Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[4064ReadingAbbey]

I've been wondering about that track for a while.  Previously we've seen track layout drawings that do show a route through the second span, but it has always seemed to me that it is a lot of extra S&C^▸ (Settle and Carlisle ) to provide and maintain, for very little operational benefit.  In any case there has been plenty of new equipment positioned exactly in line with the bridge span conflicting with a possible track - and it's been there a fair while now.

I think we may have discussed this way back in the thread, but all the extra line seems to do is allow for a train to be leaving P3 onto the down Westbury, at the same time as a train enters P7 from either the up Westbury, or from the Festival line.

Perhaps they've decided retrospectively that the functionality provided is not essential, especially in the normal timetable?   Be good to hear the reasoning from an insider though...

Paul

I'm not sure that it's a lot of extra S&C to provide and maintain - it's only two point ends and about 50 yards of track. The arrangement shown in the earlier track diagrams, as you say, allows parallel operation from the Festival Line and the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) into Platforms 7 and 3. In view of the lengths that have been taken in the overall design to reduce the number of conflicting movements it would seem perverse to skimp on a pair of turnouts which could reduce delays to not only trains using Platform 3 and 7 but, if anything is waiting on the Oxford Road Junction to Westbury Line Junction chord, it will impede operations into and out of Platforms 1 and 2 as well.

I hope the turn outs will be installed and not skimped.

[stuving]

J got into Reading at 16:12 this afternoon, just as a squall struck, and as usual it sprayed rain into the transfer deck. At the same time, there was a very loud noise from the roof. It was rather like a pneumatic drill down on a platform, for only a few seconds, and happened three of four times.

In such an echoey space it's very hard to say where its source was, other than somewhere in the structure, hence hard to pin down its cause. However, as it coincided with the strongest wind gusts, I guess it must be the metal cladding vibrating. If so, it is potentially quite serious, since the forces involved can be far higher than those for which the fixings are normally designed (weight and steady wind loads) and difficult to predict. And having strips of cladding ripped off and flying about is seriously bad news.

[eightf48544]

Could it have been hail we had the same guest in Taplow and it was very lound on teh windows Radio 4 weather forecast said there had been hail in the gusts

[johoare]

I was in Bisham Woods earlier and there was lots of hail so I imagine it was all the same thing. I did think I'd checked the forecast earlier too so it was a bit unexpected

[stuving]

Could it have been hail we had the same guest in Taplow and it was very lound on teh windows Radio 4 weather forecast said there had been hail in the gusts

I doubt it, because I've heard hail inside tin-roofed buildings before, and it is different in an important way. Hail has no fundamental note - it is essentially white noise, altered by whatever the resonances of the building are. This did have a basic frequency to it, plus the same building resonances.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

J got into Reading at 16:12 this afternoon, just as a squall struck, and as usual it sprayed rain into the transfer deck. At the same time, there was a very loud noise from the roof. It was rather like a pneumatic drill down on a platform, for only a few seconds, and happened three of four times.

In such an echoey space it's very hard to say where its source was, other than somewhere in the structure, hence hard to pin down its cause. However, as it coincided with the strongest wind gusts, I guess it must be the metal cladding vibrating. If so, it is potentially quite serious, since the forces involved can be far higher than those for which the fixings are normally designed (weight and steady wind loads) and difficult to predict. And having strips of cladding ripped off and flying about is seriously bad news.

Did anything fly off? Are all the roof bits still there? Were the plastic skylights punctured?

Did the bridge act like a junior Tacoma Narrows?

No? Then probably the calculations were done correctly. Designers do know how to allow for gusts.

[stuving]

Did anything fly off? Are all the roof bits still there? Were the plastic skylights punctured?

Did the bridge act like a junior Tacoma Narrows?

No? Then probably the calculations were done correctly. Designers do know how to allow for gusts.

No, - if anything had been blown off you would have heard about it on the national TV news. And by "steady wind loads" I wasn't meaning to exclude gusts - just the effects of turbulence and eddy-shedding, which are not easy to design for.

At the SW corner of the deck, the cladding looks a bit like a roller shutter. Some of it is visibly bent and has been since its installation - which gives some idea of just how flimsy it is.

[paul7575]

Couple of photos taken about lunchtime today, firstly the overall shape and size of the London end of P7 appears to be complete, with 'oversail blocks' in place along the whole track facing side.

Over on the P8/9 island, it looks very much as though the London end of the platform will be staggered, with the P8 side relatively longer than the P9 side.   This is definitely NOT as shown in the planning drawings, which have this island the same length either side, with a basic squared off end over the whole width.   So has the design changed, and might this mean that the country end will also remain staggered, even though I've been told by site personnel a few times now that the country end details are temporary.

About half the sleepers had been relaid alongside P10 today, it looked as though the ballast towards the west end was being checked for level, so I'd expect some progress towards track relaying later this week.

Paul

[stuving]

Over on the P8/9 island, it looks very much as though the London end of the platform will be staggered, with the P8 side relatively longer than the P9 side.   This is definitely NOT as shown in the planning drawings, which have this island the same length either side, with a basic squared off end over the whole width.   So has the design changed, and might this mean that the country end will also remain staggered, even though I've been told by site personnel a few times now that the country end details are temporary.

I'd always assumed that P8 would be left long at this end until the other end was finished, and then chopped back. Since that won't be until the viaduct and all the new trackwork at that end is done, it would be a fairly long-term temporary arrangement.

[Jason]

There has been a smaller Ainscough crane in the pit outside the south entrance for the past couple of days. It's been in a retracted state both evenings that I've seen it so no clues what it's up to.

[stuving]

There has been a smaller Ainscough crane in the pit outside the south entrance for the past couple of days. It's been in a retracted state both evenings that I've seen it so no clues what it's up to.

They have been erecting shuttering for the rest of the steps - though none of the bits looks so very heavy. Pictured yesterday.

[paul7575]

Nothing much to see since I last passed through, but the final footprint of the slightly extended P3 is now taking shape, this is where stuving reported a concrete pour going on a couple of weeks back, in post #2578.

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

The chaps with the yellow spray cans have been out to mark various routes of the final layout at the west end of the station, including such things as the route the track from Platform 9 leading to the down main (over the flyover) will take.

[wabbit]

Lots of concrete pouring going on for bridge piers tonight. And placement of reinforcing bar and shattering for the sidewalls on the bridge spans is advancing well. Bit too dark for photos as I've just gone past.

[Jason]

There was track through P10 this morning and the concrete pipeline was in place again along the platform.