Nuneham viaduct problems - Oxford to Didcot line closed

[BrushVeteran]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Stagecoach have some lower height versions of the ADL Enviro 400, presumably Oxford Bus do as well.

A standard 400 is too tall for a 4.0m clearance, being 4.2 - 4.3m

 

Must be confusing as both also have normal height versions.

Yes Oxford Bus have  full height double decker's which have been transferred in from both Go-Ahead London and Go-North East. No doubt Stagecoach have buses transferred in at times as this seems to be normal within the big groups. I am retired from Oxford Bus and as long as I can remember there have always been a presence of highbridge vehicles in the fleet and always identified by a 9XX fleet number. We still had a few that wondered 'off course' over those years and fortunately with no passengers on board. These days there are additional warning devices fitted including Bridgesafe which in conjunction with GPS gives the driver and audible warning in the cab  if approaching a low bridge and on newer vehicles applies the brakes.

As the bridge has to be renewed anyway to cater for both Stage 1 &  2 of the stations rebuilding which include the provision of trackwork around the existing platforms  on both east and west sides the the road has to be lowered. The existing bridge has about 2 inches  clearance for the present 13ft 10inch (4.2m) fleet but it is not only buses that it is being raised for, quite a few HGV's have come into contact with it over the years and I assume the opportunity is now being taken to eliminate as far as possible the risk of future bridge strikes. Lowering the road in this area is also a bit of a gamble as the water table here is very high and new underground pumps and drainage is having to be installed. It is a very major project.

[The Stationmaster]

On 11/04/2023 at 17:13, Rugd1022 said:

 

No Mike, a bit further south, there's a longish straight just south of Greaves then a right hander leading to a gentle S-bend past the farm and brick arched overbridge at B.Itch and down to Fenny where the line straightens out again, it's under this s-band that lies the buried structure. Incidentally, opposite the spot where Greaves Sdgs 'box once stood is the mortal remains of a grounded GW Toad brake van, which was used as a shunter's cabin / store many years ago.

 

Also, the above mentioned bridge is where the track bad of the Oxford & Rugby Railway headed off towards Southam and Rugby, it peters out a few hundred yards in the middle of a field and went no further. You should be able to see it on google maps / google earth.

Nidge - there is a culvert deep down unfder the embankment in that area so that might be it - I can't find anything else likely on various old maps.

 

On 11/04/2023 at 17:43, Michael Hodgson said:

Does it have a blue plaque "Oscar Wilde lived here"?😳

No.  In fact nobody in the prison when Mrs Stationmaster was working there had a detailed idea about which cell Wilde had occupied and it was even possible that her office - in an area converted from former cells - might have been the place where he was locked up. 

 

23 hours ago, 2251 said:

 

Is that the section where experimental cement grouting was tried shortly after the war?

There were various places where cnct rete grouting went in on embankments that were prone to slipping witha lot of it done during the 1970s.  But according to the former ACE (Area Civil Engineer) Slough there seem to have been no written records kept and the only people who knew where it had been done were those who'd been invlved or it had been done on their patch.  By the time GWML electrification was started all of them had either retired or had been made redundant. with their knowledge and skills no longer needed.  Until one was called back when it was found that as the foundation tubes were being sunk in a number of areas they didn't go very far into the ground because there was something solid stopping them from being driven any further.   The man who came back quickly pointed out that they wereb eing sunk in places where concrete grout had been injected into embankments so it was obvious what was stopping them.  He'd been involved in the grouting programme and was able to point out where grout had been used and the distance between the streams of grout and that made it simpler to sink the piles by missng the concrete.

 

[The Stationmaster]

On 11/04/2023 at 17:13, Rugd1022 said:

 

No Mike, a bit further south, there's a longish straight just south of Greaves then a right hander leading to a gentle S-bend past the farm and brick arched overbridge at B.Itch and down to Fenny where the line straightens out again, it's under this s-band that lies the buried structure. Incidentally, opposite the spot where Greaves Sdgs 'box once stood is the mortal remains of a grounded GW Toad brake van, which was used as a shunter's cabin / store many years ago.

 

Also, the above mentioned bridge is where the track bad of the Oxford & Rugby Railway headed off towards Southam and Rugby, it peters out a few hundred yards in the middle of a field and went no further. You should be able to see it on google maps / google earth.

