Glensanda ship fire

[Ploughman]

The news of the ship fire at Glensanda may have passed most people by but isn't this the source of most of the ballast used on the railway in the south east?
If it is what effect will it have on any works in the next few weeks?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/10501134.stm

 

[pablo]

There's mountains of the stuff already at Grain.

 

[142094]

Out of interest, does anyone know what happens to used ballast? I know some of it is cleaned with the stoneblowers and reused, but what happens when it is taken away? Is the ballast not used again (and does quality deteriorate after time?) and recycled/or dumped?

 

[33056]

Out of interest, does anyone know what happens to used ballast? I know some of it is cleaned with the stoneblowers and reused, but what happens when it is taken away? Is the ballast not used again (and does quality deteriorate after time?) and recycled/or dumped?

Several years ago, Foster Yeoman at Acton used to accept trainloads of used ballast which were unloaded by grab and sieved through a machine which separated the decent chunks from the dross; I think that they re-sold it as hardcore, it wasn't reused as railway ballast. AFAIK, the machine is still there at Acton, but I don't have any knowledge of workings on that side these days.

 

[kestrel]

Several years ago, Foster Yeoman at Acton used to accept trainloads of used ballast which were unloaded by grab and sieved through a machine which separated the decent chunks from the dross; I think that they re-sold it as hardcore, it wasn't reused as railway ballast. AFAIK, the machine is still there at Acton, but I don't have any knowledge of workings on that side these days.

still do

spent ballast from LUL is taken there too usually on mondays by GBRf

 

[Trog]

I know some of it is cleaned with the stoneblowers and reused.....

I never knew stoneblowers did that.

To think I have believed for years that all they did was a form of mechanised measured shovel packing.

 

[Ploughman]

And manage to reduce the size of the ballast to fit the injector tubes.

 

[pablo]

There is a lot of recycled ballast sold as fill; 6F4 I think it's called.

 

[Wyvern]

I know some of it is cleaned with the stoneblowers and reused, but what happens when it is taken away?

Ballast cleaners do that. Stoneblowers repair unevenness in the ballast.

 

[142094]

Thanks for clearing that up.