East West rail, Bletchley to oxford line

[The Stationmaster]

17 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

I had heard lifts mentioned; these seem to be accepted nationwide, even on unstaffed stations.

 

Not so much 'accepted' as required to provide disabled etc access when new work is undertaken.  They can only be used at unstaffed stations, or when statiions are unstaffed if they have suitable remote call centre contact (i.e. a 'phone).

 

2 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

 

As I understand it they are being located at the northern end of the flyover adjacent to the station.

That was definitely the plan when using the route for the proposed Swindon - Peterborough service was being looked at in the early '90s

[jim.snowdon]

2 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

I had heard lifts mentioned; these seem to be accepted nationwide, even on unstaffed stations.

 

Making stations user friendly for those with reduced mobility is a necessity when significant work is being undertaken. It then becomes a choice between lifts - not cheap and carrying maintenance and vandalism risks - or footbridges, possibly cheaper, less to go wrong but requiring a considerable amount of space, not always available, due to the requirements for ramp access.

 

Jim

[Davexoc]

I haven't seen any plans, but wasn't there talk of the new platforms linking with the old station on one side, and the bus station on the other?

Would mean not crossing the fasts and going out and under all the lines, but going more directly via the new platforms (or at least under them).

[Mike Storey]

21 hours ago, jim.snowdon said:

Making stations user friendly for those with reduced mobility is a necessity when significant work is being undertaken. It then becomes a choice between lifts - not cheap and carrying maintenance and vandalism risks - or footbridges, possibly cheaper, less to go wrong but requiring a considerable amount of space, not always available, due to the requirements for ramp access.

 

Jim

 

Lifts are usually much cheaper to install, if there is sufficient space/headroom, but they carry a much greater long term cost. For example, we tried to fit ramps in at around 40 stations (during a programme in the late 90's/early 00's - the beginning of the Access for All programme) but found the average construction cost (two platforms) was well in excess of £500k, whereas lifts were usually about £100k each (16 person version, or room to turn a wheelchair), especially so if it was possible to connect them to an existing bridge. But the sponsor went for ramps at virtually every location, as no-one could promise to fund the operational/maintenance and repair costs of lifts.

 

[1E BoY]

Talking of lifts - the big yellow crane on the right was delivered today.

 

Note that the big blue crane appears differently in this picture to the way it was in last weeks contributions.

 

[1E BoY]

Around 1600 today (whilst out on the daily permitted walk), they were starting to lift out the first section of Bletchley Flyover using the very large blue crane.

 

It was removed on to a very large flatbed lorry (similar to those used by the train truckers!).

[jamie92208]

Was this a full decking unit or just part of it. Thanks for posting.

 

Jamie.

[1E BoY]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Was this a full decking unit or just part of it. Thanks for posting.

 

Jamie.

 

This won't win any prizes for photography (taken on zoom on my mobile phone) and I was some distance away - but hopefully it answers the question!

 

I will have another walk tomorrow and see if any others have been removed!

 

[Siberian Snooper]

That's a pretty hefty bit of kit, any idea what the lifting capacity is?

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

11 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

That's a pretty hefty bit of kit, any idea what the lifting capacity is?

 

 

It looks as though it is not that close to the viaduct. So the capacity will be reduced.

[rodent279]

Make me wonder what was used to put the decks up there in the first place.

[big jim]

23 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

That's a pretty hefty bit of kit, any idea what the lifting capacity is?

 

 

They have some info on the lifting company’s website

 

https://osprey.group/our-equipment/heavy-lifting/

[lmsforever]

Bletchley Bedord mentioned in latest Rail   saying how bad the service is at moment cancellations no buses and Vivrail stock being problematic.Says down to new TOC  hope it will change when new owners start running.

[Siberian Snooper]

11 hours ago, big jim said:

They have some info on the lifting company’s website

 

https://osprey.group/our-equipment/heavy-lifting/

 

Looks like it might be the 750 Tonne one, but difficult to tell as there's no decent photos of the complete cranes.

