East Coast Mainline Blockade for Werrington Junction diveunder

[Donington Road]

37 minutes ago, Richard E said:

I've been wondering if they'll do some of the Marholm Junction work during the blockade but, on second thoughts, they are using the Stamford lines for the reduced service during that period as I understand things. So that comes back to work over the Christmas break and some temporary 'tweaks' to track alignment being possible.

 

It is all still a bit of guesswork Richard.  I think it will all become a bit clearer after the 5 day blitz of Marholm Junction over Christmas. [Glinton Junction took around 10 days over several weekends to install four switches]

 

I have put together the list below from another source, or should I say deciphered it into something more understandable (to me ).

 

During the nine day January blockade, 16th to the 24th, there will be bi-directional running between Tallington Junction and the New England ladder crossing on the Down Stamford.

 

The Up Slow (to and from the Joint Line) is also marked down as bi-directional working.  This means there will be no trains approaching Werrington Junction on the Down Fast to take the Joint Line.

 

The Norwich/Liverpool services are terminating at Nottingham.

Freight that would normally go via Stamford is being diverted to the Midland Main Line to go via Melton Mowbray.

 

My take on it is that there will be no trains to or from Stamford.  Only the Down Slow will be in use bi-directionally (Tallington to New England) and the Up Slow in use bi-directionally (Peterborough to Werrington Junction).  The Up Stamford will be out of use from Helpston to New England along with the ECML.

 

I don't think the new Up Stamford, which will be laid between the ECML and dive under will be done until well after the box has been pushed through, even if sleepers, track and ballast where to be installed as far as the box before hand.  There is still a lot of work to do on that side of the dive under, safety railing on the sheet piling, signal to install near Werrington Brook, and as far as I can see there is no time slot where the Up Stamford could be slewed at the Hurn Road end whilst trains are still running on the adjacent Down Slow during the blockade.  Also I cannot see trains running on a line so close to the edge of the dive under before most of the work has been finished on the ramp.

[Crun]

I noticed some rubber surfaced crossing 'planks' being installed just south of Hurn Lane bridge this morning. Lots of orange coated workers and vans there too.

[melmerby]

Is there to be some extra signalling for this bi-direction working on the Down Stamford?

[ess1uk]

4 hours ago, Crun said:

I noticed some rubber surfaced crossing 'planks' being installed just south of Hurn Lane bridge this morning. Lots of orange coated workers and vans there too.

They had a bobcat forked handler there yesterday morning when I was there moving stuff about and I had to wait for them to move so I could get through the access gate and the same on the way out.

it also looked liked they were doing some drainage work near Hurn Lane 

[Richard E]

The plastic pipe that was on the verge of Lincoln Road has been moved into the worksite.

 

 

And the only evidence of the big holes that were dug last week are a stop valve cover and the diverter valve.

 

 

The pipe over the joint line is now out of use and the temporary patch has been removed so we can see the hole that was punched into it.

 

 

The steps down that Mick pictured last week now have a full set of handrails. judging by these the edge of the bridleway under the A15 will also be where the railway boundary fence will go.

 

 

There was some kit being unloaded at the Lincoln Road compound.

 

 

These two posed for a photo too ...

 

 

Meanwhile the spraycrete is being worked on, poor chap was on his own with his electric jack hammer and a generator in a wheelbarrow. I'd have thought his ear defenders were in the wrong place though.

 

 

And finally Mick was correct, there are now two complete switches at the Marholm Road footbridge site.

 

 

[Donington Road]

37 minutes ago, Richard E said:

The steps down that Mick pictured last week now have a full set of handrails. judging by these the edge of the bridleway under the A15 will also be where the railway boundary fence will go.

 

 

That yellow piping and fittings are a hard plastic.  I was watching them put up some like it on the west side of Cock Lane near to the Down Stamford line.  As it was being sawn a cloud of white powder was being produced.

 

37 minutes ago, Richard E said:

These two posed for a photo too ...

 

 

Always good seeing happy faces on the worksite.

[Donington Road]

A little bit of action at Hurn Road footbridge but elsewhere everything is very quiet.

Laying a concrete ramp to a temporary crossing.  Most probably for road/rail machinery to at access the ECML during the January blockade.  Only a thin base so not for heavy machinery to use.

 

Looking for fist size stones to raise the steel mesh above the polythene membrane.  Very high tech

 

 

 

The signalling gang going through the hole in the side of the footbridge to access the scaffolding down to the wide-way.

 

 

 

[Donington Road]

My good friend Trackside ECML has been out and about around the site.

