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East West rail, Bletchley to oxford line


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2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Is that fuel dump still active then?

I understand it is from someone who works there, but trying to get an official response to its status is 'difficult' 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.1234881,-0.2499342,3a,78.3y,131.73h,98.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2rgCMGGSzC3Gw2a0jp1Tcw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.1236698,-0.2480269,3a,73.4y,167.51h,107.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sObGFnpZuvSHXKjjiex018Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Apologies if this is going off topic. In the late 80's/Early 90's there was some preliminary work to re-route the A1 and one prefered route was a sraight line that followed some pylons over the Greenand ridge. Those looking at the route knew nothing of the fuel dump and planned the route through the middle of it.

 

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5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Is that fuel dump still active then?

 

I believe that the wartime fuel pipeline is still active and supplying Heathrow and maybe some of the other London airports. It was the  GPSS, Government Pipeline and Storage System, I have heard rumours that it has been sold off and the MOD now has to pay to use it. 

 

 

Edited by Siberian Snooper
Made an error in the GPLSS description.
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5 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

I understand it is from someone who works there, but trying to get an official response to its status is 'difficult' 

 

If you look on Google satellite, you can clearly see what amount to crop-marks, defining the outlines of a good number of large underground storage tanks, although whether they are in-use or redundant one can only guess.

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2 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

I believe that the wartime fuel pipeline is still active and supplying Heathrow and maybe some of the other London airports. It was the  GPSS, Government Pipeline and Storage System, I have heard rumours that it has been sold off and the MOD now has to pay to use it. 

 

 

Part of that system passes close to here but is no longer in use.

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A couple of pictures I took today while out on the bike. The rather characterful old bridge is on Salden Lane near Mursley. Looks like they are building a new bridge judging by the ground works and new foundations?

 

1B8B05B0-2709-4DB7-817C-E1D757FAF41E.jpeg.416bd2c086dacccf24700e8729f77da1.jpeg3F8E767C-A655-4841-89C8-EC9B2953FAC1.jpeg.6320565fbf7941e7c7e399702aa24d24.jpeg

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Yes, I think they are.

 

The existing bridge has badly failed abutments/wing-walls - I've long thought that it was on the slippery slope to collapse, so probably far easier/cheaper to build afresh. It will be sad to see the granite setts go.

 

Was the way open to Swanbourne & Winslow? When I went over there last week, I had to lift my bike over a gate they'd erected near the Mursley bridge, and dodge round behind the post of one near Swanbourne, because that section was (theoretically) "closed".

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Mursley - Whaddon road is closed

Little Horwood - Mursley road is open but light controlled

Little Horwood - Winslow is closed

Winslow junction by the site of the new station is light controlled

Furze Lane was closed, but not sure of current status

Verney junction also has closures

 

Add to that the closures for HS2 and other reasons around Padbury, Gawcott, Claydon, Quainton, Westcott and Buckingham among others, and there are alot of convoluted journeys happening at the moment

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17 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

I believe that the wartime fuel pipeline is still active and supplying Heathrow and maybe some of the other London airports. It was the  GPSS, Government Pipeline and Storage System, I have heard rumours that it has been sold off and the MOD now has to pay to use it. 

 

 

 

Some investigation on the net has produced this :- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjb-7zd9MDvAhXDRBUIHdITCWoQFjABegQIBRAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F35893%2Fgpss_booklet.pdf&usg=AOvVaw21QmSlvPbxW6ARW-e6DPqq

 

And Wiki

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLH_Pipeline_System

 

 

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Local tv had an item last week about all the closures had local motorists complaining about it all because they have ten minutes added to thier journeys.Even had a nursery owner saying that how bad it was that her charges were having to get up ten minutes earlier ,it would upset them.What a carry on  !

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These pipelines are definately still active - although that doesn't mean that the fuel dump is.

There was an incident at Gayton, near Towcester about 5 years ago where thieves drilled into pipes that cross the canal there, in a futile attempt to steal fuel - not realising that it was aviation fuel:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-33096662

There is a pumping facility close by:

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1922687,-0.9479513,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1st6LrhE6rDIT5ailRnDlQVQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gayton,+Northampton/@52.1917928,-0.9474339,144m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48771aaae4217105:0xfc8c3b2f29f8b908!8m2!3d52.184267!4d-0.974789

but I think that the pipes may have since been diverted underground.

Tony

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Another cycle ride out today. Firstly the Station Road bridge near Mursley showing the new brickwork thats been completed

E22788D7-8D84-4193-BD6D-8EA87F937CF1.jpeg.3cbe65e299668fe19a2513e1a1dcc745.jpeg

 

Next the site of the new station to be built at Winslow

 

F77EC977-66B4-41FA-8C56-244375DBE107.jpeg.e6102460f24d9a6075f462998d0eec40.jpeg

 

Next one of the bridges carrying the railway over Verney Road west of Winslow

 

9DD8E983-1FCD-470F-B03A-2D073A8634E7.jpeg.5a2251063ce5cf4c4dabec1f5b9a58e5.jpeg

 

And finally at Verney Junction looking west 

 

922E9659-92FD-4D08-997F-21819D418BA7.jpeg.7540fa41d9652bb094dfebc49fc782d4.jpeg

Edited by Ryde-on-time
Road originally quoted was wrong!
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On 21/03/2021 at 15:42, Ryde-on-time said:

Another cycle ride out today. Firstly the Station Road bridge near Mursley showing the new brickwork thats been completed

E22788D7-8D84-4193-BD6D-8EA87F937CF1.jpeg.3cbe65e299668fe19a2513e1a1dcc745.jpeg

 

Next the site of the new station to be built at Winslow

 

F77EC977-66B4-41FA-8C56-244375DBE107.jpeg.e6102460f24d9a6075f462998d0eec40.jpeg

 

Next one of the bridges carrying the railway over Verney Road west of Winslow

 

9DD8E983-1FCD-470F-B03A-2D073A8634E7.jpeg.5a2251063ce5cf4c4dabec1f5b9a58e5.jpeg

 

And finally at Verney Junction looking west 

 

922E9659-92FD-4D08-997F-21819D418BA7.jpeg.7540fa41d9652bb094dfebc49fc782d4.jpeg

 

It is a vast improvement, the brickwork on the first bridge looked like this two years ago,

 

IMG_9262.JPG.1d178ba6c6f880c4ef356a2e049cd34b.JPG

 

IMG_9261.JPG.1afcf5abe104e26d19926efb4821983b.JPG

 

thought they might have recycled the coping stones.