Nidge - there is a culvert deep down unfder the embankment in that area so that might be it - I can't find anything else likely on various old maps.

 

On 11/04/2023 at 17:43, Michael Hodgson said:

Does it have a blue plaque "Oscar Wilde lived here"?😳

No.  In fact nobody in the prison when Mrs Stationmaster was working there had a detailed idea about which cell Wilde had occupied and it was even possible that her office - in an area converted from former cells - might have been the place where he was locked up. 

 

23 hours ago, 2251 said:

 

Is that the section where experimental cement grouting was tried shortly after the war?

There were various places where cnct rete grouting went in on embankments that were prone to slipping witha lot of it done during the 1970s.  But according to the former ACE (Area Civil Engineer) Slough there seem to have been no written records kept and the only people who knew where it had been done were those who'd been invlved or it had been done on their patch.  By the time GWML electrification was started all of them had either retired or had been made redundant. with their knowledge and skills no longer needed.  Until one was called back when it was found that as the foundation tubes were being sunk in a number of areas they didn't go very far into the ground because there was something solid stopping them from being driven any further.   The man who came back quickly pointed out that they wereb eing sunk in places where concrete grout had been injected into embankments so it was obvious what was stopping them.  He'd been involved in the grouting programme and was able to point out where grout had been used and the distance between the streams of grout and that made it simpler to sink the piles by missng the concrete.

 

[big jim]

2 hours ago, Supaned said:

 

I was always told that the embankment at Fenny Compton was constructed from ash/cinder and as such that was why it was unstable.

I was told it was unstable to to rabbits burrowing under it, good old railway folklaw! 

Still amuses me the unofficial name for Claydon crossing between fenny and banbury, most drivers know it by it’s unofficial name than the correct one

 

 

[2251]

What I had in mind was rather earlier than the 1970s -- and I have now found some material, via the magic of the internet, that dates it to 1947 and 1952:

 

https://cdn.ca.emap.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2012/09/GE-Sept-2012-The-stabilisation-of-slips-in-cuttings-and-embankments-Ayres.pdf

[Rugd1022]

50 minutes ago, big jim said:

I was told it was unstable to to rabbits burrowing under it, good old railway folklaw! 

Still amuses me the unofficial name for Claydon crossing between fenny and banbury, most drivers know it by it’s unofficial name than the correct one

 

 

 

I saw 'BT' at the crossing a few years ago, she smiled and waved so I gave her a toot on the horn 😉

[big jim]

20 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

I saw 'BT' at the crossing a few years ago, she smiled and waved so I gave her a toot on the horn 😉

She’s no longer there, and all the old cars have gone too 

[The Stationmaster]

Saw two sides of it today.  Daughter duly despatched fro Reading to London e nroute to Manchester - her trains was a 387 vice an IET, starting from Didcot and calling at Reading and Slough only.  So a sort of bonus there although the trainwas well loaded on arrival at Reading.

 

But the opposite side of the coin was watching on a 'Staff Information' screen  with a diverted container train being absolutely trashed for timekeeping due to being stuck behind a Liz Line stopper - somebody's regulation well amiss there.  And it was not  the only diverted container train to suffer that problem.   Obviously no proper regulation instructions would appear to have been issued as a Class 4 will romp away from a stopper - as we knew well enough years ago, looks like more knowledge lost..   Also watched a 4,800 tonne stone trains with a pair of 66s rapidly catching a trains stopping at all stations from Maideenhead to Slough although the stopper then drew away from the Class 7.

[phil-b259]

On 12/04/2023 at 18:55, big jim said:

I was told it was unstable to to rabbits burrowing under it, good old railway folklaw! 
 

 

 

 

Can be both!

 

Ash and clinker are easy materials to burrow into (not to mention tend to drain well) so if you are a rabbit (or other underground living mammal) embankments made of such material are going to be much prefered to the surrounding natural strata - particularity if said natural strata is hard going to dig into or tends to get waterlogged

[Compound2632]

On the domestic front, the good news is that Mrs Compound, aka Lexi, has been granted dispensation from the two-days-in-the-office diktat by her line manager, confirmed by her line manager's line manager; though we wait to see what will happen when HR notice.

