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willc
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« Reply #1095 on: April 18, 2011, 00:02:46 » |
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Form an orderly queue...
The thanks are always appreciated. The little headlines are just a bit of fun that developed along the way - the earliest photos have rather more prosaic ones. There are occasions when one has me stumped for a while, or I realise I have already used the same heading elsewhere.
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Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #1096 on: April 18, 2011, 00:03:48 » |
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William Huskisson MP▸ was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830. Many more have died in the same way since then. Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.
"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner." Discuss.
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willc
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« Reply #1097 on: April 18, 2011, 21:07:04 » |
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Pace of track work in West Oxfordshire is picking up now. Sleepers have been placed on the trackbed to the Mill Lane bridge above Ascott-under-Wychwood, just short of milepost 80, and work has resumed from Charlbury. Rails have been lifted on to sleepers out past Walcot, about half-a-mile, while ballast beyond that point has been compacted and sleepers are being lifted into place from the edge of the trackbed where they were left some months back.
At the stations, what look like electrical ducts or drains are being placed inside the platform walls at Ascott and walling work is continuing. The gabions just west of the level crossing have been formed into a rectangle which looks like it is going to be the base for a big signalling equipment room, or something similar.
At Charlbury, steel reinforcements are being placed in the holes bored last week and concrete pouring for the piles to support to footbridge has begun. A large grid of reinforcing rods is being fixed together at the eastern end of the platform, which looks big enough to be used in the base for a new waiting shelter.
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« Last Edit: April 18, 2011, 21:24:35 by willc »
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Nottage_Halt
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« Reply #1098 on: April 19, 2011, 09:51:09 » |
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Work on the road bridge at Honeybourne has been completed, it seems. Traffic lights now control single-lane road traffic over the bridge. The restriction for vehicles has allowed room for a walkway which will lead, presumably, to a flight of steps to what will become the Up platform.
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willc
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« Reply #1099 on: April 19, 2011, 13:55:22 » |
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Work on the road bridge at Honeybourne has been completed, it seems. Traffic lights now control single-lane road traffic over the bridge. The restriction for vehicles has allowed room for a walkway which will lead, presumably, to a flight of steps to what will become the Up platform.
Think it's got more to do with a desire to avoid the bridge parapets being hit by lorries/vehicles falling off on to the line - there was precious little room to spare if you encountered a large lorry on the bridge previously. Some of the brickwork was recently damaged by a vehicle strike and only prevented from falling on to the trackbed because the adjacent steelwork propped it up. The plans submitted to Wychavon council last year made it clear that the footbridge would only be accessible from the existing platform, by steps or a ramp. |
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Nottage_Halt
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« Reply #1100 on: April 19, 2011, 19:32:34 » |
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Think it's got more to do with a desire to avoid the bridge parapets being hit by lorries/vehicles falling off on to the line Ahh. I see, thanks for the correction. I was wrong in assuming this was a footbridge being done on the cheap. The bridge is used by many HGVs most days, heading to/from the Unipart depot at Sheen Hill - which used to be the rail-connected MoD depot. As well as some traffic arising from the many fruit & veg packhouses in the area. Maybe, one day, these vehicle parts and produce will come by rail again. |
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chris from stroud
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« Reply #1101 on: April 19, 2011, 21:40:46 » |
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Honeybourne looks set to go from one to three platforms in the space of a decade (assuming all goes well for the GWR▸ ). Is this the fastest station expansion in history?  It'll be interesting to see if they put up heritage-style platform signs on the new up platform, would be a nice touch... |
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Guaranteed line improvements wherever I go (with the exception of Salcombe, which never had one to begin with ): Falmouth, The Cotswolds and Stroud. Melksham or Tavistock next, then? |
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willc
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« Reply #1102 on: April 19, 2011, 23:22:20 » |
