Issue 65 - tre march 2010:Rail Engineer New Design 22/2/10 10:25 Page 42
42 | the rail engineer | march 2010
track
Nigel Wordsworth
reports
Machining goes
magnetic
(Above) Whitemoor The village of them has to be able Cutting process time
depot where 62 Hetton-le-Hole, to cope. The bed of The big Butler Elgamill is now running
HallRail switches nestling in the HallRail’s Butler with these clamps and it has proved to
were installed and Tyne & Wear Elgamill is 10 metres be a big success. “We are really pleased
(right) a BV8 countryside on in length and can with the way it has worked out” says
crossover for the southern hold two pieces of Managing Director Reg Hall. “The new
Needlefield Depot, edge of Sunderland, has for 60 years been rail at a time, each weighing just under a Technomagnete clamps have made a
Inverness. the home of one of the railway industry’s tonne. These are machined to the close huge difference to our efficiency and
specialist manufacturers. Established in tolerances required in modern high speed turn-around times.” Process times have
1948 as Hall & Blenkinsop, it produced points. been halved for certain operations, a
fabrications for the rail, mining, marine and In addition to the sheer weight of the combination of the time saved in
construction industries. The company has a items to be worked on which demand mounting and demounting the rails
long-standing role making munitions- overhead cranes to lift them on and off the and also the ability to take deeper,
handling equipment and today, as HallRail, machine beds, they also have to be firmly faster cuts due to the extra rigidity of
it is the largest independent manufacturer clamped down in position so they don’t the whole system.
of S&C in the country. move during the machining process. HallRail hold the Network Rail S&C
Of course, that isn’t all they do. The However the clamps must also not impede emergency supply contract so they
temporary steel replacements for the the path of the milling cutter which may have to be able to respond quickly. A
famous Chorley flying arches - featured in have to travel along the full length of the further set of Quad-Rail clamps is on
the rail engineer back in October 2008 - rail. order for their Asquith gantry mill.
were also fabricated at Hetton-le-Hole, but After having struggled with mechanical
switches and crossings now form the bulk clamping systems for years - a time- Room to grow
of HallRail’s products. consuming and labour-intensive process - One of HallRail’s strengths is their
And it’s a business they take very seriously HallRail approached the Italian firm ability to manufacture one-off items at
with a continuing programme of Technomagnete for a solution. Based near short notice. They use both flat-bottom
investments in buildings and machinery. Milan, the company are market leaders in and bullhead rail in various weights and
Just a year ago, they commissioned two permanent magnet clamping systems for can work in broad and narrow gauge as
new 5,000ft
2
buildings and they have now heavy engineering. well as standard. Fabricated crossings
installed cutting-edge technology to Using a combination of permanent and are complemented by cast-manganese
improve the way they electro-magnets, the Quad-Rail system ones for non-Network Rail applications.
Technomagnete's machine rails for securely clamps the workpiece to the Once all the components are
Quad-Rail switches. machine bed giving free access to the machined to specification, the set of
clamping system. surface to be worked on with no points then has to be built up. This
mechanical clamps to get in the way. The naturally takes up a lot of room but,
actual clamping force comes from with a five acre site - 30,000ft
2
of which
permanent magnets arranged about an is under cover - HallRail have plenty of
inner core so it is not dependent on an room. All items are completely
Clamping external power source and, as the magnetic assembled and checked, and then
force flux is uniform along the length of the rail, disassembled again for transport to site.
As is often the there is none of the vibration that can result The modern factory at Hetton-le-Hole
case with railways, from the spacing between conventional demonstrates how committed this
the manufacture of clamping systems. family firm is to keeping abreast of the
points and turnouts is fairly To allow for mounting and demounting of latest technology. And all that effort is
conventional engineering but workpieces, electro-magnets built into the obviously paying off - as we were
on a grand scale. Rail is heavy clamps are activated, neutralising the preparing this article, an order came in
stuff, weighing in at over 50kg per effects of the permanent magnets and for another £500,000 worth of S&C.
metre; switch blades can be 18 metres long, allowing the rails to be easily removed and Time to get those magnets humming
so the machinery for cutting and machining positioned. again!
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