by Nick Drew | Wed 06 Aug 2014
Back on the rails
Judging by feedback on our Digger Man Blog Facebook page, some readers were clearly delighted to see road rail kit getting some coverage in the latest edition of Earthmovers Magazine, well staying on that theme and for readers enjoyment, here are a few shots I snapped down at the scene of the Dawlish track collapse job in Devon.
During the severe winter floods earlier this year, I took a trip down to Dawlish to take a look at the scene of devastation following the collapse of an 80m section of sea wall which led to the destruction of 46m of railway track.
Having worked on this line many times in the past when I was operating road rail vehicles (RRV’s) it came as no real surprise to see this happen along what is a notorious stretch of line and one that is in constant need of repair due to its precarious location along the sea front. While heading to try and gain access to the main site, for which I was sadly denied, I came across this Komatsu PW170ES in action.
The machine which was on hire from rail plant specialists Quattro, was loading new replacement concrete sleepers onto his attached rail trailer using a hydraulic sleeper grab attachment. The machine then headed off in the direction of the collapse to distribute the sleepers as required.
The lucrative rail plant operating sector has probably helped in some part to the lack of skilled operators in the civils and groundwork’s industries, as many highly skilled operators have been lured by the big money on offer operating rail kit, when compared to the daily drudge of building sites, where the money simply doesn’t compare. Rail work isn’t for everyone I must say, its anti-social hours, night work, which experts say can knock at least 5 years off your life expectancy and I’m led to believe the industry has one of the highest divorce rates going! So sometimes big money isn’t everything.
With construction work currently booming and a lack of skilled operators very apparent, rates on site do appear to be on the up at last, with employers finally having to dig a bit deeper into the coffers to get the skills they need to succeed. For now it appears that the “be happy you have a job, take or leave it” approach seems to have vanished!