Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[signalandtelegraph]

I assume they are using LED signal heads

Standard fit now

[paul7575]

I assume they are using LED signal heads

Standard fit now

I remember it being reported in a couple of the rail mags at the time that the Portsmouth resignalling was the last major job not to use LEDs - and this was thought odd because they'd already seemed to have become standard elsewhere.

Maybe the Portsmouth work had been delayed so long the hardware had already been delivered, but that's probably just an misinformed rumour!

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Having seen the briefing materials for the redoubling, I am now in a position to answer a few of the 'unknowns' discussed on here over the months:

• The linespeeds at Charlbury through the new Charlbury Junction will be 75mph, although if running into the Up platform to reverse the linespeed will be 40mph.
• The linespeeds at Moreton-In-Marsh through the station will be 60mph both directions.
• The linespeeds at Evesham through the station will be 50mph both directions.
• The linespeed at Ascott in the Up direction will be 75mph then 100mph (i.e. the 40mph crossing is removed).
• Other than minor changes, most other linespeeds remain the same.
• MM5, the down Section Signal at Moreton, will remain a semaphore and stay in its current location rather than being moved nearer to, or beyond, the A429 bridge.  This was a fairly late change from the original plan based on cost.
• MM27, the new turnround signal at Moreton will be located on the right-hand side of the track and next to the crossing by Semaphore Shunt Signal MM20 which controls movements into the Down Reception Siding (which will now be the only siding at Moreton).
• All semaphores at Moreton will be fitted with LED heads for better night vision.
• All sidings at Evesham are to be removed, though the reinstatement of Honeybourne Sidings 1, 2, and 3 (entry to which will be controlled from Evesham box) will be used for stabling of Track Machines/Failure etc.
• At Honeybourne the crossover from Long Marston will be moved to the west side of the station.  Trains will be able to shunt from the Down Main to the extended Honeybourne Through Siding (which then becomes the Long Marston Branch), but they will only be able to shunt from Down Main to Up Main by going into the Honeybourne Through Siding then back out onto the Up Main behind E2442 signal protecting the junction.
• Axle counters are being removed from Wolvercote to Ascott and the route will be signalled under Track Circuit Block conditions.
• Extra signalling sections will be provided at Charlbury and Honeybourne.
• All level crossings are to receive AWS^▸ (Automatic Warning System) magnets and, with the exception of Bruern, all stop signals (and as a result all distant signals) for these crossings will move further away from the crossing itself for safety reasons.
• There will be a number of extra whistle boards at many of the UWC^▸ (User Worked Crossing), especially between Blockley and Campden Crossings for safety reasons, i.e. it takes longer for someone to cross two tracks rather than one.
• And finally, although not in the briefing pack, there are strong rumours that money has now been found to lengthen Shipton's Up platform to 3car length!

That's about all I can think of as being relevant, but if anyone has any other questions then just ask...

[willc]

all stop signals (and as a result all distant signals) for these crossings will move further away from the crossing itself for safety reasons.

Not at Ascott, where the new post for the down stop signal (ie westbound) is closer to the crossing, though the distant is 50 yards or so further away.

Overnight work saw more sleepers dropped close up to Ascott-under-Wychwood station and sleepers and rails laid on the short section south of Charlbury station to the new junction. Signal teams out and about again with the stop signal for Charlbury turnback trains looking likely the next to be fitted. I think the Ascott distant was definitely fitted yesterday but bit hard to spot it for sure passing flat out at 90mph on a late-running Turbo this morning.

[ChrisB]

• Axle counters are being removed from Wolvercote to Ascott and the route will be signalled under Track Circuit Block conditions.

Does this affect the reporting on the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) system?

[IndustryInsider]

all stop signals (and as a result all distant signals) for these crossings will move further away from the crossing itself for safety reasons.

Not at Ascott, where the new post for the down stop signal (ie westbound) is closer to the crossing, though the distant is 50 yards or so further away.

Still a fair distance from the crossing, and sorry, I should have made that clear -  I meant all the remotely controlled level crossings with stop signals which currently sit very close to the actual crossing, i.e. Bruern, Blockley, Chipping Campden and Littleton & Badsey.  I think the one at Ascott has moved closer to the crossing due to the fact that it will then become the Section Signal for Ascott (AW2413) as the current Semaphore Section Signal is being removed completely.

• Axle counters are being removed from Wolvercote to Ascott and the route will be signalled under Track Circuit Block conditions.

Does this affect the reporting on the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) system?

It has the potential to, yes.  As do some of the other locations that will be running under TCB^▸ (Track Circuit Block) - whether they will interface with TRUST^▸ (Train Running System TOPS) to provide the automatic reports that affect the CIS remains to be seen, though hopefully Norton Junction and Ascott will become automatic reporting locations, with possibly Charlbury and Honeybourne as new ones.  Manual reports will probably continue to be done at places like Moreton, but with less faffing around required returning tokens etc., the signaller should be able to do them more promptly.

[willc]

The new distant signal head at Chilson for trains heading to Ascott is definitely in place and bagged over. I think the head of the new eastbound signal at Chilson is also in place.

At Ascott station the platform in now level up to the top of the walls, and waiting for the edging slabs for the front of the platform and the top surface, lamps, etc.

At Charlbury edging slabs are now laid along the southern end of the platform and a couple more lamp-posts have been placed. The signal equipment cabin that was propping up Network Rail's sign has moved to a new base at the back of the new platform, so looks like another cabin must be coming later for the plinth laid at the south end of the existing platform. Concreting of most of the main foundations for the footbridge took place today but I'm not sure about the ones furthest back into the old allotments triangle on the car park side as they are hard to see down to from the trains. The section of track towards Cornbury got a layer of top ballast last night and a shuttering box for a concrete base for the new junction signal south of the Cornbury bridge has placed in a small pit.

