Network Rail's track renewal train was replacing the rails and sleepers on the up Great Western Main Line between Uphill Junction and Worle Junction in Weston-super-Mare, the south and north ends of the Weston-super-Mare Loop respectively. This photograph was taken from the footbridge that crosses the railway between the the Old Mixon crescent industrial estate and the Old Mixon playing fields, about a third of a mile north of Uphill Junction.

The bottom right of this picture shows the rearmost of 28 YXA sleeper wagons. The wagon following contains equiptment that allows operators to unclip the old rails from the sleepers; next in line is a wagon with operators who remove the clips from the sleepers which are then taken by a conveyor belt to a hopper where they are collected; a ballast plough on the front of this wagon keeps this clear of the rails being swapped. The next wagon is the operating area for the crane that supplies the new sleepers to the conveyor on the wagon behind that lays them, and collates the old sleepers for the transport crane to convey forwards.

Photo by Chris McKenna 20/11/2006.
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