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East Coast Mainline Blockade for Werrington Junction diveunder


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I've been out for some exercise today.

 

I'll start with some shots from Cock Lane, the first one is looking north towards the reception portal. Not much visible here unfortunately.

 

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The looking into the southern approach it is is very busy in there again, it looks to me as if the side walls are being or have been concrete sprayed.

 

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Then looking south we have the site of Marholm Junction with the pointwork still awaiting installation in the distance.


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And just at the entrance to the dive under they are now starting to fit the capping to the steel piles on the right ready for the handrails to be fitted to that side. On the left the netting on the handrails is visible.

 

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Moving over to the ECML lines looking north it is quite obvious where the box is! I suspect it is an optical illusion but the alignment looks a bit odd on the up slow, almost as if there is a dip.

 

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Moving up to Hurn Road we can see, again, where the box is and that there is a 50mph TSR over it. We can also see the alignment targets on the ends of the sleepers on all three roads.

 

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And Lincoln Road now - we can see clearly through the new bridge from the bridleway under the Parkway.

 

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And another view.

 

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Looking towards Glinton Junction work has resumed on the trackbed.

 

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And a not very good picture of the brickwork facing on the new bridge - must make a note, do not rely on autofocus.

 

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And here are the waterpipes on the Werrington side of the bridge. It seems the way the pipes are being connected isn't logical. Spoke to a very nice 'old boy' who used to work for Anglian Water. He said that there was a burst down in Werrington in the 90's, when they checked the maps the last update for that area was 1952. He used to work on updating the maps but, of course, was told which bits he had to do.

 

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And this last one shows clearly the original road surface before the bridge was raised in level as described by Donington Road a number of posts back.

 

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Edited by Richard E
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2 hours ago, Richard E said:

I've been out for some exercise today.

 

Some interesting photos when you blow them up Richard.

 

2 hours ago, Richard E said:

The looking into the southern approach it is is very busy in there again, it looks to me as if the side walls are being or have been concrete sprayed.

 

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They are in the process of shotcreting the piles.  Note the plywood sheets covering the sides of the pre-cast concrete atop of the piles.  They spent a long time sanding down and cleaning those concrete tops so they don't want them being splattered with concrete now.  Is that a camera fixed to the centre of the first steel girder?

 

2 hours ago, Richard E said:

Then looking south we have the site of Marholm Junction with the pointwork still awaiting installation in the distance.


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A temporary speed restriction of 60mph on the Up fast at Walton towards Peterborough.  I wasn't aware of any track alterations in that area.

 

2 hours ago, Richard E said:

Moving over to the ECML lines looking north it is quite obvious where the box is! I suspect it is an optical illusion but the alignment looks a bit odd on the up slow, almost as if there is a dip.

 

IMG-0081.jpg

 

Did you notice the new (red) track clips on the Up Fast either side of the junction?

 

2 hours ago, Richard E said:

And Lincoln Road now - we can see clearly through the new bridge from the bridleway under the Parkway.

 

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And another view.

 

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What I find a bit odd is that the new bridge abutments are not aligned to the flow of the new track.  Compare where the excavator is next to the left bridge pier in the first picture to the excavators position on the right edge of the picture below.

2 hours ago, Richard E said:

Looking towards Glinton Junction work has resumed on the trackbed.

 

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2 hours ago, Richard E said:

And a not very good picture of the brickwork facing on the new bridge - must make a note, do not rely on autofocus.

 

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You are not the first to be caught out with that latticework on the temporary bridge hogging the focus.:jester:

 

2 hours ago, Richard E said:

And here are the waterpipes on the Werrington side of the bridge. It seems the way the pipes are being connected isn't logical. Spoke to a very nice 'old boy' who used to work for Anglian Water. He said that there was a burst down in Werrington in the 90's, when they checked the maps the last update for that area was 1952. He used to work on updating the maps but, of course, was told which bits he had to do.

 

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It was a big burst, there is still a fair hump in the road where it occured.  As you go down Lincoln Road towards the Cock Inn from here it was just before the car sales showroom on the left.

All those valves being installed will make the new road surface a mine field of manhole covers, womanhole covers. steel plates. :jester:

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Mick

 

you're certainly spotting things I hadn't noticed. Hadn't particularly noticed the red track clips but looking at the picture they stand out don't they?

 

I wonder if the Up Fast TSR is due to a track fault in the area.

 

And, yes, I'd say that is a camera on the first beam although it could also be a movement sensor (it doesn't look right for one though).

