As I have said previously, the thing I enjoy most about my role at Norbar is that no two days are ever the same.

A classic example of this came up recently.

Our Norbar EvoTorque® tools carry Network Rail Approval.

We were contacted by a Network Rail depot asking for details of the tool which I duly gave, as I always do, I offered to visit site for a full demonstration of the tool. After all you don’t buy a car just because it looks good in the brochure and because the manufacturer tells you so.

We could meet locally at 10 and you can follow me in or meet at the depot around 11. We can meet the team introduce the tool and we take possession at around 1am. Two things suddenly dawned on me, firstly 10 or 11 meant PM and secondly, we were going “trackside” this would mean full orange Hi-Viz and full PPE.

At the depot I met with the team, they were very impressed with the EvoTorque® Battery Tool and one feature in particular, Audit mode, meant that they didn’t have to remove and re-torque the bolts they could just check that they were correctly torqued. I went through what the tool readings would mean and what actions, if any, they need to take based on the results.

We went to the site a couple of miles away where we would be checking the bolts on “Switches and Crossings” the full term given to what is commonly known as “Points”

Before going trackside, we waited for conformation that the track was clear and that we had “possession” A full brief was given by the COSS (Controller of site safety) to the team regarding where we were going, what task we were carrying out, importantly which tracks were live.

Having already shown the team how to set up the tool, once on track I had them set the tool to the required in audit mode with a pre-set tolerance, I instructed in best practice for reaction points, although it was not always possible to get a good reaction. We discussed bespoke reactions; however: a sliding reaction would be simple to use, more economical and give them greater flexibility. 

A couple of things I note on this visit, how much wildlife there is in London at that time of the morning, how nonchalant urban foxes are around humans wearing orange clothing, just how little noise there can be in London and how easy driving is at that time of the morning.