PROJECTS
The Hove Park Track and infrastructure requires regular attention and routine maintenance to ensure that we can run trains for the members and the general public. From time to time we embark on substantial projects that need a concerted effort from both within and, occasionally, outside the club. Here are two recent examples.
passenger cars
Our previous set of passenger cars had been in service for many years, varying in design and inter-operability. In 2016 we decided to replace the whole fleet and one of our members undertook the design of a new, braked, passenger car that would serve us for many seasons to come
We first constructed a prototype that we tested and used to make minor changes to the design before commissioning outside companies to provide us with machined components from which we could construct the full set of 11 cars
Some of the new cars entered service in 2018 with the full fleet available for the 2019 running seasony
swing bridges
Our continuous track has three areas where we need to provide access to the inner part of the site. The most substantial is to the south of the station area where two long swing bridges cross an access path
In 2018 we identified that the original bridges were approaching their end of life and a team of our members designed replacements. They were able to manufacture and install the first bridge before the start of the 2019 running season. The second of the bridges has just been finished and installed ready for our 2020 season!