Track maintenance

In the spring, the track was opened the last stretch from Kongsholm and as far towards Skjern as it is possible today – i.e. to the lake at Ferrodan. The section has been unused since VSV & MJ took over the right of use and even before that DSB had picked up some lengths of rails, while others had been pulled aside in favor of crossings to fields.

As the track had been unused for a number of years, some of the sleepers had also become bad. It was necessary to change some sleepers, but it was decided to only change some of the sleepers, as the track is now only used by rail bikes. If the course was to be ready for veteran trains, then more than 3 out of 4 sleepers had to be changed and that was too big a task for the club. It was therefore decided not to change more sleepers than is absolutely necessary at this stage.

The rails weigh 32 kg per. meters and a normal rail length is 11 meters. It gives a total weight of 352 kg per. rail, and one must therefore be some pieces to move a rail. But when you lift in groups, it’s easy. When the rails had to be laid down again, many latches were of course missing. Since the track only had to carry rail bikes, it was decided to manufacture some new lashes and lash plates.

Both the swelling bolts and the rail bolts were missing and the ones that were were very rusty. Therefore, the new bolts are galvanized so that they can hopefully last for a longer time.
As can be seen from the picture, the track body is now under the road, as the track has been unused. This is how it is at all the crossings and it helps to prevent driving with veteran trains.

When the sleepers had been laid and the rails had also been laid down and tightened together at both ends, soil / sand had to be stopped under the sleepers and the sleepers had to be screwed up under the rails. We chose to lift the sleepers up and stuff soil under the sleepers before the rails were screwed on with lath plates. One could have chosen to screw the sleepers first.

The club is in possession of a lot of railway equipment and it is very useful when working with the railway line. We chose to do the work in the old-fashioned way with hand-stoppers and swelling pliers.

Members of the club work on a voluntary basis, so it is only possible to do this kind of work on the weekends and after a few weekends of preparatory and done work, the result is not so bad even.

In 2009, i.a. the toilet trolley a thorough maintenance. Here again we have great pleasure in the members’ willingness to lend a hand. A new depot has been built for our rail bikes. Ballast was also laid to make the area more user-friendly. The result was then successful.