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Think it's got more to do with a desire to avoid the bridge parapets being hit by lorries/vehicles falling off on to the line Ahh. I see, thanks for the correction. I was wrong in assuming this was a footbridge being done on the cheap. The bridge is used by many HGVs most days, heading to/from the Unipart depot at Sheen Hill - which used to be the rail-connected MoD depot. As well as some traffic arising from the many fruit & veg packhouses in the area. Maybe, one day, these vehicle parts and produce will come by rail again. They're not allowed to do these things on the cheap nowadays - plus pedestrians and traffic mixing on bridges like that are a serious no-no with highways. Plan of the new footbridge is at the link below. The footbridge at Charlbury is to a very similar arrangement. http://81.171.139.151/WAM/doc/720078-Page-12.pdf?extension=.pdf&page=12&id=720078&appid=1001&contentType=application/pdf&location=volume2I'm afraid it's likely to be a while longer before the GWSR gets to Honeybourne. The bill to repair the second landslip is going to consume pretty much everything they can raise for quite some time, which will seriously delay reaching Broadway, never mind Honeybourne. A trio of road-rail excavators was delivered at Charlbury this afternoon, so looks like the drive to finish the track on this section will be stepping up a gear over the next few nights. The back wall on the new platform at Ascott-under-Wychwood is now almost complete. |
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #1103 on: April 20, 2011, 10:57:12 » |
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The diagram Willc's linked to quotes the new platform at Honeybourne as being 222 metres long. Easily enough to hold a 2+8 set if that's the case.
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To view my GWML▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/ |
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willc
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« Reply #1104 on: April 20, 2011, 13:34:41 » |
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I believe it's simply the case that they submitted the plans they had drawn up, which did not reflect the later decision to cut back to 140m.
Sleepers are now dropped almost all the way to Ascott-under-Wychwood. As I am in the car today, don't know how they're getting on with the track between Charlbury and Shorthampton. At Charlbury station, steelwork was being lifted into more of the holes bored for the footbridge pilings and concrete being pumped in. A level area has been formed at the north end of the car park for the ramp and steps arrangment on that side of the line.
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willc
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« Reply #1105 on: April 21, 2011, 01:38:16 » |
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Pictures taken yesterday morning in Oxfordshire online at the usual place.
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #1106 on: April 21, 2011, 11:11:11 » |
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I believe it's simply the case that they submitted the plans they had drawn up, which did not reflect the later decision to cut back to 140m.
Good. That would be a little extravagant given the length of other platforms on the line and the numbers boarding/alighting a typical train. |
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To view my GWML▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/ |
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willc
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« Reply #1107 on: April 23, 2011, 00:26:46 » |
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Mini photo update now online with a couple of pictures showing profiled top ballast applied to the track around Littleton & Badsey. No more track has been laid west from Aldington over the past week, presumably due to the AmeyColas teams being moved back to Oxfordshire, but John Stanley of the CLPG» has told me that on a trip out to Malvern yesterday he saw from the train that trackbed clearance has been completed on the final mile west of Evesham - no public footpaths out there, so there won't be any photos. Martin Loader has put a couple of pictures on line taken at Charlbury on Thursday, one of which shows some work going on near the new double to single track junction. See http://www.hondawanderer.com/Recent_Additions.htm |
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Steve Bray
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« Reply #1108 on: April 25, 2011, 19:15:19 » |
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The popular 'Big Chill' Festival at Eastnor, close to Ledbury is taking place from Friday 5th - Sunday 7th August. Getting TO Malvern/Ledbury should be OK, but from Saturday 6th August, there's no Cotswold Line service between Worcester and Charlbury, so those returning on Sunday 7th or Monday 8th August towards London could have a long / crowded / uncomfortable journey. I hope that First can schedule appropriate capacity or run at least 2 HST▸ 's from Hereford via Gloucester on the Sunday evening (usually only the 1633 from Hereford is diverted via Gloucester)
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ChrisB
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« Reply #1109 on: April 25, 2011, 19:43:13 » |
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FGW▸ are listed as a sponsor in the festival advertising, so I guess that they're in touch?....
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