There would appear to be a bit of a problem with loading the timetable information about the shuttle trains between Kingham and Worcester at the end of the month into journey planners. Still no sign of them at all, just two weeks from the blockade, although the replacement buses between Moreton-in-Marsh and Oxford have been loaded. Anyone know what's going on?

[willc]

Big dump of ballast and sand has been set up at the area of the junction point at Charlbury and looks like all the new signal posts in west Oxfordshire have now got their LED heads fitted, with bags placed over them for the time being.

At Ascott-under-Wychwood some concreting looks to have been going on at the back of the existing platform and stone blocks have been placed ready for the masons to start building the new steps and ramp arrangement there.

At Charlbury, as I suspected, the last two or three footbridge foundations alongside the old allotments area have yet to be completed but reinforcing cages are on had ready for use. Shuttering has been removed from all the bases on the new platform after the concrete set overnight.

[IndustryInsider]

Thought I'd give you an idea of what to expect post-redoubling with a few virtual reality screen grabs from the route learning DVD's for train crew.  Don't expect everything to be 100% accurate scenery wise, but it gives you the general idea.

1:  CHARLBURY JUNCTION (looking towards Oxford)



2: CHARLBURY STATION (looking towards Oxford)



3:  ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD STATION (looking towards Worcester)



4:  ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD LEVEL CROSSING & STATION (looking towards Oxford)



5:  MORETON-IN_MARSH STATION (looking towards Oxford)



6:  MORETON-IN-MARSH (looking towards Oxford viewed from level with Signalbox)



7:  BLOCKLEY LEVEL CROSSING SHOWING REPOSITIONED MM103 SIGNAL (looking towards Oxford)



8:  HONEYBOURNE STATION (looking towards Worcester)



9:  HONEYBOURNE STATION (looking towards Oxford)



10:  WEST OF HONEYBOURNE AT SITE OF NEW JUNCTION (looking towards Oxford)



11:  EVESHAM STATION (looking towards Oxford)



12:  WEST OF EVESHAM AT SITE OF NEW JUNCTION (looking towards Worcester)

[Chris from Nailsea]

WOW!

Absolutely brilliant - thanks, IndustryInsider! 

[JayMac]

Now, can you combine that route learning DVD with Railworks Train Simulator? 

 

[willc]

Very interesting, Insider. Thanks.

Don't expect everything to be 100% accurate scenery wise

About 0% accurate at Ascott-under-Wychwood, with the entire village wiped off the map! Which seems a bit odd if you're trying to learn the route, as the long straggle of houses parallel to the line is a very good indicator of location, especially at night. Does the DVD have a night-time mode as well?

Interesting to see the little sets of steps at the platform ends. I had been wondering what they were going to do in the absence of ramps.

[willc]

Some pictures from West Oxfordshire today now online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/willc2009/

Amey staff and contractors were putting in a Saturday shift at both Charlbury and Ascott-under-Wychwood, with footbridge foundations and platform edging slabs being dealt with at Charlbury and walls being built at Ascott for the new access to the existing platform. Due to the closure of the level crossing here from 10pm tonight, passengers will not be able to use the west-end ramp, so an access for the next couple of weeks has been provided at the east end.

An Automatic Warning System magnet has been placed on the current running line in Charlbury station for the new up starting signal at the south end, while parts for another AWS^▸ (Automatic Warning System) magnet were sitting at the trackside next to the Shorthampton/Chadlington bridge, with a base fixed on the track, which would suggest a signal for up trains is to be sited nearby, perhaps in front of the accommodation bridge at the other end of the cutting. Perhaps Insider can advise what the DVD shows here.

Concrete was poured overnight in the base for the junction signal at Cornbury.

[willc]

And finally... checking just now, have found that the times of the Worcester-Kingham shuttle trains from May 28-June 5 have finally been loaded into journey planners. Will run at roughly at 90-minute intervals most of the day. Hopefully, some sort of printed timetable is about to appear as well.

Should anyone want to observe/experience wrong-line running between Moreton-in-Marsh and Kingham during that week, the normal practice on such occasions is for trains to use the up line - ie the one normally taken by Oxford-bound trains and turn back in platform 2 at Kingham.

[IndustryInsider]

About 0% accurate at Ascott-under-Wychwood, with the entire village wiped off the map! Which seems a bit odd if you're trying to learn the route, as the long straggle of houses parallel to the line is a very good indicator of location, especially at night. Does the DVD have a night-time mode as well?

As it's a route learning DVD for staff that already know the route, but just want to see the specific changes to the track, signalling and platforms I don't think that it's necessary to include things like houses and villages, although some of the more obvious trackside features, such as the scrap yard at Littleton & Badsey and Blockley brickworks are included.  There is no night option.  After the changes have been completed a new DVD with real-life video recorded from the cab will be produced for the use of new drivers learning the route from scratch - as for all other routes on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) network.

An Automatic Warning System magnet has been placed on the current running line in Charlbury station for the new up starting signal at the south end, while parts for another AWS^▸ (Automatic Warning System) magnet were sitting at the trackside next to the Shorthampton/Chadlington bridge, with a base fixed on the track, which would suggest a signal for up trains is to be sited nearby, perhaps in front of the accommodation bridge at the other end of the cutting. Perhaps Insider can advise what the DVD shows here.

Here's the layout at Charlbury, taken from the appropriate page of the booklet accompanying the DVD's.  Bridges and mileposts are marked, so you can work out each signal's location from that.  It does show that Charlbury has, in effect, two additional signal sections in the Up direction as a train can be stopped in the platform at AW2406, whilst another waits a mile or so further back at AW2408 having received a cautionary aspect at AW2410.