Great Western Main Line electrification - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[REVUpminster]

Quick question, are the Steventon crossings the first at grade crossings on the GW^▸ (Great Western) main line going west from London? I have an old map with a footpath crossing at Basildon, just before Gatehampton Bridge but that had disappeared by the 60's from maps. 

Here is a footpath crossing on the LTSR at Cranham, Upminster which when the trains are non-stopping Upminster is very fast. The footpath emerges from trees both sides of the tracks.

footpath cranham by Robert, on Flickr
Footpath 193 crossing the LTSR just east of Cranham Upminster. by Robert, on Flickr

[IndustryInsider]

Wouldn't the driving technique be to shut off power and coast, a distance before the start of the high contact wire gradient and merely maintain 110mph through the c30ch restriction?

That would be down the the driver given the DAS^▸ (Driver Advisory System) (Driver Advisory System) on IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s has yet to be switched on for some reason.  Some might, though it'd take several miles to get down from 125mph to 110mph, especially in the up direction with the gently falling gradient.

[Marlburian]

I'm not sure what defines a "grade crossing" - presumably it's a right-of-way or private track crossing a railway line at the same level. I can't think of any on the Paddington-Reading-Didcot line, except the one already mentioned at Calcot.

But there's a footpath across the line west of the aggregate (?) depot at Theale, a private access track west of Midgham Station (where I think there was an "incident" a few years ago) and a footpath on the outskirts of Great Bedwyn, crossing the line past the buffer stops of the recently-elongated siding.

Back in 2009 Ruby Wax's sister was killed on a foot crossing "at" Little Bedwyn, which I can't identify from the map but is perhaps a half-mile to the north. Certainly I've walked along the canal towing path and cautiously opened side-gates to cross the line in this locality.

[SandTEngineer]

I'm not sure what defines a "grade crossing" - presumably it's a right-of-way or private track crossing a railway line at the same level. I can't think of any on the Paddington-Reading-Didcot line, except the one already mentioned at Calcot.

An 'at Grade Crossing' is one that crosses the line at rail level.

[eightonedee]

except the one already mentioned at Calcot

Calcot is on the Berks & Hants, not the Reading Didcot, Marlburian.

There used to be a few more I think through Berkshire on this line, I think, certainly one at Thatcham linking the Nature Discovery Centre with the lakes south of the railway.

Getting back to the Upminster one, there is currently a protracted process trying to close a large number of pedestrian and private crossings in East Anglia. There has been a lot of opposition from various parish councils, footpath user groups and farmers, so it has all taken much longer than anticipated. The Essex ones were the subject of a lengthy public enquiry last year.

[CyclingSid]

From a 2017 version of the Network Rail level crossings file

Going west from Didcot:
   Stocks Lane
   Wantage Road
   Grove
   Denchworth

Going north from Didcot:
   Appleford
   Nuneham

Going west from Reading West:
   Calcot Mill
   Wigmore Lane
   Towney

Going south from Reading West:
   Grazeley Green
   Danes

[Thatcham Crossing]

certainly one at Thatcham linking the Nature Discovery Centre with the lakes south of the railway.

That one is still there, it was upgraded a bit (new path across the tracks) during electrification.

Wigmore Lane

Is the one that Marlburian mentioned west of the Theale aggregate depot.

Towney

Pretty sure this is now closed since electrification. Big padlocked metal gates last time I was there.

[stuving]

From a 2017 version of the Network Rail level crossings file

That looks out of date even then, and has some non-railway names in it. From the 2018 Sectional Appendix (so not that new itself):

Going west from Didcot:
   Stocks Lane
                               - Causeway, of course
   Wantage Road
                               - Butterfly Lane
   Grove               - yes
   Denchworth       - no mention, even back to 2012!

Going north from Didcot:
   Appleford          - now closed still there
   Nuneham          - no sign, even back to 2012!
                              - the first is at Manor Farm, north of Radley

Going west from Reading West:
   Calcot Mill         - not marked at all, though something obviously exists there
   Wigmore Lane    - all that's shown is Drake's No 2 just before Theale
   Towney            - yes

Going south from Reading West:   - on Wessex route (and 75 mph)
   Grazeley Green
   Danes

[Reading General]

Calcot Mill is definitely there, I used it this morning.
Nuneham was there at the beginning of the year as trains still sound a horn for it.

[stuving]

Calcot Mill is definitely there, I used it this morning.
Nuneham was there at the beginning of the year as trains still sound a horn for it.

Both of those happen to fall* at the boundary of two pages of the maps in the Sectional Appendix. I wonder if they just get left out when that happens - not important enough to be worth the space they'd take up.

* I'm guessing where the Nuneham one would be - not at Nuneham, obviously, but probably close to its viaduct.

[CyclingSid]

January 2020 data can be found at https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/safety-in-the-community/level-crossing-safety/

[Reading General]

* I'm guessing where the Nuneham one would be - not at Nuneham, obviously, but probabkly close to its viaduct.

It's between Culham Station and the bridge over the Thames to the North, Nuneham Viaduct. It's rather pointless as it is about 200 yards from a brick overbridge. I have used it though sometime in the past ten years.

[stuving]

January 2020 data can be found at https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/safety-in-the-community/level-crossing-safety/

That - especially the spreadsheet - does look like a complete listing. In which case the Sectional Appendix clearly isn't to be regarded as definitive for level crossings. However, while including them may be optional, I guess showing ones that don't exist will be a mistake of some kind.

Denchworth does appear to have been replaced by a footbridge a couple of years ago - at least, there's some such object there now. I can't find any news of that, and it seems a rather costly option as it's less than 300m from Circourt Road bridge.

[Reading General]

I just found an Ordnance Survey map dated 1978 showing a public footpath crossing the line at Lower Basildon between the road bridge by the church and Gatehampton Bridge crossing the Thames. Whether the path crossed the line still, or the paths leading up to it were still dead end rights of way I'm not sure.

This map also shows a siding on the northern (eastern here) side of the line just before the bridge on the Berkshire side.

[SandTEngineer]

We seem to have missed this (well I have, anyway):

UK^▸ (United Kingdom) first: Patchway gap on Great Western (between Patchway Short Tunnel & Patchway Old Tunnel) has just been wired with tensionless conductor bar as part of the electrification programme. Due to the size of gap (160m) it would have been difficult to wire in a tensioned system

Other photographs here: https://mobile.twitter.com/25kv/status/1114928419383463937?lang=en