HS2

[Flittersnoop]

On 08/08/2021 at 15:06, Pete the Elaner said:

 

My point is that road transport is an easy, cheap option in the respect that it has smaller up front costs.

Easy and cheap because the taxpayer has already paid for 99% of the infrastructure.

[billbedford]

11 hours ago, Northmoor said:

As you say, that's the stuff you know about.  And that's from professional journalists, who have editorial control on their output (i.e., someone checks it before it's published).  So imagine how much utter garbage there is in the non-mainstream media, who some people insist is the only one "telling the truth".

 

Welcome to the world of many-to-many communications. I'm sure we'll all get used to it - in a few generations. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

19 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

Good God, is that really the same spot I cabbed a withdrawn Blue Pullman power ca back in 1973....?

See also the photo at the bottom of page 133.

[Ron Ron Ron]

Meanwhile, activity the Chiltern's Tunnel western portal worksite, is now slowly building up.

The site haul road went in last year, but there's been little activity until recently.

It'll be over another year and a half before the TBM's emerge from the ground at this site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Siberian Snooper]

Plenty of time to put an X marks the target.

 

 

[SamThomas]

On 08/08/2021 at 21:15, Trog said:

 

When I was doing my Civil Engineering HNC I remember the lecturer stating that if you built a road to a standard fit for use by 32 ton lorries, car traffic would barely polish the aggregate in the surfacing.

That must have been a long while ago - HGV's can now run at 44 tonnes, although on more axles. I would think that a new 44 tonner with air suspension, wider tyres, smoother engines & transmissions is kinder per tonne carried than an old 32 tonner.

[adanapress]

Do I recall rightly  that Government permission for 44 tonners was only granted on condition that such vehicles were to be used only for transit to and from railheads,or did that get lost in House of Commons arguments? Or were politicians  etc etc

[Trog]

4 hours ago, SamThomas said:

That must have been a long while ago - HGV's can now run at 44 tonnes, although on more axles. I would think that a new 44 tonner with air suspension, wider tyres, smoother engines & transmissions is kinder per tonne carried than an old 32 tonner.

 

As my sister-in-law keeps telling me when I complain of my aches after a hard days DIY I am not as young as I used to be, and should not push myself too hard.

 

The lecturer being twenty or more years older than me is probably pushing up aggregate by now.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Trog

[Edwin_m]

2 hours ago, adanapress said:

Do I recall rightly  that Government permission for 44 tonners was only granted on condition that such vehicles were to be used only for transit to and from railheads,or did that get lost in House of Commons arguments? Or were politicians  etc etc

That was true for a while, or possibly they could be used for other duties but a lower weight limit would then apply.  But I'm pretty sure they were allowed universally before very long.  

[Ron Ron Ron]

Activity at Calvert.

 

 

 

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[Ron Ron Ron]

Where did 'dem TBM's go?

 

Florence and Cecilia are now deep into their tunnelling.

Florence (right hand tunnel) is just under 1km in and Cecilia is now about 350m in.

Just 15km more to go.

 

 

 

refreshing the concrete pad....

 

 

 

 

 

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[phil-b259]

18 hours ago, adanapress said:

Do I recall rightly  that Government permission for 44 tonners was only granted on condition that such vehicles were to be used only for transit to and from railheads,or did that get lost in House of Commons arguments? Or were politicians  etc etc

 

Yes they did - but only for a few years as the politically powerful road haulage lobby successfully campaigned domestically and internationally to make 44 tonnes the pan EU upper limit for HGVs.

[Ron Ron Ron]

 

More HS2 preparatory work around Brum.

A new steel girder bridge being assembled at Washwood Heath.

It will replace the brick viaduct carrying the railway line crossing left to right, in the lower half of the photo.

 

 

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[Andy Hayter]

On 10/08/2021 at 18:03, SamThomas said:

That must have been a long while ago - HGV's can now run at 44 tonnes, although on more axles. I would think that a new 44 tonner with air suspension, wider tyres, smoother engines & transmissions is kinder per tonne carried than an old 32 tonner.

 

 

A bit out of date there.  Since 2013 suitable vehicles can carry 46t to transportation hubs - rail/water.

 

Suitable vehicles must have air suspension, 6 axles (3+3), and load weights have to be balanced across the axles.  

 

Edit: sorry that is Ireland

Edited August 13, 2021 by Andy Hayter

[Rugd1022]

14 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

More HS2 preparatory work around Brum.

A new steel girder bridge being assembled at Washwood Heath.

It will replace the brick viaduct carrying the railway line crossing left to right, in the lower half of the photo.

 

 

.

 

I went to a safety brief at Lawley Street depot a couple of months ago and was given a sneaky peek at the plans for the new depot that's going in on the down side at Washwood Heath, where the old DAF van factory used to be - it's going to be huge!

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

I went to a safety brief at Lawley Street depot a couple of months ago and was given a sneaky peek at the plans for the new depot that's going in on the down side at Washwood Heath, where the old DAF van factory used to be - it's going to be huge!

It's an age thing.

The factory was previously Leyland vans and before that Morris vans were made there and comes out of the lineage of Wolseley Motors.

Edited August 14, 2021 by melmerby

[Ron Ron Ron]

A video tour of the 2nd TBM, Cecilia, from under the Chilterns.

Cecilia is tunnelling the down line and is currently more than half a km behind Florence.

 

 

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

More photos from the bowels of the earth....

 

A concrete "roadway" is being laid in the tunnels as the TBM's progress, rather than being laid after the tunnels have been completed.

This "roadway' is the flat base of the tunnel, that construction workers and vehicles can move and work on.

Later on it will serve as the bed on which the track base is laid.

 

 

This photo shows concrete being poured underneath a "moving bridge", that spans the section of tunnel being worked on, allowing vehicle and personnel movement over the top of the concrete, whilst it cures and sets.

The bridge provides access to and from the TBM's, from the tunnel portal, without having to wait until the concrete roadway is fully set. Clever stuff.

 

 

 

This photo shows the ramp up onto one end of the "moving bridge",

The concrete bed can be seen to the right hand side of the photo.

 

 

 

 

 

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[ess1uk]

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/high-speed/hs2-trains-contract-to-be-awarded-in-october

trains contract

Edited August 19, 2021 by ess1uk
spellin

[Ron Ron Ron]

1 hour ago, ess1uk said:

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/high-speed/hs2-trains-contract-to-be-awarded-in-october

trains contract

 

That's for the link.

That lays out in print, the timetable and details that were given at the Commons Transport Committee hearing in July  (link posted a few pages a go, I think).

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

Photos taken before the concrete "roadway", or tunnel base, is laid....

 

 

 

 

 

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[melmerby]

I wonder what the green striplight is for?

[Northmoor]

15 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I wonder what the green striplight is for?

It may not be green; daylight film always used to show flourescent light with a green cast.  If the digital camera sensor is tuned to daylight (or is on a daylight setting, probably the default), you can also get this effect.

[melmerby]

7 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

It may not be green; daylight film always used to show flourescent light with a green cast.  If the digital camera sensor is tuned to daylight (or is on a daylight setting, probably the default), you can also get this effect.

IMHO that is not a green cast caused by the colour temperature spike of a Fluorescent.

It is very green, LED I would assume.

[lmsforever]

 Went out this morning up the Oxford Rd and where the footpath has been diverted a metal box aproxamatelly three feet wide and at leas twenty feetlong and a height of about four feet has appeared close to the road.  It looks as though its a concrete mould for bridge abutments. Sorry this is a bit detailed but its a difficult to describe object.