In addition to the 3 major projects at Harmby, Wensley and Swale bridge, the Army are also helpig out with some smaller projects to both practice their skills and benefit the railway. One of these is to carry out geotechnical surveys of a number of strecthes of the line where embankments and cuttings may be liable to movement.
The Victorian engineers who built most of our railways, amazing though they were, simply did not understand complex subjects like soil mechanics. So many large earthworks were either over-engineered at vast cost or under developed and subsequently required rebuilding or constant maintenance. the wensleydale railway is no different. To allow us to understand what is happeneing with our earthworks bore holes and core samples are being taken to allow a picture to be built up. This will allow us to focus our maintenance effort going forward.
The rebuilding of Wensley crossing is also advancing well, with the old track dug out and the new track panel already installed. The next stage here will be to install the new £13,000 road deck.