Midland Main Line Electrification

[jamie92208 74,973]

The test train was seen through Werrington Junction yesterday, wrong main line I know.

 

Jamie

[corneliuslundie 4,060]

If you are referring to the video on the Werrington thread it was dated 24th April.

Jonathan

[jamie92208 74,973]

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

If you are referring to the video on the Werrington thread it was dated 24th April.

Jonathan

Thanks Jonathon. My mistake. I presumed it was a recent one.

 

Jamie

[geoff 700]

My permitted exercise during this lockdown allowed me to visit Kettering North Junction this week where I noticed evidence of work to extend the electrification towards Market Harborough.

 

Geoff

The tubes behind the machine look to be foundation tubes for OHLE masts and the machine looks to be the one to install them.

222016 working the 1B31 Nottingham to St Pancras service under the Glendon Road bridge. Right by the nose of the unit can be seen a pile footing for an OHLE mast. The train is on time.

OHLE mast foundation tube on the down main between Kettering North Junction and the Glendon Road bridge.

[ess1uk 2,375]

So where in Market Harborough will the OLE end?

guessing the station?

[phil-b259 5,552]

32 minutes ago, ess1uk said:

So where in Market Harborough will the OLE end?

guessing the station?

 

Who knows?

 

At present the OHLE is only being extended to Market Harborough where there is a connection into the national grid*.

 

There have been rumours that a further extension may be back on the Government agenda but nothing is confirmed as yet.

 

* The market Harborough feeder currently supplies Kettering through a lineside feeder cable to provide a back up HV supply in case the feeder south of Kettering fails. There is a similar setup been Stalybridge and Manchester Victoria.

[Zomboid 4,575]

Currently the wires will stop at Market Harborough station.

 

You'd hope that in the future that won't be the end of it. The feeder station is a little way south of there and is designed to supply the line towards Leicester in due course. When/ if that happens is another matter.

 

I'm not sure that there's a cable feeder though. The last I heard it was a decision about either putting a cable in or using OLE, and OLE was the decision. It might have changed since then of course.

[Edwin_m 2,213]

I read somewhere the plan would be to continue a bit beyond the station so that electric trains could reverse via the crossovers at the north end of the platforms.  That way, if there were engineering works further north EMR could run a London-MH shuttle using the 360s while the bi-mode units served points north via Corby.  

[ess1uk 2,375]

12 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Who knows?

 

At present the OLE is only being extended to Market Harborough where there is a connection into the national grid*.

 

There have been rumours that a further extension may be back on the Government agenda but nothing is confirmed as yet.

 

* The market Harborough feeder currently supplies Kettering through a lineside feeder cable to provide a back up HV supply in case the feeder south of Kettering fails. There is a similar setup been Stalybridge and Manchester Victoria.

The grid connection is at Braybrooke in Northamptonshire.

so no definitive answer yet in the public domain?

11 hours ago, Zomboid said:

Currently the wires will stop at Market Harborough station.

 

You'd hope that in the future that won't be the end of it. The feeder station is a little way south of there and is designed to supply the line towards Leicester in due course. When/ if that happens is another matter.

 

I'm not sure that there's a cable feeder though. The last I heard it was a decision about either putting a cable in or using OLE, and OLE was the decision. It might have changed since then of course.

 

[ess1uk 2,375]

Kettering sidings should be finished and handed over by now and with trains using them in the next few months for crew training 

[geoff 700]

Some notes from my local internet group.

 

Geoff

 

You may be interested in the following :-

 

Corby electrics proposed to be fully energised next tues 24 nov.

 

EMR first class 360 to Kettering sidings on Thurs 26 nov

 

Driver training to start 7 dec Kettering Kentish Town with 2 different training sets eventually.

 

There are at least 3 360 units at Cricklewood now.

 

[jamie92208 74,973]

13 hours ago, Edwin_m said:

I read somewhere the plan would be to continue a bit beyond the station so that electric trains could reverse via the crossovers at the north end of the platforms.  That way, if there were engineering works further north EMR could run a London-MH shuttle using the 360s while the bi-mode units served points north via Corby.  

That's the normal way that schemes are done so that trains can do reversing moves. The only reason that I can see for not doing it would be a problem overbridge with a high price tag.  ISTR that when Leeds was wired they only wentva train length or so beyond the end of the platforms. Wiring to Neville Hill came later. They even wired up a short section of the ex LNWR viaduct line as a place to stable Mk 4 sets with an old brake van as the buffer stop.

 

Jamie

[Edwin_m 2,213]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

That's the normal way that schemes are done so that trains can do reversing moves. The only reason that I can see for not doing it would be a problem overbridge with a high price tag.  ISTR that when Leeds was wired they only wentva train length or so beyond the end of the platforms. Wiring to Neville Hill came later. They even wired up a short section of the ex LNWR viaduct line as a place to stable Mk 4 sets with an old brake van as the buffer stop.

 

Jamie

The realignment for the platform remodeling went quite a long way north of the platforms, and as electrification was envisaged when this was designed it would have taken that into account.  In particular the Great Bowdon Road overbridge, with two arches that used to span the Midland to the east and the Joint line to the west, now has one track through the centre of each arch and the parapets look to have been raised.  The next bridge is a footbridge which I don't think has been replaced so may not have enough clearance.  I can't see the Up directions signals protecting the crossovers on aerial mapping so I'm not sure where a train length beyond them would end.  

[Rugd1022 31,201]

4 hours ago, Edwin_m said:

The realignment for the platform remodeling went quite a long way north of the platforms, and as electrification was envisaged when this was designed it would have taken that into account.  In particular the Great Bowdon Road overbridge, with two arches that used to span the Midland to the east and the Joint line to the west, now has one track through the centre of each arch and the parapets look to have been raised.  The next bridge is a footbridge which I don't think has been replaced so may not have enough clearance.  I can't see the Up directions signals protecting the crossovers on aerial mapping so I'm not sure where a train length beyond them would end.  

 

North of the crossovers, there is just enough room to hold a train for turn around purposes between there and the signal on the up, and the footbridge you mention has not been raised or replaced.

 

 

 

Edit : the signal is just north of Great Bowdon Road bridge.

Edited November 22, 2020 by Rugd1022

[Edwin_m 2,213]

6 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

North of the crossovers, there is just enough room to hold a train for turn around purposes between there and the signal on the up, and the footbridge you mention has not been raised or replaced.

 

 

 

Edit : the signal is just north of Great Bowdon Road bridge.

I make it about 580m from Great Bowdon road to the footbridge, so a passenger train could reverse there without the wires having to continue under the footbridge.  Or are there shunt signals at the crossovers that would allow the reversal without going behind the main signal?  

[geoff 700]

As I posted on Sunday today did in fact see the first three 360 units make their way to Kettering Stabling Sidings this morning.

360113 in the lead with 104 and 116.

 

Geoff

 

360113 working the 5Y60 09:25 CRICKLEWOOD DEPOT - 11:09 KETTERING STABLING SIDINGS running on 26/11/2020 cruises almost silently along the Ise Valley past Isham on its maiden journey to Kettering stabling sidings.

[Shed 259]

About time too

[RANGERS 1,078]

On 20/12/2020 at 20:43, Shed said:

About time too

Still some way to go with this, the canopy works at Kettering are ongoing and it doesn't look like these will be finished for a few weeks yet.

 

No idea when the Corby branch will be powered up but presumably not until the canopy works are complete.

[ess1uk 2,375]

Any flooding to report?