Swindon to Kemble re-doubling - ongoing discussion and updates

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

Interesting article in May's Modern railways on the East Coast with a comment to the effect that:

"Why are we are we spending money on redoubling Swindon Kemble when there's still the Welwyn bottle neck."

The answer semed to be because it's easier and cheaper and wouldn't involve trying to close a station.

.....but S2K is being done to support its role as the South Wales diversionary route during electrification work west of Swindon.

Acronymn:
S2K = Swindon to Kemble

[Chris from Nailsea]

I began to think (for instance) of creosoted timber ...

There are various legal restrictions on the use of creosote, as detailed on the Health and Safety Executive website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/biocides/copr/creosote.htm

[swrural]

@ChrisfN

Er, it was actually an intended joke (see my added smiley).

But I like the dark green anti graffiti paint, I wonder if it works?   

[TonyK]

The textured anti-vandal paint certainly works, so long as someone with a power washer gets there within a few days.It also inhibits fly posters.

[swrural]

Great news, then perhaps we should admit final defeat and pretend the whole area is Southern Railway and paint everything dull green.  They took us over in the end, not the other way around.

Mind you, chocolate would not jar in the countryside and neither, as it happens, would GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) 'Dark Stone'.   

A National Trust (NT) manager once opined to me that a dull pink was good for farm buildings.   

[quedgeley2002]

Work on the redoubling seems to be gathering pace in anticipation of the first shutdown on 10th August.

There are a number of work sites along the line the most significant being just north of Swindon at Morden where the embankment extension and stabling work is largely complete. On the land behind the B&Q superstore adjacent to the line various track and sleeper components are being assembled that would appear to be a set of up and down cross overs. Perhaps these will be installed during the first blockade period?

At milepost 76 there is a mile of so of sleepers and track installed on what will become the Up line. Line side clearance of the track bed has occurred where the alignment allows and just north of Minety crossing a further stretch of ballast sleepers and rails is in place on the Down side. At Kemble the work seems to have been completed on the cutting stabilisation on the Down side with some earthworks completed to allow the second line to be installed. 

There is no activity at Kemble station itself, the site 'village' at the north of the station seems not to have seen any activity for a few weeks.

On the double track section between Brimscombe and Stroud AWS^▸ (Automatic Warning System) magnets have been installed on both lines and what presumably are signal bases are being constructed.

Perhaps those 'in the know' can explain the work program as I was surprised to see the signal work being down now when that part of the scheme is not due for completion until next Easter?

[TonyK]

Perhaps those 'in the know' can explain the work program as I was surprised to see the signal work being down now when that part of the scheme is not due for completion until next Easter?

I'm not so much "in the know" as "in the guess". The planning for this project will have been done with the entire route broken down into smaller pieces. There are many different skills needed along the way, from basic gardening to ecologist to electrical engineer to civil engineer to painter and decorator. And also project manager. That last person will have timetabled the whole panoply of skilled operatives to use each of their abilities in a way that gets the job done in the least time, for the least cost, and without having one man have to dig up something another man has already done to do his bit.

I fitted a new kitchen in my home many years ago.  I worked out every job that would need to be done, then worked out how long each would take, and how long each would mean the kitchen being out of action. The first 4 hour "possession" involved moving the central heating controls from one side of the room to the other, without damaging the floor. I was pleased as punch when I finished, having spent hours creating a small hole where the boiler used to be, then working under the floorboards before rejigging the wiring to take proper account of our new boiler. Mrs FTN got home from whatever she had been up to, and said "Is that all you've done?"

So I reckon the signalling has been scheduled because the people to do it were available, it would not impact on the running of the railway, would not get in the way of any other aspect of the redoubling of the track, and because one job done is one job less to do. Same goes for any apparently random bits of track work, which can be welded, aligned and ballasted as pretty much the last bit of the construction. Kemble station's refitting will be trivial in comparison to some of the other engineering that will have been done.

[Railfriend]

As someone who travels the Swindon-Kemble line infrequently but has a huge interest in the redoubling work, I hope that others who travel the line frequently can keep us posted on the work being undertaken.  Does anyone know if there is any discussion underway of Minety, Chalford and other locales on the Swindon-Gloucester line getting local train service?  Living in Cashes Green, Stroud, I remember the Autotrain that ran on a regular schedule from Chalford to Gloucester up to the 1960s.  Great new book available on life in 1950s/1960s Stroud, including comments and photos of the Autotrain: 'Up The Green' by Bryan Leach.

[IndustryInsider]

George Osborne popped by to check on the progress in the build up to the first of the two main stages of the work starting:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/News-Releases/CHANCELLOR-SEES-WORK-ON-SWINDON-TO-KEMBLE-STRIDE-FORWARD-1def.aspx

[Sapperton Tunnel]

I have finally managed to upload some photos to Flickr and you can find them at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99295362@N07/sets/

They are at 11 different locations and going from Kemble to Swindon they are:

1 - The South (Swindon) end of Kemble Tunnel
2 - Wick Bridge, which is on a minor road between Kemble and Kemble Wick
3 - Oaksey Bridge
4 - Minety Lower Moor Crossing
5 - Minety Bridge by Minety Station
6 - Black Dog Bridge on the B4696
7 - Purton Common Crossing
8 - Widham Bridge by Purton Station
9 - Purton Collins Lane Crossing
10 - Bremhill Bridge on the B4553 by the oil terminal
11 - Moredon Bridges (old and new) on the B4534

I have taken 3 sets so far:

22nd December 2012,
Easter and/or Spring Bank Holiday 2013
22nd July 2013.

I will endeavour to take the next set during the blockade.


Sapperton Tunnel

[Chris from Nailsea]

Many thanks for posting that useful visual record of progress in this particular project, Sapperton Tunnel! 

[TonyK]

My thanks also, ST. Things are certainly moving, and we can expect big changes in the next few weeks.

I once planned a flight to Oaksey Park airfield, for my first landing on grass. In the event, I couldn't raise anyone on the phone, so we went to Kemble instead.  I have just had a look at the airfield's circuit chart, and presciently, the railway line is shown as double! The current ICAO charts still have it as a single track - I hope someone tells them?

[John R]

Indeed, thanks ST. Great that someone is providing a record of the work.

I'm curious in the earlier pictures at Moredon Bridge. They show very old sleepers roughly where the new line has now been laid. Have they really lain there since the line was singled 40 years or so ago?

[TonyK]

I'm curious in the earlier pictures at Moredon Bridge. They show very old sleepers roughly where the new line has now been laid. Have they really lain there since the line was singled 40 years or so ago?

It certainly looks that way. Too much trouble to collect them?

[Red Squirrel]

I'm curious in the earlier pictures at Moredon Bridge. They show very old sleepers roughly where the new line has now been laid. Have they really lain there since the line was singled 40 years or so ago?

It certainly looks that way. Too much trouble to collect them?

Judging by the 'Easter' pictures, it looks like the old sleepers were more or less compost! You can see bits of them that have been shovelled to the side.

I'm guessing they were probably pretty rotten when the line was singled - so no salvage value.