Just wondering if the trackbed will be lowered incase of future electrification, or whether they are just cutting the budget and the bridges will just be rebuilt again if and when it does happen.

 

 

Edited by Davexoc
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There has been a trial of bridge-jacking on this route, on one of the old occupation bridges, and I think there is a NR video of it on Youtube (I can't remember whether I watched the video when I was working at a NR office or at home), so there is a third option.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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55 minutes ago, Davexoc said:

 

It is a vast improvement, the brickwork on the first bridge looked like this two years ago,

 

IMG_9262.JPG.df8e55bca162c57157ed0244969f728e.JPG

 

IMG_9261.JPG.5feed9351d116d8bd2e95177db1e99c1.JPG

 

thought they might have recycled the coping stones.

Just wondering if the trackbed will be lowered incase of future electrification, or whether they are just cutting the budget and the bridges will just be rebuilt again if and when it does happen.

 

 

I think the standards for parapets now say they have to have a triangular cross-section, to discourage walking or sitting on the top.  I'd like to think they have created electrification clearance one way or another, rather than potentially having to demolish it in a few years time.  

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I am puzzled by the arguments about the route into Bedford. Surely this is defined in whatever legislation authorised the project. I know that railway Act plans usually had "limits of deviation" but yards, not miles.

Is this rather like the complaints of HS2 going through woodland - arguments which should have been made before the legislation was passed?

Surely no-one approved a project along the lines of "to terminate in a field adjacent to the Plough and Harrow Inn in the parish of xxx", as used to happen.

Jonathan

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10 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

I am puzzled by the arguments about the route into Bedford. Surely this is defined in whatever legislation authorised the project. I know that railway Act plans usually had "limits of deviation" but yards, not miles.

Is this rather like the complaints of HS2 going through woodland - arguments which should have been made before the legislation was passed?

Surely no-one approved a project along the lines of "to terminate in a field adjacent to the Plough and Harrow Inn in the parish of xxx", as used to happen.

Jonathan

There's no legislation yet for this section.  The promoter is going through a series of consultation exercises and design development to establish which route is most likely to be feasible, cost-effective and acceptable (or least unacceptable).  Most of this is required by law and it's sensible to do anyway to avoid spending millions designing something only for it to be shot down in Parliament.  

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12 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

I am puzzled by the arguments about the route into Bedford. Surely this is defined in whatever legislation authorised the project. I know that railway Act plans usually had "limits of deviation" but yards, not miles.

Is this rather like the complaints of HS2 going through woodland - arguments which should have been made before the legislation was passed?

Surely no-one approved a project along the lines of "to terminate in a field adjacent to the Plough and Harrow Inn in the parish of xxx", as used to happen.

Jonathan

 

The project 'legislation' (i.e. TWA) only covers the Bicester to Bletchley section.

 

Yes the overall project might be styled as Oxford to Cambridge but east of Bedford its still just lines drawn on consultants maps with no authority to actually build anything having been granted.

 

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41 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

Thanks both. That seems to me a pretty  stupid way of going about things. But perhaps politics intervened.

Jonathan

I'm not sure why.  It seems sensible to me to try to take account of people's views in a democracy, and to avoid wasting money on developing a scheme until those views have been taken into account.  

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Sorry, what I was meaning is that it would have been more sensible to get the whole scheme agreed before starting part of it. What happens to the viability of the first bit if the rest gets canned or just delayed indefinitely? I wasn't arguing against consultation, merely that it should have happened already, before work started on the first part of the project.

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The first section of East West Rail is already up and running ! Albeit not with actual East West trains. Given that Bedford/Cambridge was always going to be the most complex and therefore time-consuming part of the project, it surely made sense to start work on the easier sections first. Oxford/Bicester is already a busy and useful addition to the rail network, as will the extensions to Bletchley and Bedford become, before the final portion exists. 

 

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1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

Sorry, what I was meaning is that it would have been more sensible to get the whole scheme agreed before starting part of it. What happens to the viability of the first bit if the rest gets canned or just delayed indefinitely? I wasn't arguing against consultation, merely that it should have happened already, before work started on the first part of the project.

Jonathan

 

Technically, Oxford - Bletchley is simply the re-introduction to daily use of a mothballed line - it was never actually closed. The fact that they are completely rebuilding it is down to the long period of mothballing and the need to bring it up to modern standards.

 

Meanwhile Bletchely - Bedford has remained open throughout, whilst Bedford - Cambridhge is a completely new railway, any previously existing lines having long since been closed and built over.

 

So it is inevitable that the three sections will be approached differently.

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7 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

The project 'legislation' (i.e. TWA) only covers the Bicester to Bletchley section.

 

Yes the overall project might be styled as Oxford to Cambridge but east of Bedford its still just lines drawn on consultants maps with no authority to actually build anything having been granted.

 

Surprised by this, I was assuming that the project from Bedford to Cambridge was going ahead as the last phase of the plan.

Perhaps I should read more.

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