Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

The new GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway.) system, due for the Cotswold Line by mid-2012, apparently allows for the provision of real-time location data which can be fed to the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) systems.  So, hopefully, (as discussed here recently) the reliance on manual reporting of a train's location, or potential automatic reporting with the use of Track Circuit signalling, won't matter as the GSM-R system will automatically feed the information to keep everything up-to-date.  Confirmation of this from someone in the know would be useful?

[willc]

Somewhat to my alarm I have just realised there are now more than 500 pictures in the redoubling set, with several months to go.

That's the beauty of digital archives they are so much easier to store and appreciate than negatives or slides. I think your collection is a great historical record. If only we had such comprehensive collections of the engineering feats which brought our railways into being in the 19th century.

Not entirely true, as the construction of the Great Central - albeit in the days of steam excavators and the like - was recorded in exhaustive detail by a photographer called SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) Newton. The archive now belongs to Leicestershire County Council, which has made much of it available online. Well worth a look. For details, see http://www.railwayarchive.org.uk/ and http://prints.leics.gov.uk/the_last_main_line/photo/7469.html

Last few pictures of the weekend online, showing progress on the track around Evesham and a certain bridge deck. Nice paint job, looks similar to the colours used at some stations on the Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham line. Massive improvement on the battleship grey monster at Moreton-in-Marsh. I fear Honeybourne will be treated in a similar fashion to Moreton, as it too lacks a listed station building.

On the level crossings front, Bruern, which is on the double track between Shipton and Kingham and is remotely operated by Ascott-under-Wychwood signalbox, is to be closed from this coming Saturday until June 19 for new barriers to be installed

[willc]

Pdfs with timetables for the buses and trains that will be operating from May 28 to june 5 are now online at the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3501

[ChrisB]

That's a really badly laid-out webpage!

[stebbo]

The new GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway.) system, due for the Cotswold Line by mid-2012, apparently allows for the provision of real-time location data which can be fed to the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) systems.  So, hopefully, (as discussed here recently) the reliance on manual reporting of a train's location, or potential automatic reporting with the use of Track Circuit signalling, won't matter as the GSM-R system will automatically feed the information to keep everything up-to-date.  Confirmation of this from someone in the know would be useful?

I'm not a technical guy but aren't these radio based systems (which is what I assume they are) prone to interference unlike the old fashioned cable systems? I was reading another article a few days ago on radio based signalling and it brought to mind some other stuff I'd read on the risks of interference - solar flares etc.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Pdfs with timetables for the buses and trains that will be operating from May 28 to june 5 are now online at the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3501

There's no mention on there of a weekday (Tue-Fri) train at 07:08 from Shrub Hill to Paddington via Stroud, a train that is on the NRE^‡(resolve) journey planner.

Does this train exist, I wonder?

[ChrisB]

That TT won't include the Stroud trains

[bobm]

When you say it doesn't include the Stroud trains the PDF timetables do show several services operating via Stroud. They are shown in the same way as the WoE services via Bristol and have the phrase vertically down the column.

[willc]

What Worcester Passenger and Chris are talking about when they say via Stroud are the new regular timetabled trains between Worcester and London via Stroud that started operating today (they are extensions of Cheltenham services because the stock now overnights at Worcester).

And while the two morning ones from Worcester via Stroud are missing - I suppose they perhaps don't want them full of Worcester passengers when they reach Cheltenham and Gloucester - the return train in the evening via Stroud, the 19.48, does appear in the blockade timetable, because it extends out to Hereford for the week.

Work-wise, the tactile surface strip behind the platform edge slabs has been laid the full length of the new platform at Charlbury and most of the back edge kerbs and hardcore laying are complete, though a couple of pits with shuttering boxes in them for concrete have been dug, perhaps for footings for the information screen and help-point.

At Ascott-under-Wychwood, excavations are taking place at the west end of the new platform, I'm surmising this is for foundations for the passenger access ramp and steps, given its position.

[Richard Fairhurst]

And while the two morning ones from Worcester via Stroud are missing - I suppose they perhaps don't want them full of Worcester passengers when they reach Cheltenham and Gloucester

They're in the post-works timetable, though. Looks more like a simple omission to me.

[ChrisB]

Something not mentioned within the blockade TT, which was present in the 2009 blockade TT, was the easements allowed on tickets from the Western end of the line.

I have had verbal confirmation this morning, from the Head of Fares Strategy, that these easements will indeed apply across the 2011 blockades, namely -

Tickets from HFD^» (Hereford - next trains) to Malvern Link inclusive to London, routed via Evesham, will be valid via Newport.
Tickets to London from HFD to Shrub Hill inclusive, routed via Evesham, will be valid via Stroud or Bristol Parkway (on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) only).

Tickets from Pershore eastwards will be expected to use the buses, but those tiockets could be excessed to be valid from Shrub Hill and travel is then allowed to Shrub Hill to pick up services to Stroud / Bristol Parkway as above. Depending on connections, this may be of use to those from Pershore or Evesham.

These easements have been requested to appear in the blockade FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the FGW website, and should appear shortly.

[signalandtelegraph]

Yep - main span sitting there but nothing up as yet.

I think the increasing strength of the wind must have defeated efforts to lift the bridge last night, as they actually removed the two supports I had seen being placed in the early hours and the ramp section seems to have gone away again on the lorry that brought it yesterday.

Or it did not fit!!!!

Got it in one!

[IndustryInsider]

Got it in one!

Tell us more...? 

[bobm]

Might explain why the supports were taken down. Having erected them it did seem odd to remove them due to the wind. Could understand the weather being a factor if they failed to get them up at all.

[signalandtelegraph]

Got it in one!

Tell us more...? 

Appears one of the uprights didn't fit correctly.