No tamping at Prestbury?

[neilmc]

Glimpsed a lineside notice at Prestbury simply stating "No Tamping". I have never seen this before and I wondered why - is it that tamping is a noisy procedure, inevitably carried out by machine at night when the possession of such a busy line can be obtained, and the area is infested by those precious sparkles, Premiership soccer stars whose clubs will sue Network Rail if their prodigies play poorly due to sleep being interrupted by railway maintenance?

And what's the alternative - gangs of specialist PW staff with muffled shovels doing the job manually and talking in whispers, or simply letting the ballast deteriorate?

Or is there another reason?

 

[DarloRich]

Glimpsed a lineside notice at Prestbury simply stating "No Tamping". I have never seen this before and I wondered why - is it that tamping is a noisy procedure, inevitably carried out by machine at night when the possession of such a busy line can be obtained, and the area is infested by those precious sparkles, Premiership soccer stars whose clubs will sue Network Rail if their prodigies play poorly due to sleep being interrupted by railway maintenance?

And what's the alternative - gangs of specialist PW staff with muffled shovels doing the job manually and talking in whispers, or simply letting the ballast deteriorate?

Or is there another reason?

There is another reason - i would suspect some form of under track structure that could be damaged by the tamping equipment. You often see these signs on bridges for instance

 

[swt_passenger]

There are areas where the ballast is glued to maintain the formation, usually where there can be little or no allowance for movement of the track. Other areas have stuff at shallower than normal depth under the track that prevents tamping.

Once you start noticing 'no tamping' signs you'll find they are not that uncommon.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Glimpsed a lineside notice at Prestbury simply stating "No Tamping". I have never seen this before and I wondered why - is it that tamping is a noisy procedure, inevitably carried out by machine at night when the possession of such a busy line can be obtained, and the area is infested by those precious sparkles, Premiership soccer stars whose clubs will sue Network Rail if their prodigies play poorly due to sleep being interrupted by railway maintenance?

As one resident in the outer rural reaches of this iconic area, I do agree that the nouveau riche element to which you refer are indeed detrimental to the ambience of the village ethos.

Did someone not once say in a recent American election about "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still is a pig underneath"

 

[scott118]

As one resident in the outer rural reaches of this iconic area, I do agree that the nouveau riche element to which you refer are indeed detrimental to the ambience of the village ethos.

Did someone not once say in a recent American election about "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still is a pig underneath"

you can't polish a turd, however you can, roll it in glitter..

Not tamping, will have nothing to do ambience, it will be for structural reasons.

 

[AM9]

As one resident in the outer rural reaches of this iconic area, I do agree that the nouveau riche element to which you refer are indeed detrimental to the ambience of the village ethos.

Did someone not once say in a recent American election about "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still is a pig underneath"

Ah, the Chigwell of the North.

 

[IanKR]

There are areas where the ballast is glued to maintain the formation, usually where there can be little or no allowance for movement of the track.

There are signs under the arches of a couple of the bridges between New Cross & St John's / Tanners Hill Flydown that say (something like) "Glued ballast - no slewing". Presumably this is to limit lateral track movement (= "slewing"?) under the arches?

 

[scott118]

not forgetting the 'lift and line'.....

 

[jizzer]

the reason for the no tamping sign is to do with Prestbury tunnel which has no ballast because the track is set in concrete. Macclesfield tunnel is the same. This from what I remember was after the Ansaldo resignalling and line speed improvements.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

the reason for the no tamping sign is to do with Prestbury tunnel which has no ballast because the track is set in concrete. Macclesfield tunnel is the same. This from what I remember was after the Ansaldo resignalling and line speed improvements.

An answer well worthy of winning if this thread matter had been used as a set conundrum on the subject in the Railway Knowledge Quiz on the Quizzes and Games forum.

 

[Jamesb1974]

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