Urgent track works

Visitors to the H&DLR have noticed that the main running lines through Birkenhof station are not the level playing field they once were. The base is four parallel pieces of decking board, with a cross piece at the (staggered) butt joins to provide both support and a level join. Of late, a number have failed, and an attempt to bodge it only made matters worse. So much so that the cross piece then simply fell off. Slightly to my surprise, in general the problem isn't that the tanalised decking pieces have rotted. It is, I think, that the screws holding the cross pieces have rusted and no longer hold the assembly together firmly, allowing the decking boards over time to have dropped or twisted slightly. By yesterday, the situation on two of the lines - the main running lines - had deteriorated to the extent that trains really could not run.

Action was required... I was never really able to work comfortably under the boards, and 16 years later that's even less true. Anyway, some considerable effort later and we're nearly there.

Not perfect, the left hand most line still needs some attention, but that's (probably) long standing and all three lines are once again open to traffic.  

Still can't work out what's happened on the long viaduct, though. A video survey(!) of the underside shows no broken joints, and although on the top edges of the board there's extensive rot, the underside is in good condition. But it's definitely dropped, as you can see, and the green edging has broken fairly recently in a couple of places as well.