Project – Track Restoration

Repairs to the track on the main line heading north out of the Cooma yard are progressing with the team finishing up at the northern limit of the precinct before they head up the cutting towards Yareen Road. Replacing sleepers in the yard can be difficult sometimes, with limited space to remove and insert sleepers without removing the rail due to adjacent tracks, signalling equipment and point rodding. In this section, the point rodding had to be removed temporarily to provide room for sleepers to be removed and replaced. Sections of this rodding had also been damaged over the [...]

After completing sleeper replacement between the Loco Shed and Station Platform to facilitate the movement of CPH Railmotors, our perway team have been able to turn their attention to the main line heading north out of the yard. Over the past couple weeks, the team have replaced over 20 sleepers on the main line and they continue to push north in the direction of Snowy Junction. Large amounts of dirt fill that was placed on track many years ago to facilitate rolling stock deliveries, has now been cleared from the track to allow sleeper replacement to continue. Unfortunately, we [...]

It's been a big week for the perway team who have completed the replacement of 20 sleepers across the southern end of the through road and main line, while also gauging, screwing and tamping another 10 sleepers that had previously been inserted on the through road at the platform and on loco road 2. It's been a great team effort this week from our volunteers to get these repairs completed. This section was particularly difficult due to it's location in a cutting with point rodding and signal cabling running down one side of track, and concrete drains on the [...]

Track repair and sleeper replacement continues in the yard at Cooma Railway Station with the team focusing on the southern end of the platform road. The team are installing 20 new timber sleepers in this section. Due to it's location in the cutting, access for machinery is limited so all the sleepers in this section need to be dug out and replaced by hand. Repairs to this section of track are important to allow our railmotors to move safely between the loco shed and the station platform. In addition to the sleeper replacement, our volunteers have also been removing [...]

Thanks to the generous donations from our supporters and the hard work from our volunteers, our perway team were delighted to receive fresh batch of new timber sleepers this week to continue their work on the southern end of the platform road. This section of the track is being repaired to allow our rolling stock, including our CPH Rail Motors to travel around the yard and up to the platform. After being delivered yesterday from Sydney, the team didn't waste any time in laying them out along the track, ready for them to be installed. While it's great to [...]

More progress in the yard today as the team finished installation of more replacement sleepers, serviced the points to the loco and carriage roads and the catch points on the through road. We then started to cleanup the splintered remains of sleepers that have been removed over the past few months. It's a big job, but the team are doing some great work and we're making some good progress. It's also great to see some of the amazing mechanical engineering in action with the signal and interlocking system. (and yes, we know that we weren't using a rag and [...]

Our track crew continued their work on the railway corridor with a new temporary stop block and stop sign installed before the missing crossing on Polo Flat Road at Snowy Junction. The team also cleared the vegetation around the section. While work continues on getting the level crossing reinstalled, this will be our northern limit of operation for the short term. It was great to see so many people waving and stopping again. It's really heartening to have so much community support and it really motivates our team to keep working hard to get our trains running again. -------------- [...]

With the commencement of operations and the repairs to the Yareen Road Level Crossing completed, one of our track teams were able to complete an installation run out to Snowy Junction (as far as the Polo Flat Road Level Crossing) to clear vegetation and assess the current state of the railway infrastructure. It was extremely exciting to see railway vehicles back out on this section of line and it was great to see so many people waving and watching as we travelled along. It's amazing to see so much local support and it means so much to our volunteers. [...]

A big thank you to the team from UGL Regional Linx who completed the repair work on the Yareen Road Level Crossing. After completing road surface repairs earlier in the year, the team returned today to cut the flange gaps back into the crossing, allowing our trains cross the road and continue on to Snowy Junction. The team has done a great job, and the crossing is looking amazing after all the work that has been completed over the past several months. 👉 If you are travelling on Yareen Road, please slow down as you approach the crossing and [...]

We talk about it a lot, but what is actually involved in repairing track and replacing sleepers? Quite a bit actually, and it's hard work! Check out some footage today of our volunteers replacing a section of sleepers (or where there once were sleepers 🤷) and some of the work involved. Luckily, today we had the assistance of an excavator, which makes huge difference compared to digging everything by hand, which is often what we have to do. This section is on Loco Road No. 1, which is being repaired to allow our CPH Railmotors to travel from the [...]