Ear plugs at the ready!
Starting on Sunday at Haymarket, a rail-mounted yellow grinding machine will progress at walking speed along Edinburgh's new tram tracks towards York Place and back again on both inward and outward routes.
The machine, to the untutored eye, resembles two armour-plated burger wagons on their way to the Russian Front.
But in fact behind a shield designed to contain sparks and 'loose material', there is a sophisticated mechanism which will grind down the rail surface to remove rust and make it ready for use.
With delicately nuanced understatement, a Council press release this morning stated that:
'The grinder will make some noise and can create dust and smoke, most of which is contained within the screening that is built into the machine.'
A road-sweeper will travel behind the machine to collect any debris and to indicate that the lane ahead is closed. Lucky contractors will walk along beside the machine, presumably to stop enervated dogs and shoppers flinging themselves under to escape the din.
Work on Princes Street is scheduled to start on Tuesday 7 May, from 9.30am till 4.00pm. The whole process is expected to take 9 days.
Perhaps aware that Edinburgh journalists will try to make mountains out of the tiniest molehill of tram news, City media staff were swift to point out that all this apparent palaver is in reality a 'standard process used for all new rail tracks'.
Aware that Edinburgh tram types will try to make molehills out of the mightiest mountains, Spurtle has trawled the web and come up with these images of a slightly larger railgrinder in action. Time will tell.
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