The view below (WHLR Ltd) is looking back towards Salem, which lies across the river. At this point, where the railway runs on a ledge above the floodplain, fencing on the side closer to the river was left until the full rebuilding stage, although some fence posts were put in place at an early stage.

In late June 2002 rock was broken out of the small lineside quarry at Salem from which the old railway used to extract ballast - the digger in the middle distance on the left-hand picture below (both pictures Jan Woods, WHLR Ltd) indicates where it lies. The rock is for making a new access road to a property immediately alongside the railway nearby.

This view taken in September 2002 shows the quarry in the middle distance, looking south.

The sub-base of crushed slate waste had been laid and rolled through Salem by late July, as seen below.

In late September 2002 ballasting was taking place back from the area of OB62 (see below) towards Salem, as seen in the picture below, taken at CH8900 (i.e. 8900 metres from Dinas); sleepers had also been delivered.

The section from UB64 to OB62 was ballasted in mid-October 2002, and bundles of sleepers were delivered. This was linked with the section already ballasted further north by October 26th. The ballast bed through OB62 is shallower than usual (note the "step" visible in the middle picture), as wooden sleepers (thicker than the steel ones) were used initially through the bridge, as at the similar Phase 2 bridges. This was done in case check rails needed to be fitted as a safety precaution.

By October 26th 2002, ballasting had passed the quarry and was being carried out on the stretch immediately across the river from Salem.

OB62

The overbridge at Nant Mill, known as Pont Cerrig-y-Rhyd, carries a farm track. It has been underpinned in order to gain the necessary extra vertical clearance for the rolling stock.

At the start of August 2002 the necessary excavation work was underway. The bridge stands on bedrock, which was worked on with a rock pecker, together with lowering of the trackbed for a short distance on either side. Prior to the start of this work, the bridge faces and arch had been repointed.

The underpinning of OB62 followed a rather different method to that used on the Phase 2 bridges, dictated by the very constricted site, and made possible by the sound rock underneath it. Rather than providing a trough structure comprising the underpinnings of the abutments and a full concrete deck below the track, OB62 was provided with separate underpinnings for each abutment (left-hand picture), between which the track will go. Also, the necessary lowering of the southern approach, which is on a stone embankment on the riverside, was done by excavating within the width of the embankment (middle and right-hand pictures), leaving its original profile intact at the edge.

Immediately to the north of OB62, culvert UB61 provides effective drainage of a previously damp spot, and also forms another good illustration of the neat stonework applied to Phase 3 culverts.

In the opposite direction, Jan Woods' pictures below show Jones Bros staff on the trackbed on the curve approaching the Plas y Nant bridge, and at work in the river a little further north, opposite the weir at Nant Mill. At this point the river had made a scour hole in the railway embankment, which was repaired behind the protection of a sandbag coffer dam.

A long working party between Christmas 2002 and New Year 2003 saw tracklaying from the northern end extended past Salem village, and just past the occupation crossing adjacent to Salem Quarry, where the new access for an adjacent property crosses the line. By January 6th track had reached the immediate approach to OB62, which is just round the corner in the right-hand picture below (Jan Woods, WHLR Ltd). A gang of "Veteran Deviationists" is seen at work (i.e. veterans of the FR's Llyn Ystradau Deviation).

This week-long working party saw track laid through OB62, and most of the way along the next stretch of riverside embankment, leaving just three lengths to lay around the last curve to reach the southern end of this section of tracklaying at UB64 - the working party exhausted its supplies of good rails. In the left-hand picture, the World War 2 pillbox beside and above the Railway can be made out.

It subsequently proved that HMRI would not insist on guard rails through OB62, so the track was relaid with the standard steel sleepers.

The final work to add top ballast and tamp the track proceeded rapidly through Salem at the start of the week beginning July 21st; the pictures below show (left) Upnor Castle approaching Salem with fresh ballast, having just crossed UB56, and (right) the tamper and support train immediately north of OB62. Other finishing-off work is visible here, i.e. the fencing and signage for the occupation crossing just beyond the tamper.

Salem was the place where the last task needed before opening was done in August 2003; lifting and packing is seen in progress late in the afternoon on Sunday August 17th, before the first public trains the next day.

Winter closure gave the opportunity for an extended permanent way occupation at Salem in January 2009, intended to remove the causes of a 5mph speed restriction. Work was done on rail joints where gaps had increased, and a damaged rail was replaced adjacent to Salem Quarry.