Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[dzug]

Few pictures at the usual place

And where's that??  Being relatively new here I haven't a clue.

[willc]

There's a link seven posts (mostly irrelevant to redoubling) back up the previous page, from Sunday lunchtime but here it is again http://www.flickr.com/photos/willc2009/

[pbc2520]

Also, I recommend searching this thread for 'flickr' (without the quotes) to see a load of other interesting images (or their URLs).

[willc]

A large pile of flat-bottomed rail has appeared at Moreton-in-Marsh, I'm assuming for track renewal at the station.

There are some redoubling-related meet the manager events going on this week and next - unpublicised bar some posters at the stations which must have appeared at the last minute. Remaining ones are at Honeybourne today (Friday) 6.30am to 9am, Pershore on Monday, 6am to 9.15am, and and Kingham on Tuesday, 6am to 9.30am.

Timetable booklets covering the various train and bus services operating from Saturday, August 6, until Sunday, August 21, are now available at stations. The gremlins got into the works during the verification process between FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Network Rail and a Hanborough call at 09.59, by the 09.29 from Moreton-in-Marsh to London from Monday, August, 15 to Friday, August 19, is missing from the booklet version of the timetable but I believe the online pdf linked from FGW's Cotswold Line page and journey planners should be altered soon to reflect the amendment.

[IanL]

Charlbury platform 1 stairs to footbridge still out of action, but some explanation from ticket office
staff this morning: They cant be opened up until some bollards or barriers go in to stop people
running/wheelchairs or prams rolling down the ramp and straight onto the stairs. Sounds like a
design stuff up to me. Handrails still being removed, worked on then slowly replaced. Conduit for
lighting electrics being installed on the footbridge.

[ChrisB]

yes, I reckon so.

[willc]

Have heard there were worries that skateboarders could find the combination of the long ramp and the relatively short steps section down to the platform rather tempting.

The ramp does have a series of flat sections along its length and a fairly coarse surface, so the odds of a pram or wheelchair running away aren't that high. A simple chicane using a couple of barriers at the end of the ramp should do the trick.

The bottom end of the car park at Moreton-in-Marsh has been cordoned off today to allow for a build-up of material for the forthcoming phase of work. A new equipment cabin has arrived, which I suspect is destined for the base dug out across the line near the signalbox, along with a stack of large bags filled with ballast.

[willc]

Lots of progress at Honeybourne in the past few days.

Looks like the foundation piles on the island platform have all been concreted and steel sleepers have been laid out to form most of the new Long Marston branch connection, from the new junction point through the station up to the existing branch, bar the point into the sidings area, where the third siding is being laid. Reinforcing cages and shuttering boxes for concrete work on the footbridge foundations are waiting at the sidings to be moved to the station.

A signalling equipment cabin is now in position next to the new junction point west of the station

The station car park will be closed from tomorrow night, to allow work to start on the footbridge foundations alongside the road embankment. The wall of gabions full of stone here is being built up higher to support the bank and bridge. A temporary car park is nearly complete in a field just across Station Road from the entrance to the car park access road. This will be in use from Monday until Wednesday, August 24, two days after the double track opens.

Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/willc2009/

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks, yet again, for your timely and illustrated update, willc. 

[pbc2520]

On the Network Rail project page for the redoubling project (http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/8640.aspx) where exactly on the line is the top picture taken?  (Full picture http://www.networkrail.co.uk/images/western-route/project-page/cotswolds/gallery/cotswolds.jpg.)

I've been trying to place it for some time but now admitting defeat...  (I'm not desperate enough to bother the photographer himself who probably won't remember anyway...)

[IndustryInsider]

I'm pretty sure it's looking down from the high farm bridge near Combe station, looking in the up direction.  You can't quite see the station itself, but it's hidden just beyond where the track becomes obscured by the trees.

[pbc2520]

Thanks.  (I wondered about there but was expecting to see telegraph cables overhead.)

[willc]

Insider has the correct location - an odd choice perhaps, given that the line there is staying single - it is called Grintleyhill Bridge and unlike a lot of the accommodation bridges on the line is accessible by the public, as it carries a footpath between Combe, East End (a hamlet) and North Leigh.

Work to renew Chipping Campden level crossing's barriers and warning equipment (and reinstate double track there?) is starting ahead of the blockade, with the crossing being closed to road traffic from 10pm this coming Saturday until Monday, August 22nd.

Blockley level crossing will close at 6am on the morning of Saturday, August 6, and reopen on the 22nd. The base for an equipment cabin has been built next to the crossing on the Paxford side of the line.

Haven't been to Clayfield crossing recently, so not sure when it will be out of use.

[Moreton134]

Noticed today at Moreton the short down refuge siding by the Network Rail Depot is no longer connected to the main line.  The point has been replaced by a short section of new bullhead track with fresh ballast (strange it wasn't flat-bottomed rail as there is a large pile by the siding, as willc mentioned).   Ground signals for the point still in situ for now.

[willc]

Just to be clear, the down refuge is the long siding south of London Road which has recently been fettled up. What has been disconnected is the old goods shed line, which also had a short headshunt alongside some cattle pens (the pens have long since replaced by car parking spaces). The bullhead plain line should be a temporary measure until the flat-bottomed rail is installed, along with new sleepers, next month.