 

 

[woodenhead]

On 14/12/2020 at 21:59, Crun said:

LNER East Coast Upgrade Project:

 

 

Rather sad that they have to complete the KX work between March and June 2021 - just as we will hopefully be escaping pandemnic restrictions they have to reduce station capacity 50%.

 

Mind, maybe there still won't be 50% of the passenger numbers we used to have on the trains then and actually the impact will not be noticed too much.

[Crun]

Saturday 19th December. Views from Hurn Road bridge. Concrete 'driveway' plus more rubber planks.

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Crun

[Crun]

Views from Cock Lane bridge. More railings and ballast in evidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Crun

[melmerby]

Interesting that the ballast in the dive under seems to be a different colour to that on the new up Stamford

Edited December 19, 2020 by melmerby

[Crun]

A gap now blocked on Serjeants Way:

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Crun

[Crun]

Views from Fox Covert bridge. Lots of rails to be seen.

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Crun

[ess1uk]

19 minutes ago, Crun said:

Saturday 19th December. Views from Hurn Road bridge:

 

 

They do like to make it difficult to drive down there

[Donington Road]

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

Interesting that the ballast in the dive under seems to be a different colour to that on the new up Stamford

 

Did you notice this photo Chris took today?

The new Stamford is a mixture.  I don't know if it is re-cycled ballast that may have come from Whitemoor.  A lot of old ballast from around the country ends up there to be cleaned then re-used again.

 

[Donington Road]

3 hours ago, ess1uk said:

They do like to make it difficult to drive down there

 

Do you mean Hurn Road off the A15 or the rough track down the side of the ECML?

To get to the footbridge by car it is probably better to approach it via Marholm, no houses or works vehicles glogging the roads that way and it is cleaner.

[Richard E]

3 hours ago, Donington Road said:

 

Do you mean Hurn Road off the A15 or the rough track down the side of the ECML?

To get to the footbridge by car it is probably better to approach it via Marholm, no houses or works vehicles glogging the roads that way and it is cleaner.

 

But that nice bumpy bit leading to the new access to the track is off Hurn Road as you know so there is no option to getting there any other way. Mind you your point is valid and you aren't leaving the Tier 4 area doing that either.

 

On another point it looks to me as if the Up Stamford is ballasted all the way to the southern side of the dive under box now.

 

From the video that is a substantial chunk of concrete that was/is supporting the water main on the line of the new trackbed under Lincoln Road.

[melmerby]

4 hours ago, Donington Road said:

 

Did you notice this photo Chris took today?

The new Stamford is a mixture.  I don't know if it is re-cycled ballast that may have come from Whitemoor.  A lot of old ballast from around the country ends up there to be cleaned then re-used again.

 

 

I originally dismissed that as just shadow , but on a second look the colour change is obvious. even where they are both in shadow.

Edited December 19, 2020 by melmerby

[Donington Road]

1 hour ago, Richard E said:

 

But that nice bumpy bit leading to the new access to the track is off Hurn Road as you know so there is no option to getting there any other way. Mind you your point is valid and you aren't leaving the Tier 4 area doing that either.

 

Network Rail/Morgan Sindall can access the old track from the side of the dive-under near the north siphon pit.  It is the old track that went to the relay building.

 

Quote

From the video that is a substantial chunk of concrete that was/is supporting the water main on the line of the new trackbed under Lincoln Road.

 

I knew there was a support there but not that much.  It was obviously buried in the embankment and undergrowth of the original Hurn Road that made a 'T' junction with Lincoln Roadmany years ago.

Once it and the pipe are removed then the rest of the embankment will soon disappear.  I wonder if they will remove the pipe and trackside piers over christmas as there are no trains on the Joint from 19:30 24th to about 06:00 on the 28th.

I am a bit reluctant to venture out with the new covid measures being put in place.  It is a bit annoying as there is quite a lot happening over the christmas/new year period, plus the big push of the box is only four weeks away.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Donington Road

[ess1uk]

4 hours ago, Donington Road said:

 

Do you mean Hurn Road off the A15 or the rough track down the side of the ECML?

To get to the footbridge by car it is probably better to approach it via Marholm, no houses or works vehicles glogging the roads that way and it is cleaner.

Both

they have blocked the turning circle at the far end by the mast so you have to reverse either from the gate if you can turn there or reverse back from the mast and turn at the gate

[Donington Road]

11 minutes ago, ess1uk said:

Both

they have blocked the turning circle at the far end by the mast so you have to reverse either from the gate if you can turn there or reverse back from the mast and turn at the gate

 

Ah, I was getting confused as your original post showed the new rail crossing and Network Rail's old access road going down to the relay building.  It was that access road that I thought you were referring to.

