Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[willc]

There was some discussion going on about concrete on a foundation but that seemed to be about one of the side ramp supports, not the two main span pillars, which both appeared to go on true, with a spirit level being used to make sure they were vertical, and their bolts were all tightened up with a pneumatic wrench.

When I was talking about the wind, I didn't mean the pillars, which were straightforward to lift and fit, rather I meant the lift of the bridge deck, which isn't exactly featherweight or aerodynamic and would need to be controlled carefully given it needs lifting over the platform lamp-posts in an area with an assortment of overhead cabling nearby.

[willc]

Couple of pictures at Ascott-under-Wychwood taken in fading light tonight now online. Work is moving along at a fast pace there. The level crossing warning lights are now in place and the old road dug out of the trackbed where the new track will go. The asphalt has been cleared away either side of the crossing as well. On the platform, laying of the tactile surface strip has started, while at the west end, a large rectangle that was excavated has been filled with concrete and was setting.

At Charlbury the shuttering boxes in pits on the new platform had been filled with concrete and were setting. 

[IanL]

At Charlbury this morning, most of the carpark is now closed or blocked by rail equipment, an overflow carpark by the cricket ground is open but was nearly filled by
Amey cars and rail excavators.

A new concreted area at the back of the new platform had just been completed - new waiting shelter? No sign of any further work on the footbridge.

[Electric train]

Got it in one!

Tell us more...? 

Appears one of the uprights didn't fit correctly.

Obviously they did not have a big enough hammer to make it fit 

Have a bolted base OHLE mast not fit its bolts on more than one occasion, right pain in the 

[willc]

I think something pneumatic to chip away at the concrete might have been more useful than a big hammer.

Seems to be a problem with the lamp-posts at Charlbury, as the ones that had been placed were all uprooted tonight. At the north end of the existing platform a pit has been dug for what looks likely to be foundations for a walkway to the footbridge and some low walls were being built where the ramp will start. At Ascott the tactile strip along the platform was nearing completion and a reinforcing cage had been put on top of the concrete in the pit at the west end of the new platform, awaiting more concrete.

Pictures from my visit to Ascott-under-Wychwood signalbox are now online here http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/pictures/oxfordshire_galleries/cotswoldline2009/ Click on the 'next images' links to reach the last page where they are. Story to follow in the morning.

Story is at http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/headlines/9048012.Signal_bells_toll_for_end_of_an_era_on_Cotswold_Line/

[ChrisB]

I can answer queries on the new track layouts if anyone has any questions....but not today.

[ChrisB]

There's an addition to the published blockade TT that I've been alerted to this morning.

Sunday 29 May 2011
(Page 14 of the timetable)
An additional train will run as follows:
Great Malvern 1019
Malvern Link 1022
Worcester Foregate Street 1030
Worcester Shrub Hill 1035
Pershore 1045
Evesham 1054
Honeybourne 1101
Moreton-in-Marsh 1118
Kingham 1130

Saturday 4 / Sunday 5 June 2011
(Page 32 of the timetable)
An additional train will run as follows:
Kingham 0009
Moreton-in-Marsh 0025
Honeybourne 0036
Evesham 0045
Pershore 0052
Worcester Shrub Hill 0108
(this service operates in the early hours of Sunday morning)

Posters are being distributed to selected stations between London Paddington and Oxford and all stations between Oxford and Hereford

The downloadable North Cotswolds timetable on our website will be updated as soon as
possible.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/northcotswold

Please spread the word!

[IndustryInsider]

The final two remaining signal posts have been erected either side of Charlbury (AW2407, and AW2408), though AW2407 has only got the theatre box installed and not the main lens yet.

Also, it looks like equipment (bags of concrete, etc.) are now being dropped off at the sites for the new LED signals in the Honeybourne and Evesham areas to be numbered in the E24xx range.  Below are the five relevant pages from the route learning booklet showing signal locations and number which I thought you (and possibly others) might find useful, Will?

CAMPDEN AREA


HONEYBOURNE AREA


BETWEEN HONEYBOURNE AND EVESHAM


EVESHAM AREA


WEST OF EVESHAM

[willc]

Thanks for that. Not 100 per cent sure the concreting kits are just for signal bases, as there are at least three dropped south of Moreton-in-Marsh as well, along with cable duct junction sections, so some of them may well be for equipment cabinets, given Moreton isn't getting new signals.

Interesting to note from the diagram that telephones are going to be fitted at the footpath crossings south of Chipping Campden, though probably a sensible precaution given trains are usually right on the 75mph limit in that area and the extra time needed to get across double track. Slightly puzzled that the Littleton & Badsey down distant E2449 apparently retains its existing signal head amid a sea of new LEDs in the Vale of Evesham

At Moreton-in-Marsh, a portable cabin and toilet have arrived next to the station for the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff who will be supervising the bus-rail interchange from Saturday.

At Charlbury a series of pits has been dug back into the new platform, presumably for the second attempt to place the lamp-posts, and a hole has also been made in the north end wall of the new platform for some reason. Concrete has been poured into the pit at the north end of the existing platform where the walkway to the bridge will go and there are piles of stone blocks ready for a wall to be built there. The pit at Ascott was still awaiting more concrete this evening.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

A portacabin was also placed at Hanborough yesterday to provide shelter for the staff involved in the replacement bus services. However it has been placed on the two disabled parking spaces and I have received two calls of complaint that no alternative parking spaces have been marked for disabled rail travellers.

[ChrisB]

I've reported this to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for you, CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about).

Hopefully, alternative spaces can be marked / reserved.

[IndustryInsider]

Slightly puzzled that the Littleton & Badsey down distant E2449 apparently retains its existing signal head amid a sea of new LEDs in the Vale of Evesham

Yes, that could well just be a mistake in the booklet.

[Electric train]

Thanks for that. Not 100 per cent sure the concreting kits are just for signal bases, as there are at least three dropped south of Moreton-in-Marsh as well, along with cable duct junction sections, so some of them may well be for equipment cabinets, given Moreton isn't getting new signals

If the kits are near switches and crossings then in could be for Point Heating, there may also be some telecom locs going in

[willc]

At Moreton looks like they will be equipment cabinet bases, certainly going by one that was installed south of the London Road bridge yesterday.

Out on the line today lots of activity. Track was taken out overnight at Shorthampton and just south of Charlbury and work to clear and prepare the trackbed was going on in both places while I was there. S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) technicians were out at Shorthampton working on the new signal there.

At Charlbury station, work to build the walkway to the footbridge ramp was in full swing and asphalt was being laid on the new platform. The ramp section for the footbridge that was present last Saturday has reappeared on a lorry trailer, suggesting another attempt to start lifting in the bridge may be imminent.

Not much going on at Ascott-under-Wychwood, with the junction point still in place and one or two of the platform contractor's staff around. May have been waiting for concrete to turn up for the base of the ramp to the new platform, which had all the shuttering and reinforcing steelwork in place. The new level crossing barriers have been fitted.

Some pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/willc2009/

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks again for the pictures.