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East West rail, Bletchley to oxford line


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On 02/10/2021 at 13:32, Vecchio said:

This station reminds me about Brackley Great Central - streel level on the top, flush with the footbridge, and then stairs down to the platform. Only difference is Brackley had one central platform and the tracks went left and right (probably cheaper than 2 staircases...).

 

 

 

The first few miles of the late 4 track GWR mainline out of Birmingham generally had street level booking facilities with either over or underbridges and two island platforms.

Bordesley (under), Small Heath (over), Tyseley (over) Acocks Green (over), Olton (under), Solihull (under).

From Widney manor onward they are generally at track level.

 

The street level station buildings still exist for their original purpose.

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8 hours ago, kryten65 said:

Well, this is a bit of a live update from a field in Buckinghamshire, while we deliver the last big piece for the replacement Sandhill Lane overbridge, 

IMG_20211006_125610.jpg

IMG_20211006_130532.jpg

 

So has it been done in that way ready for electrification?

As a bridge it seemed to have been in better nick than the Swanbourne one, but that was just repaired with new brick parapets.

 

Looking over the Whaddon Road bridge while passing over, there now seems to be something resembling a trackbed passing underneath.

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Good to see Aylesbury to MK is still  included the last few months there have been rumours of deletion by the Ministory of Tramsport .Its a shame that the wires will not be there but hopefully they will be installed one day ,this is an example of short sight by those in power.journey .This line will open the network to a new tranche of customers and I hope the publicity will be agressive and defeat useage of cars on many journeys.

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I can see the raison d'etre for the overall approach but I am not sure that South Wales is a particularly worthwhile area to tag onto the plan. Unfortunately, the areas which might generate more East-West traffic such as Birmingham and the Black Country are much further north, too far away to provide much traffic for EWR. Is there really much potential for traffic from Cardiff to Norwich, or even Cambridge?

Jonathan

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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

The sad absence of Swanbourne Station

I'm curious as to why "sad" applies. Swanbourne station is almost in the middle of nowhere - and always was. I can easily understand why there was no plan to rebuild a station here as part of the East-West development. Why would passengers use such a station today?

 

Yours,  Mike.

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3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

A few piccies from a bike ride on a very warm, dull and humid day.

 

Salden Lane, showing new and stark, rising above old and picturesque.

 

0EA942D8-7114-45EE-B5B2-433DA408B1E7.jpeg.0b154190be1471b18046eaf4e524f627.jpeg

 

The new.


51624F53-7336-4ECE-B4B9-65AFA8F6EF39.jpeg.d4d5dedef46e16e2753985854283dfee.jpeg

 

And, looking towards Bletchley.

 

5FD4552C-2252-43F1-B223-112227947353.jpeg.a97aa4d926c62b283126c9d19a258867.jpeg

 

The sad absence of Swanbourne Station.

 

3EC041A7-FA67-480E-BDE3-1652A2343E9C.jpeg.dbc68a9ca442f7161b021017ac6dab5d.jpeg

 

Being a complete dolt, I forgot to take pictures at Winslow, and after that turned south.

Thanks for the pics of new bridge the old stations were attractive also like your bike cant make manufacturer should have kept riding myself.

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4 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

I can see the raison d'etre for the overall approach but I am not sure that South Wales is a particularly worthwhile area to tag onto the plan. Unfortunately, the areas which might generate more East-West traffic such as Birmingham and the Black Country are much further north, too far away to provide much traffic for EWR. Is there really much potential for traffic from Cardiff to Norwich, or even Cambridge?

Jonathan

Maybe not all that distance - going via London might be easier.  But it could be one of those workings where nobody uses it end to end but plenty of people use it for different parts of the journey, like most non-London routes in fact.  Getting a westward connection from Oxford would be particularly useful I think, but I'd suggest Bristol via Bath as a better route than South Wales.  As well as probably better ridership by linking more tourist centres, it gets what is probably a 100mph train off the faster Badminton line.  

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On 07/10/2021 at 21:53, Edwin_m said:

Maybe not all that distance - going via London might be easier.  But it could be one of those workings where nobody uses it end to end but plenty of people use it for different parts of the journey, like most non-London routes in fact.  Getting a westward connection from Oxford would be particularly useful I think, but I'd suggest Bristol via Bath as a better route than South Wales.  As well as probably better ridership by linking more tourist centres, it gets what is probably a 100mph train off the faster Badminton line.  

Going via London is never easier.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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A couple more shots showing progress at the new  Mursley bridge - the earth works either side are being built up where the realigned road will cross. Under the bridge they are working on the drainage. The 3rd photo is looking east  where there was plant, vehicles and flashing lights as far as the eye could see!

 

 

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39626690-578F-4B03-AEC7-8EE19DD03748.jpeg

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On 06/10/2021 at 13:45, kryten65 said:

Well, this is a bit of a live update from a field in Buckinghamshire, while we deliver the last big piece for the replacement Sandhill Lane overbridge, 

IMG_20211006_125610.jpg

IMG_20211006_130532.jpg

I looked at the first picture and was convinced a gorilla was sitting  watching all that was happening ,after looking again it turned out to be a digger bucket.

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23 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

I looked at the first picture and was convinced a gorilla was sitting  watching all that was happening ,after looking again it turned out to be a digger bucket.

Now I've seen that, I can't stop seeing it!

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On 07/10/2021 at 11:35, 1E BoY said:

Bletchley High Level platforms taking shape (picture taken 6/10/21). View from Brunel roundabout.

20211006_124844_002.jpg

For three years of my career my office was just up the road from there.

We had plans to put platforms there around 1988/9 in the early days of Network Southeast. The idea at the time was to reverse the Bedford - Bletchley service and run up to Milton Keynes to give a connection to the Inter City services there.

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On 07/10/2021 at 21:53, Edwin_m said:

Maybe not all that distance - going via London might be easier.  But it could be one of those workings where nobody uses it end to end but plenty of people use it for different parts of the journey, like most non-London routes in fact.  Getting a westward connection from Oxford would be particularly useful I think, but I'd suggest Bristol via Bath as a better route than South Wales.  As well as probably better ridership by linking more tourist centres, it gets what is probably a 100mph train off the faster Badminton line.  

 

It depends on what you mean by easier.

 

Going via London can sometimes be quicker and more crucially usually gives a better choice of trains due to the high service frequencies on routes radiating from the capital. Therefore if travelling light and having limited flexibility schedule wise a person may conclude that is the 'easier option'

 

On the other hand if time is not important and / or you are travelling with lots of luggage or have mobility issues / don't feel comfortable navigating the Tube then going 'cross country' might well turn out to be easier. Although original marketed as a link for airport travellers, the Gatwick - Reading service gets plenty of custom from Surrey / Sussex residents heading to Wales / the west country - as did the old InterCity Brighton - North West run.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Afternoon all, 

 

Just another infrequent update from a field in Buckinghamshire, 

Firstly the finished and re-opened to traffic Bridge on Sandhill Road, and the other reason I'm back here, delivering and installing the beams for the new bridge at Verney Junction 

IMG_20211118_140319.jpg

IMG_20211118_134805.jpg

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