 

What you are referring to, is the the west side of Hurn Road and the farm track next to the radio mast.

It was a condition in the early days that NR/MS were not to use Hurn Road via Marholm as access to the railway.  That is why the door and scaffolding was installed on the footbridge so employees could access the wide-way, which they did frequently, parking their vehicles by the access gate on the east side where the track went down to the relay building.  During the latter part of this year vehicles were starting to arrive at Hurn Road via Marholm and employees were accessing the railway by the gate next to the Stamford Lines and not using the door access on the footbridge.  Consequently vehicles parked on the west side were making a bit of a mess of the grass verge and then using the entrance to the farm track for turning purposes.  In doing so heavier vans and trucks were starting to make a mess of that entrance, hence the two boulders that have been put there to stop vehicles turning.  Since the boulders were put there I have not seen any more NR/MS vehicles that side of the railway.  They now clutter up the east side and they are causing subsidence damage to the surface of Hurn Road which I doubt is going down very well with the residents that live down there.

When I cycled from Lincoln Road past the site entrance at Hurn Road on Thursday, two cars came out of the site and turned into Hurn Road to join three vans that were already there near the footbridge.  There was no parking near the footbridge and they had to park further back towards the site.  The time it took to do that, those two employees could have walked from the site.  Sheer laziness on their part.

[Richard E]

8 hours ago, Donington Road said:

Network Rail/Morgan Sindall can access the old track from the side of the dive-under near the north siphon pit.  It is the old track that went to the relay building.

 

Ah, I hadn't appreciated that although I did realise the track went as far as the relay building.

 

8 hours ago, Donington Road said:

Once it and the pipe are removed then the rest of the embankment will soon disappear.  I wonder if they will remove the pipe and trackside piers over christmas as there are no trains on the Joint from 19:30 24th to about 06:00 on the 28th.

 

That would seem logical as it is holding up progress now.

 

8 hours ago, Donington Road said:

I am a bit reluctant to venture out with the new covid measures being put in place.  It is a bit annoying as there is quite a lot happening over the christmas/new year period, plus the big push of the box is only four weeks away.

 

I feel the same. Having said that I will, for my own sanity, need to venture further than trips to the supermarket. And, like many, I wonder how long this lockdown will last and, for that matter, how it will be policed. And that is without speculating how many will ignore it completely.

[ess1uk]

8 hours ago, Donington Road said:

 

Ah, I was getting confused as your original post showed the new rail crossing and Network Rail's old access road going down to the relay building.  It was that access road that I thought you were referring to.

 

What you are referring to, is the the west side of Hurn Road and the farm track next to the radio mast.

It was a condition in the early days that NR/MS were not to use Hurn Road via Marholm as access to the railway.  That is why the door and scaffolding was installed on the footbridge so employees could access the wide-way, which they did frequently, parking their vehicles by the access gate on the east side where the track went down to the relay building.  During the latter part of this year vehicles were starting to arrive at Hurn Road via Marholm and employees were accessing the railway by the gate next to the Stamford Lines and not using the door access on the footbridge.  Consequently vehicles parked on the west side were making a bit of a mess of the grass verge and then using the entrance to the farm track for turning purposes.  In doing so heavier vans and trucks were starting to make a mess of that entrance, hence the two boulders that have been put there to stop vehicles turning.  Since the boulders were put there I have not seen any more NR/MS vehicles that side of the railway.  They now clutter up the east side and they are causing subsidence damage to the surface of Hurn Road which I doubt is going down very well with the residents that live down there.

When I cycled from Lincoln Road past the site entrance at Hurn Road on Thursday, two cars came out of the site and turned into Hurn Road to join three vans that were already there near the footbridge.  There was no parking near the footbridge and they had to park further back towards the site.  The time it took to do that, those two employees could have walked from the site.  Sheer laziness on their part.

Yes the mast on the East side of the ECML along the dirt track shown in the photo.

it stops at the mast, at present you can’t drive any further as the tunnel is in the way and you have to walk in the cess to the relay room.

yes Hurn Road will take your sump off it not careful 

[ess1uk]

42 minutes ago, Richard E said:

 

Ah, I hadn't appreciated that although I did realise the track went as far as the relay building.

 

 

 

 

 

I feel the same. Having said that I will, for my own sanity, need to venture further than trips to the supermarket. And, like many, I wonder how long this lockdown will last and, for that matter, how it will be policed. And that is without speculating how many will ignore it completely.

The dirt road doesn’t get to the brick relay room any more.

to drive to it you would have to go through the work site.

 

you can still leave home for exercise so walk by and take pictures as usual