 

 

 

[Pete the Elaner]

17 hours ago, lmsforever said:

Bletchley Bedord mentioned in latest Rail   saying how bad the service is at moment cancellations no buses and Vivrail stock being problematic.Says down to new TOC  hope it will change when new owners start running.

The class 230s don't help. Apparently the air filters get clogged up with pollen.

I always felt that re-engineering old Underground stock seemed a bit of a strange thing to do.

[Ray H]

16 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

The class 230s don't help. Apparently the air filters get clogged up with pollen.

I always felt that re-engineering old Underground stock seemed a bit of a strange thing to do.

 

I assumed that their conversion made sense because as existing stock they would presumably have the benefit of grandfather rights, especially as they had operated over NR metals to Wimbledon & Richmond. In that way they avoided the wholesale testing that comes with a brand new train.

[1E BoY]

Today's permitted walk revealed that the section removed was still on the lorry to the right of the picture behind the trees.

[Pete the Elaner]

5 minutes ago, Ray H said:

 

I assumed that their conversion made sense because as existing stock they would presumably have the benefit of grandfather rights, especially as they had operated over NR metals to Wimbledon & Richmond. In that way they avoided the wholesale testing that comes with a brand new train.

 

True, but so did the Sprinters which preceded them.

 

Both were clapped out, requiring an extensive rebuild. Retro-fitting a diesel engine to a design not intended to use one in the first place seemed like an unnecessary challenge in design for what was originally intended to be a short period.

A similar rebuild could have been performed on some of the many Sprinters being retired, but at least these already had space for an engine.

[Fat Controller]

20 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Make me wonder what was used to put the decks up there in the first place.

Cast in situ, perhaps?

[Fat Controller]

6 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

True, but so did the Sprinters which preceded them.

 

Both were clapped out, requiring an extensive rebuild. Retro-fitting a diesel engine to a design not intended to use one in the first place seemed like an unnecessary challenge in design for what was originally intended to be a short period.

A similar rebuild could have been performed on some of the many Sprinters being retired, but at least these already had space for an engine.

Are there many Sprinters being retired? I thought most (apart from Class 153 single units) were being sent to Wales to replace Pacers, as it was easier to carry out PRM modifications on them.

[1E BoY]

The demolition contractors were tidying up the site yesterday and were not in evidence today. The space vacated by the former Telephone Rentals building demolished over the past week or two is now hard standing.

 

The former corridors to it and the main building appear to be safe from demolition for the time being.

[rodent279]

If I remember rightly, the main office was built in 1975/6. TR moved it's HQ lock stock and barrel out of London, can't remember from where, but I think somewhere near Charing X. I still have my old desk, classic wooden 70's office furniture, well built stuff. Somewhere on it, it's dated 1975.

[Trog]

3 hours ago, 1E BoY said:

Today's permitted walk revealed that the section removed was still on the lorry to the right of the picture behind the trees.

............................................................

 

I wonder if they are just renewing the bearings, or repairing the tops of the piers, and the bridge deck will then be put back in place.

[Nearholmer]

That was my thought.

 

There was talk of ‘coring’ too, so taking samples for analysis from deep inside, to confirm that all is good.

[1E BoY]

4 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

The class 230s don't help. Apparently the air filters get clogged up with pollen.

I always felt that re-engineering old Underground stock seemed a bit of a strange thing to do.

 

The Bletchley to Bedford line has seen quite a few DMU types over the years. The current Class 230's are new in comparison to some of the others!

 

In North London Railways days Class 117's were the main stay of the Bletchley - Bedford line but BY also maintained those for Gospel Oak - Barking and also Willesden to Clapham Junction services via Kensington Olympia.  They provided a real challenge at times and it was due to the professionalism of the staff at Bletchley TMD (BY) that they kept going as long as they did.

 

The old platform buildings on the right were used as the Booking on Point and Train Crew mess room, before they built the new (current) facility on the site of the old south end Platforms 1 and 2. They were subsequently demolished.