HonorlessMink
Member
Please excuse this as a first thread, hope I don't do anything wrong.
I am a mere lowly London commuter living in Zone 6, but have loved trains ever since I had my first ride on one.
Back in March, Network Rail sent us all a letter informing us of engineering works that would be taking place from the middle of May until the end of August as they are replacing the track on this line during the night. A couple of nights ago I was woken at 02:30 to what sounded like people with picks hitting metal, someone else shouting "STAND CLEAR!" and then a loud bang. This moved, slowly, up the line far enough that I couldn't hear it any more over the space of about two hours. (If anyone knows what they were doing, I'd love to hear it!)
This is the bit that I'd like the most help with, so far anyway:
This morning at 03:30 I was woken by a very loud noise which I instantly realised came from the railway (the building is about 50m from the line, and the last passenger train goes past at just before 1am). It sounded (and for that matter felt) like a 10 foot tall washing machine on its last 2000rpm spin had just gone through my bedroom. Along with that noise there was metallic sounding bang about once per second coming from it too.
Does anyone know what stock this was and what it was doing?
I've googled for maintenance stock, and the process of replacing track but I can't seem to come up with a straight answer.
Unfortunately the trees now cover the view to the line from the bedroom so I couldn't see anything as it went past. All else I can tell you is that it sounded long, or it was going slowly. When it came back down the line just before it reopened, it was no longer doing the banging every second, it again sounded like a long formation or just slow moving.
I don't mind being woken by these things because I'm an utter child when it comes to railways, but I do love to know what is actually going on. Any help to fuel my casual train spotting would be most appreciated
I am a mere lowly London commuter living in Zone 6, but have loved trains ever since I had my first ride on one.
Back in March, Network Rail sent us all a letter informing us of engineering works that would be taking place from the middle of May until the end of August as they are replacing the track on this line during the night. A couple of nights ago I was woken at 02:30 to what sounded like people with picks hitting metal, someone else shouting "STAND CLEAR!" and then a loud bang. This moved, slowly, up the line far enough that I couldn't hear it any more over the space of about two hours. (If anyone knows what they were doing, I'd love to hear it!)
This is the bit that I'd like the most help with, so far anyway:
This morning at 03:30 I was woken by a very loud noise which I instantly realised came from the railway (the building is about 50m from the line, and the last passenger train goes past at just before 1am). It sounded (and for that matter felt) like a 10 foot tall washing machine on its last 2000rpm spin had just gone through my bedroom. Along with that noise there was metallic sounding bang about once per second coming from it too.
Does anyone know what stock this was and what it was doing?
I've googled for maintenance stock, and the process of replacing track but I can't seem to come up with a straight answer.
Unfortunately the trees now cover the view to the line from the bedroom so I couldn't see anything as it went past. All else I can tell you is that it sounded long, or it was going slowly. When it came back down the line just before it reopened, it was no longer doing the banging every second, it again sounded like a long formation or just slow moving.
I don't mind being woken by these things because I'm an utter child when it comes to railways, but I do love to know what is actually going on. Any help to fuel my casual train spotting would be most appreciated
