WINTER work at the Launceston Steam Railway (LSR) has included re-laying 100 yards of track in the damp cutting under the aqueduct just to the west of Launceston.
The 35lb rail first laid 42 years ago, on wood sleepers, has been replaced by 50lb rail on sleepers which have been recycled, Launceston-style.
In typically innovative fashion, LSR’s Nigel Bowman and Jonathan Mann have constructed‘new’sleepers from two parallel lengths of redundant 90-year old rail, welded together at each end with Pandrol plates. They are manoeuvred into position with the aid of a speciallyshaped piece of metal rod which engages in the Pandrol plates –the device being described by the LSR as a prongulator!