Most of us have travelled by train but not many of us have considered where our trains and railway systems come from.

In fact, much of the various components needed to run railways services are manufactured in the UK by highly skilled engineers.

It is engineers that help develop our railways, helping them run more efficiently and giving us the freedom to travel quickly and safely around the country.

Railways are made up of several components which include train carriages, tracks, signal lighting and electrical systems, amongst other things.

One of the main companies that manufactures parts for railways is based in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. They make the Zwicky range of obstructionless hydraulic track jacks.

In addition they also manufacture track tools, sleeper beams, rail beams, rail thimbles and bespoke equipment.

Many of the track tools they make are specially insulated so they can be used on electric systems like the London underground. Standard tools include spanners, manual handling tools, bars, shovels, forks and fast clip tools. Their insulated range includes forks, keying hammers and pick handles.

Sleeper beams include fixed sleeper lifting beams, fixed sleeper laying beams, adjustable sleeper beams and dropper chains.

Rail beams include manual rail handling beams and hydraulic rail handling beams. They are manufactured to lift heavy beams quickly and efficiently. Thimbles are used with road rail machines and long welded rail trains.

All these tools represent just a tiny element of what is required to run and maintain railways and illustrates what difficult and dangerous job railway maintenance can be.

Many of us take for granted the running of our train services without realising the amount of work that goes into maintaining the service. Railway engineers are always working somewhere on the railway system and need to check for various things on a daily basis.

Although railway engineering is sometimes carried out during the day and at weekends most of it takes place overnight meaning that there is less disruption to services.

During this time railway engineers check electrics, railway beams, railway tracks, signalling and a host of other elements. If a beam or rail is showing signs of fatigue then it must be replaced which is where some of the aforementioned equipment comes into play.

The UK rail network is one of the safest in the world and that is down to the people who look after it. Railway maintenance involves a great deal of hard work and technical ability to carry out safely.