L&BR trials Ecoal and Plastic Sleepers

In order to improve the L&B’s sustainability, a first delivery of plastic sleepers, manufactured in the U.K. by Sicut Enterprises, is due this month. The sleepers are made using waste plastic (45Kg per sleeper for narrow gauge) hitherto destined for landfill or export to the Far East. The cost is comparable to hardwood.

Timber and concrete sleepers have poor sustainability. A mile of standard gauge track installed with hardwood sleepers requires some 900 trees to be felled, often in South America or Africa, which then only have a useful life of 15 to 20 years, the trees themselves having taken in the region of 150 years to grow. The manufacturer estimates that approximately 120,000 Kg of CO2-e is saved for each sleeper installed. In the case of the L & B, our sleepers are half the size of standard gauge so that the savings in CO2-e are half the figures quoted but are still highly significant.

In the first order are some larger sleeper lengths to enable the replacement of point timbers near the coaling stage at Woody Bay. The appearance is very similar to wood, especially after a little weathering. It is expected that each plastic sleeper will last a minimum of 25 years with high hopes that this period may well be doubled in practice leading to significantly reduced costs and labour requirement, the latter especially significant as the railway is extended.

Network Rail have made their first use of Sicut’s plastic sleepers this year, using them for sleeper renewal on Sherrington Viaduct on the line between Salisbury and Warminster where weight was an important factor.

Ecoal

The L&B has also taken delivery of its first batch of Ecoal which is formed using about 60% coal and 40% olive stones.  A  trial using the Ecoal will take place on the L&B shortly with a report on performance, and any problems encountered, being submitted on documentation provided by the Advanced Steam Traction Trust. The search for a more sustainable coal substitute is still at an early stage so this is likely to be only the first of such trials.

A similar trial is also intended to take place in future using a bio-diesel fuel, which although used much less than coal, would be a further step to increasing the L & B’s sustainability.

Paul Curson
Environment & Conservation Trustee