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 Description of Railway"A milled peat train consists of 14 wagons [termed a "rake"] of 16 cubic metres capacity, or 75 to 100 tonnes net weight of peat". The gauge of the track used is 36 inches (914mm). The rail is in general 30 or 35 lbs per yard [British Standard Rail] mounted on 2m (6.5 ft) long steel sleepers which are attached to the rail at 840 mm (33in) intervals by steel clips and clip bolts. The length of a standard section of track is 9144mm (30ft) and the complete weight is approximately 540 kg (11cwt)." These sections are now lifted and laid by special rail laying machines which were designed and built by Bord na Móna. Early tracks were very skillfully manoeuvred into position using a standard dragline with special track grabs which relied on the track‘s weight to keep them closed. The new machine, employing safer hydraulic grabs, does the job more efficiently. Michael explains that... "The standard turnout [where the temporary and main tracks join] is also 9144mm (30ft) in length. It replaces a standard track length and can be fitted in position on the permanent track in a matter of minutes. There are some 1,800 turnouts in use.
Rail curves vary from 300 metres (328yds) to 30 metres (33yds) in radius,
depending on their position
Rail bed construction on the bog surface depends primarily on good drainage. Rail drains are 8m (26ft) to 10 m (33ft) apart for single lines and 15m (49ft) apart for double lines. The rail bed is formed of dry milled peat placed in position by machines to a depth of between 600mm (2ft) and 900mm (3ft), and then well rolled. Subsequently the beds of permanent lines are ballasted, preferably with 225mm (9ins), of sand or fine gravel, or crushed stone. About 5 million tonnes of milled peat are transported annually. Loading and unloading are entirely mechanical. The length of the peat stockpiles loaded in a full year amounts to approximately 1,700km (1,056 miles). There are 90 bridges carrying country roads over Bord na Móna‘s railways, or carrying the railway over canals and rivers. The road bridges are of reinforced concrete box culvert type designs. The river bridges are in general 12m (39ft) to 30m (98ft) in span with steel decking on reinforced concrete abutments on piles if required". |
in the track layout. A rail gradient of less that 1/200 is considered a
minimum standard, but [as stated earlier] some gradients are unavoidably as
steep as 1/70. Two locomotives are required to haul peat on these lines.