 

When you look at the new underbridge from the Bailey Bridge alongside there doesn't seem to be much of an angle to the abutment walls but the shot from the bridleway seems to really bring that out.

 

As for the burst the shut off valves weren't where the 1952 maps said they were.

 

Oh, something else the chap I chatted to said was that they used to have, and probably still do have, bore holes at Etton sewage works. They were capped and in winter if you popped the caps off you had to be careful as the pressure in the aquifer was enough to create a 4 metre waterspout. The box tunnel runs through the same aquifer, he suggested that all train crew using the dive under should be trained to swim ...

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Some photos taken by Trackside ECML at Cock Lane today.

There is not much activity on the surface, I expect the concentration of work at the moment is inside the dive under tunnel.

Marholm Brook is in flood once again washing a lot of sediment into Brook Drain and a there is a lot of surface water about the site.

 

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The gang have nearly finished fixing the mesh panels to the east side fencing.

 

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Behind the (ugly) fencing these workmen are fixing the angle plate to the west side sheet piling ready to mount the fence posts on that side.

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Shotcreting the cylindrical piles.

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Edited by Donington Road
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As we've not had any pictures for a while I thought I'd pop a few on here.

 

Some work going on at the southern end of the site, yes, that digger boom is foul of the running line! There were lookouts on the crossing, the signal just south of Cock Lane footbridge on the up line was showing what looked like a yellow aspect.

 

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And we can see that the base plates for the railings are in place on the western side of the approach ramp and the signal aspect.


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This EMR 158 came in from the north, presumably on a Norwich service whilst I was there and is seen running south along the up Fast into Peterborough as the Stamford lines are subject to a possession for access to the southern ramp.


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And looking north from Cock Lane footbridge we can see the railing base on the left again, work going on in the dive under itself and some work on the new alignment of the Up Stamford too in the top centre. The shotcreting of the piles on the right seems to have stopped for now but the drains can be seen prior to the final cladding of the walls.


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And zooming in on that top centre area. Is that a white van in the left centre of frame? If so it is sitting quite high so it suggests that the infill work has been moving on apace. Mind you it could also be sitting on the dive under trackbed and the zoom lens is distorting perception ...

 

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It is still very wet on site even though the level of the brook looks, here, to have fallen.

 

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Mind you this looks rather full still - note the pipes under the access.

 

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And here are those pipes ...

 

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But the sluice under the main line, towards which the water is flowing, doesn't seem to be coping ...

 

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Moving over to Lincoln Road bridge the pipework is now connected and we have water present ...

 

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It looks as if both pipes are connected with a T buried in the gravel near the bridge.


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Whilst on the other side of the bridge they were busy burying the pipework. not long after taking these pictures they were using a whacker plate to compact everything.

 

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And the pipework going onto the bridge from the north.

 

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Meanwhile underneath the brickwork is making progress on both sides.
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And a quick view from the bridleway. It'll be interesting to see what they do with the brickwork from the old bridge.


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Looking towards the box they are laying the trackside drains now. It is an absolute quagmire in there, rather them than me!


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And we have a ramp down from the land bridge again.

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Edited by Richard E
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On 27/01/2021 at 19:01, Donington Road said:

 

Did you notice the new (red) track clips on the Up Fast either side of the junction?

 

 

Will be Pandrol 401a clips in the cast iron base plates on the timbers of the S&C Perhaps changed as they stressed the track following the work.

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There is a new video from the project via Twitter showing a bit more detail on the push and the hi tech solution used to show when to stop pushing (@ about 1:19 in). Judging by the snow cover the last bit has been shot in the past couple of days.

 

 

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12 hours ago, Crun said:

Have a look at Google Maps with the satellite layer for a view of the whole site from last summer.

 

Thanks for that.  It is about time Google updated their maps, albeit only the satellite images.

Detective work tells me that those images where taken on the 24/25 May 2020 around mid-day but what I find very disconcerting is that they have removed all traces of people. :scared:

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And time passes. I am surprised to find it is 8 days since I last visited the site.

 

A lot has happened in that time, I've had my first COVID injection, apart from feeling absolutely shattered the following day I've not had any other side effects thankfully.

 

And a lot has happened up at Werrington too.

 

I'll start at Cock Lane. Looking north into the dive under approach there seem to be a lot of activity on the trackbed itself. The shotcreting on the walls seems to have been paused for now.

 

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Next is a zoomed in shot from the same location to try and show the work in a little more detail. This shows that the railing baseplates haven't quite been completed on the western side.

 

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And another zoomed shot, this time to try and see what is going on around the proposed alignment of the Up Stamford. Not a lot to see really.


