Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[stebbo]

As a matter of interest what's going to happen to the Up Starter at Evesham? On my trips to London I've come to admire the old right sided Great Western starter with it's "straight" set of lenses.

[Buckham]

Was on my Sunday morning run this morning and noticed that they have now delivered the new rails between Honeybourne and Evesham. Must have happened sometime this week, as they weren't there last Sunday.

[willc]

Excavations at Charlbury for the foundations of the new platform have uncovered the concrete block wall and concrete base for the front of the old platform, which date back to a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) rebuild in the 1920s or 30s. Looks in pretty good nick considering it has been buried for so long but presumably set too far back (on the old broad gauge alignment) and too low to be reused.

A survey team was at work near the Cornbury bridge this morning and there is a new signal base in place on the Oxford side of the bridge.

There is compacted base ballast down the bank from Chipping Campden tunnel towards Mickleton (not possible to photograph from where I stopped to look last night), but no sign of ballasting at Mickleton yet, so assume they will be getting on with dropping sleepers and more ballasting from tonight to get the track down well on the way to Honeybourne this week.

[willc]

Signalling teams out between Ascott-uner-Wychwood and Chalrbury this morning and shuttering for the foundations for the new platform wall at Charlbury was being put in position between the new track and the old platform's wall.

[ChrisB]

Just out of conference with Oxfordshire CC & FGW^▸ (First Great Western). NO decision yet on whether the old Charlbury platform will form part of the new or be dug up. Decision to be taken fairly soon.

[willc]

a. As I said, the shuttering for new foundations was going in this morning, so the concrete will either already have started to arrive (too dark to see on my way home tonight) or is imminent.
b. You would have to reposition the track that has already been laid (Charlbury used to have a large gap between the tracks like Moreton-in-Marsh still does) and there is now a wide trench with the shuttering in it where the track would need to move to.
c. The old wall would need building up quite a lot to be of any use, as it would appear the former platform was much lower than modern standards would require and the block sizes won't match modern building materials anyway.
d. Can't see any need to dig it up, simply bury it again. If it was going to be taken out, it would surely have been done by now, instead of which the contractors have excavated the old wall very carefully, so they know exactly where it is, presumably to ensure backfilling is done correctly.

[ChrisB]

By part of the 'new', i meant being built into it, not forming part of it.

The rest stands, I think David Northey at Network Rail knows of what he speaks....he is Sponsor of these works for NR^» (Network Rail - home page) after all.

[willc]

Well everyone can make their own minds up. I have put a few pictures online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/willc2009/sets/ showing what's going on at Charlbury - my money is on the old wall simply being buried once the new front wall is in place. Work is already going on to build up the ground level behind the old wall - this dates back to 1928 apparently.

Couple of pictures from Mickleton as well, where the ballast bed is laid and compacted ready for sleepers. These have been placed on the trackbed from the tunnel and across the Chipping Campden-Mickleton road bridge but no rails had been fitted to them on the bit I could see from the roadside near the bridge this morning. Due to the lack of public access further along the line, not sure how much further towards Honeybourne the ballasting has got.

Work to build the new footbridge at Honeybourne looks imminent, with signs at either side of the road bridge saying work will be taking place there for four weeks from March 10, ie tomorrow, but no sign of tracklaying in the sidings just yet, with the stacks of track panels still standing waiting.

The big concrete base near Charlbury station is apparently to support an equipment cabinet.

[ChrisB]

Re Charlbury platform, yes, thatsthe decision I think they'll come to too, allI was reporting was that this decision os yet to be taken.

[IanL]

Concrete being poured this morning between the wooden shuttering and the old wall, covering up the visible wall almost to the top.

[willc]

It was pretty clear from the visual evidence that the contractors had taken the decision some days ago to keep the wall. For connoisseurs of such things, the Worcester-bound platform at Kingham is from much the same date and the front wall is built with the same materials, though a layer of bricks on top of the blockwork, plus the current top surface, have raised the level quite a few inches.

New signal bases are going in on the approach to Ascott-under-Wychwood from Charlbury. Base for the home signal looks ready, with the distant's being worked on today.

[willc]

Site compound is being prepared at Ascott-under-Wychwood in a field across the line from the signal box, with a hardcore surface. Some building materials for the platforms have started to arrive.

The site office portable buildings at Moreton-in-Marsh looked to be being loaded on to lorries this morning, perhaps off to the Vale of Evesham.

[ChrisB]

Or Ascott?

[shaun healey]

just popped up to the work site just east of the new bridge at honeybourne as the ballast train arrived. so now within half a mile of the station.
The diggers are now on the opposite side of the track on what will be the london bound line, at some point the track will have to be slewed between the above site and norton hall bridge.

[willc]

Will be dealt with along with the other places where the track moves across the formation west of Moreton-in-Marsh (Blockley, Chipping Campden and Clayfield level crossings being the ones that spring to mind) in August. At the moment what they are doing is laying as much continuous plain line as possible between these places, then switching across the formation to restart on the other side, though the Honeybourne area may be rather bitty, making allowances for the changes in the position of the junction for Long Marston.

I keep forgetting to mention that Blockley and Campden level crossings are now being operated locally. The klaxons come on (not sure what triggers them, the Moreton signaller perhaps?) but Network Rail staff who are stationed there now get out of a parked car or van and lower and raise the barriers using the trackside control panels.