual gantry
IMAGE10
Start of original rails in Stephenson Street – presumably being kept not replaced
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