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Finally, looking south from the bridge there isn't much change apart from a rather large pile of ballast.

 

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Moving over to Lincoln Road bridge on the Werrington side they are now burying the pipework. I didn't take much here as one of the workmen asked me to avoid getting them in my pictures. Oddly a second one was quite interested and asked if I'd been cataloguing the project from the start.


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Can just see in this picture how they have dealt with the pipework on the western side of the bridge.


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the pier cladding underneath the new bridge is progressing on both sides.


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And the run in from Glinton Junction is looking more railway like now as the trackbed starts to take shape.


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It seems that some bits of new pipework and valves is not wanted so in the skip it goes!


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And here are the valve covers on the north western side of the new bridge, far neater than I expected even a few days ago.


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Looking through from the bridlepath the excavation is now down to trackbed level.


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And just west of the A15 shows that they have got this far with the track drains.


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Finally another view back along the new trackbed.


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Edited by Richard E
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2 hours ago, Donington Road said:

 

Thanks for that.  It is about time Google updated their maps, albeit only the satellite images.

Detective work tells me that those images where taken on the 24/25 May 2020 around mid-day but what I find very disconcerting is that they have removed all traces of people. :scared:

I note there is a line closure this Sunday. Is this just for work around King's Cross or for anything significant around Werrington Junction?

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1 hour ago, Donington Road said:

 

Thanks for that.  It is about time Google updated their maps, albeit only the satellite images.

Detective work tells me that those images where taken on the 24/25 May 2020 around mid-day but what I find very disconcerting is that they have removed all traces of people. :scared:

 

It does indeed say 25th May which was a Spring Bank Holiday Monday

There are however some cyclists west of the excavations for the diveunder near Lincoln Road and plenty more people visible around the area.

Maybe there was nobody working over the BH and IIRC it was during Lockdown #1.

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A few more photos taken today by my good friend Trackside ECML to compliment those that Richard posted earlier.

 

The new bridge is leaking

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What with these parts being scrapped plus those others that Richard photographed we can now see how our water rates are used.:rolleyes:

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Future wheel wash for 66's.:crazy:

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View from the A15 road bridge.

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It will be interesting to see how they will blend in the old wing wall with the new brickwork.

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The facing brickwork of the older bridge is beginning to look a bit rough in places.

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15 hours ago, Donington Road said:

It will be interesting to see how they will blend in the old wing wall with the new brickwork.

 

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The facing brickwork of the older bridge is beginning to look a bit rough in places.

 

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Some good shots there with great detail.

 

Looking at the steelwork I think it will be a 'false' facing wall angled between the existing 'old' and 'new' sections.

 

I see they've got movement monitoring kit fitted to the concrete of the 'new' old bridge. And that brick from the original brick arch bridge has spalled badly now, just reinforces the argument for using good quality engineering brick but, of course, these days that is too expensive ...

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52 minutes ago, Richard E said:

 

Some good shots there with great detail.

 

Looking at the steelwork I think it will be a 'false' facing wall angled between the existing 'old' and 'new' sections.

 

I see they've got movement monitoring kit fitted to the concrete of the 'new' old bridge. And that brick from the original brick arch bridge has spalled badly now, just reinforces the argument for using good quality engineering brick but, of course, these days that is too expensive ...

 

I would think that the brickwork on the lower half of the old bridge is the original 1850's bricks.  It is also surprising how well the brickwork and mortar on the wing wall has fared due to being covered by the embankment all those years whilst that above the embankment line (first photo) which has been exposed to the elements has deteriorated.

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On 11/02/2021 at 15:17, Crun said:

I note there is a line closure this Sunday. Is this just for work around King's Cross or for anything significant around Werrington Junction?

East Coast Upgrade

@ECMLupgrade

·

14m

On Sunday 14 February, we’re continuing our work to renew the tracks on the East Coast Main Line between Peterborough & Hitchin.

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More photos from Trackside ECML taken this afternoon.

 

Looking south from Cock Lane the future site of Marholm Junction is looking a bit tidier now the ballast has been graded out.

 

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Looking north there is a tidal wave of ballast soon to be pushed down over the concrete bed.

 

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And there is plenty more to come as the stock pile grows even more.

 

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We were trying to make out what the cylinder with the red top could be.  There is one in every recess of the fencing on both sides.

 

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48 minutes ago, Donington Road said:

We were trying to make out what the cylinder with the red top could be.  There is one in every recess of the fencing on both sides.

 

 

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Some sort of train operated warning system?

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