'CHARD Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Here's the blasting in progress, complete with mandatory road sweeper to preserve the integrity of the A7.... I used to communicate this sort of stuff to the East End masses, does it show? http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44650 Winston Road Gala, there's some serious excavation required here, when you look at Google Earth: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/singleimage.php?id=42351 http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44645 Galashiels station site awaits the encroaching big yellow machines. I think when the ground is broken at Gala this will be a Damascene moment for the Borders... http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44638 Torwoodlee as I always hoped to see it: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44631 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawick_1987 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Progress is as progress does! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 The short-termist planners really did the ultimate botch-job on this: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44671 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfsup Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 The short-termist planners really did the ultimate botch-job on this: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44671 Saw that this summer. Personally I think the Borders Railway through Gala will always now be a lost opportunity for future expansion - this tunnel has been narrowed to improve road access, the station will be a single narrow affair situated between the road and the retaining wall, and the original station site (which I can understand was more towards the bottom end of the town) is now a ASDA Carpark and again the surrounding road improvements have meant that a Single track bridge has been created to replace the original iron bridge. All a shame really that a line that was once double track will now always be single through the town. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 Sadly the principal irreversible changes came during and since the nineties, by stealth. The Station Brae bridge lasted into this millennium, and at that point the developments in Currie Road had been relatively limited, the health centre and industrial units being about the extent of re-use. The turning point really came when the A7 was realigned and ASDA was given planning permission. At a stroke, the width constriction really was inevitable. And it is a shame, as this is by far the largest town centre and walkable destination on the reopened line. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Breakthrough at Sheriffhall: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44748 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Newness at Newtongrange: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44770 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Btourer Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 If true , and I'm not doubting the OP but sometimes politicians get a bit carried away, I think it would be an excellent move. It would encourage users to travel on the line and promote the Borders area , possibly attracting more residents/business. I note that the railway has already triggered a boom in house building in the area. Practically though,how would a steam loco be turned at Tweedbank, and if as I suspect, it cant be turned would it be permissable to travel back tender first , remembering the full journey should begin and end at Waverley. I know the Mallaig line does this, but not over heavy commuter routes. The other thing to be careful of is abstraction of revenue from Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway I think that running steam over the line regularly during the summer months in the style of 'The Jacobite' is a fantastic idea! Just imagine if the SRPS were allowed to run something like this, the return of Morayshire to a line where she used to run would be a journey I would have to do! Considering the amount of tourism that this would pull in for the Borders, I don't see why the funding for a water standpipe and turntable couldn't be met, maybe even by donations? As for a suitable site, not sure at Tweedbank, but there is space at Hawick if the line is extended there eventually. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Visto Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 What about Selkirk Jcn.? Roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fegguk Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 What about Selkirk Jcn.? Roy For most people in Selkirk by the time you have walked to the station the bus will have arrived at Gala. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 For most people in Selkirk by the time you have walked to the station the bus will have arrived at Gala. Are we at cross-purposes, chaps? Was Roy suggesting a watering and turning place at the site of Selkirk Jct? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fegguk Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Are we at cross-purposes, chaps? Was Roy suggesting a watering and turning place at the site of Selkirk Jct? Oops There is not that much space at the Selkirk Jct site and I imagin movements back a forward to Tweedbank might get the in the way of other trains. There is more room at Tweedbank, unless the deaded electrical cable gets in the way. I am not sure what they are planning a Tweedbank now but I imagine a run round loop on one side of the planned penisular platform would be possible, it boil down to cost. I dont think they have committed themselves to providing any faciliites in addition to the original single platform with two faces. They may be waitng to see how far the existng budget is stretching. Selkirk its self these day has relatively few watering holes. You can no longer get off yer heed and the Queen's heed or fleeced by the landlord at the Fleece, though you can still get legless and the Toon Airms. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 Gore Glen bridge, or Shank Bridge as I'd rather call it, rises from the Lothian soil. I'm sure it's proposed to construct a concrete box here, so-called table, for the track to run on; I have yet to work out how the civil engineering seen here supports that theory, but I am nonetheless delighted with progress. Erased is how I described this crossing of the A7 the first time I explored it on 5th October 1999. http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44856 I just realised, that's 14 years ago today. When, as a 33 year old railwayman, I paused the car at the Gore Glen nature reserve to call our Control and see what if anything was known about events I'd just heard on Radio 4 breakfast news concerning an incident at Ladbroke Grove. Hardengreen. I know the untroubled peace of the line running through this location cannot now be recreated, road planning morons saw to that, but at least Folly Bridge as I shall henceforth call it will be an iconic emblem of the line, as the reborn Waverley route strides puposefully over the traffic dirge. When Tornado or a B1 appear car drivers will get the shock of their lives! http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44858 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
62440 Posted October 6, 2013 Share Posted October 6, 2013 Here we go again: http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/the-borders-railway-a-350m-ticket-to-nowhere.22338519 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 6, 2013 Share Posted October 6, 2013 And for the defence: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/the-local-view-this-railway-will-transform-the-borders.22343057 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted October 7, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 7, 2013 I just liked this line in the comments on the first article, 'We deseve a railway. Life is more than money. Life is about connectedness'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fegguk Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Bridge 92 gets a new lease of life. http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/news/network-rail-restores-historic-bridge-at-rye-haugh-water-as-borders-railway-takes-shape.aspx Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 "Over 200 bridges, consisting of brand new and restored over and under bridges, will help make up the new Borders Railway line once completed in summer 2015." Over 200? The Golden Bridge is ECL 200, and Redbridge Viaduct at Tweedbank is only Bridge 104. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/278439/details/galashiels+galafoot+redbridge+viaduct+bridge+104/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fegguk Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 "Over 200 bridges, consisting of brand new and restored over and under bridges, will help make up the new Borders Railway line once completed in summer 2015." Over 200? The Golden Bridge is ECL 200, and Redbridge Viaduct at Tweedbank is only Bridge 104. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/278439/details/galashiels+galafoot+redbridge+viaduct+bridge+104/ The secret's out. They are actually going to be rebuilding the line all the way to Riccarton, and that why it's going to cost four times the origonal budget. or For 200 bridges read 200 structures Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawick_1987 Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 The secret's out. They are actually going to be rebuilding the line all the way to Riccarton, and that why it's going to cost four times the origonal budget. or For 200 bridges read 200 structures Had me excited for a second there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 The secret's out. They are actually going to be rebuilding the line all the way to Riccarton, and that why it's going to cost four times the origonal budget. or For 200 bridges read 200 structures That's probably bang-on. The bridges and culverts register will still read 104 + 5%, but they will be numbering gabion walls, managed cutting sides and so on in the construction tally. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Gorebridge prepares for the coming of platforms, ballast and rails... http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44934 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shed64a Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Great photo on the BBC news site of sheriffhall; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-24507627 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 What's hard 'n' green? Modern piling techniques maybe? http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44944 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted October 13, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 13, 2013 What's hard 'n' green? Modern piling techniques maybe? http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=44944 It would certainly make short work of any piles it encountered. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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