[Oldddudders]

I feared XC would be in a right mess due to this, but yesterday we caught a lunchtime Didcot-Bournemouth service on time from Reading. Loadings are light, and crew are a little bored though! 

[Ian Hargrave]

35 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I feared XC would be in a right mess due to this, but yesterday we caught a lunchtime Didcot-Bournemouth service on time from Reading. Loadings are light, and crew are a little bored though! 

The effects though are being felt with the operation and distribution of XC220/1 over the network.We have returned to 4 car 220 units as travelling sardine tins on some services. Speaking as one victim who had to disembark from a 220 last Saturday for fear of his personal health….and I am being serious here with no exaggeration . In all honesty the H&S Executive should have words with them on instances such as this.But then the issue is perhaps in many ways outside XC’s control . 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Ian Hargrave
Spelling

[Compound2632]

Presumably some moves have been necessary to provide the right balance of stock north and south of the gap?

[phil-b259]

11 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Presumably some moves have been necessary to provide the right balance of stock north and south of the gap?

 

Maybe not as many as you think - the only SC route affected is to / from Bournemouth and I don't believe its a super frequent service.

 

That said if Reading regularly sees extra XC services terminate there then that might add a few units - particularly as the closure actually happened mid way through the day rather than overnight when units were in depots (which would have potentially minimised the number of XC units south of Oxford

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, phil-b259 said:

Maybe not as many as you think - the only SC route affected is to / from Bournemouth and I don't believe its a super frequent service.

 

Is that not still hourly?

[phil-b259]

2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Is that not still hourly?

 

Might be - but the point is its not like the Birmingham- Bristol or Birmingham - Derby  bits in terms of XC service frequencies

[Compound2632]

43 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

Might be - but the point is its not like the Birmingham- Bristol or Birmingham - Derby  bits in terms of XC service frequencies

 

But, i would argue, it is of equal importance as a route.

 

It's the bit I've used over the last 40 years!

Edited April 20, 2023 by Compound2632

[phil-b259]

Just now, Compound2632 said:

 

But, i would argue, it is of equal importance as a route,

 

 

 

Agreed - but in the context of how many Voyagers may be 'trapped' below the blockage its not going to be as significant as some other parts of the XC network.

[Wickham Green too]

Erm ............. they've had two week to 'un-trap' things if they needed to ! 🙃

[The Stationmaster]

16 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Is that not still hourly?

In the current, post pandemic, TT there are some gaps in the booked service south of Reading in order to ensure an hourly Reading - Birminghan service worked by two sets coupled, similarly I don't think that all trains work through to Manchester.  When I travelled back from W'hampton a while back two other passengers were not at all happy that the train we were on terminated at Reading - and alas the member of XC staff couldn't explain why.  In fact the train, 9 cars, turned rund at Readng to work back to Birmingham where it then turned back for a southward working

 

I noticed an XC train at Reading yesterday and it too was only a single set so obviously the 'Nuneham perturbation' has impacted on the way the fleet can be used.  My daughter was on her way to Manchester but very sensibly had booked to travel via London and had bought her ticket accordingly -although the barrier staff at Reading seemed to be slightly confused by that idea.

[Mike_Walker]

Interesting update from NR on Twitter.  https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1649077107660652547 

 

Progress is being made but I don't think they'll finish by June 10 - hopefully I'll be proved wrong.

[black and decker boy]

Report & article on local BBC news this morning. NR very confident in reopening 10th June.

They have installed steel bearing piles in the river (shown on the BBC) which will then have beams & props added to support the bridge spans and take the load off the abutments

I’m guessing that it will reopen as a 1 track railway whilst they permanently repair one side then switch & repeat. These permanent repairs will still be ongoing after June and I would imagine will take some time to complete.

[nightstar.train]

Here is the afore mentioned article:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65397495

[rogerzilla]

SO had to get the very slow rail replacement bus to Didcot tonight.  She could have caught the S6 bus all the way to Swinedun instead but that's made awkward by the Botley Road bridge works.

[Mike_Walker]

It seems the supporting piles being driven into the river bed are "spare" OLE bases from the abandoned electrification to Oxford.  Amazing what you can find lying around in the lineside undergrowth - modern image modellers take note!

 

I just wonder how they'll get them out again after the works are finished...  🤔