Pugsley Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 I have just seen on the local B B C news that a pub "close to Taunton" has been flooded twice recently. Isn't that the place some on here meet regularly for special social occasions? I see that the Allerford Inn is also flooded - right next to Victory level crossing. It's now the worst that I've known it, I don't recall that place flooding before. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 This is all rather depressing. I recognise that many householders will also be suffering cost, damage and difficulty due to the weather, but NR isn't actually made of money either. All these ghastly pictures - thanks for posting, grim though they be - look like big bills, and no doubt loss of service is bad news all round, too. I hope recovery is swift and the cost less than it might be. As a retired railwayman I want the system to thrive, not get knocked about. And it doesn't look as if Riverside Yard might be that much better off - hope the flood wall there is holding. Cowley Bridge is regular problem area when it comes to flooding and a lot of money has been spent further downstream on alleviation works which ought to keep it clearer plus some local flood prevention works - regrettably the sort of weather the area has had in the past few days simply overwhelms what has been done by sheer volume of water. I'm not at all sure what the answer is apart from a major relief channel to remove the bottleneck effect but even that would depend on the water clearing away downstream and I don't really see how that can easily be done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 I see that the Allerford Inn is also flooded - right next to Victory level crossing. It's now the worst that I've known it, I don't recall that place flooding before. In 1978 one of the road approaches to Victory Crossing was blocked by snowdrifts which were reportedly nearly 16feet deep; the weight of snow on them was more than ample to hold the barriers down. But there wasn't any really serious or abnormal flooding when the snow melted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 And it doesn't look as if Riverside Yard might be that much better off - hope the flood wall there is holding. Riverside Yard has been OK so far, thanks Mike - here are a few shots taken last Friday morning. One of the really unfortunate effects of these floods is the fact that a fair bit of work on the Barnstaple line blockade has been lost, as none of the materials trains could get to or from Riverside Yard. Here are a couple of shots I took at Cowley Bridge Jct earlier this afternoon, the water has virtually gone again, after the BBC aerial footage taken this morning: Cold comfort I know, but even these floods have not had the same terrible effect on the railway that those of 1999 and 2000 did... (will have to dig some of my old photos out...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2012 Holy smokes, look at those slacks in the track on the up road Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Job for Coachman there - he'll have it up and relaid & reballasted by tommorow night !! Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2012 That's a distinctly nasty looking dip in the Up Main Cap'n - hope it's just a ballasting job and not one requiring some bigger rocks to rebuild the embankment? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggesford box Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 I do not suppose it has helped that it has happened at the same time as a lot of leaves have fallen so they can block the drains. Not much more than minor troubles around Banbury (touch wood). Went to a location just south of Fenny Compton yesterday where a siphon flows under the line and feeds into the canal. There are metal barred gates across the drain to stop large debris getting jammed in the drain under the railway. It was noticeable that in the twenty minutes or so I was clearing leaves from the gates with a long handled rake that the water level dropped by the hight of 5 courses of bricks on the adjacent bridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted November 26, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2012 That's a distinctly nasty looking dip in the Up Main Cap'n - hope it's just a ballasting job and not one requiring some bigger rocks to rebuild the embankment? Believed to be the former, Mr Stationmaster, Sir! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 How long will it take to get all running again? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
talisman56 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 In very much the same way as provision of a motorway or motorway 'improvement' work is just a way of moving the traffic jam from one place to another, some of the 'Flood Prevention Works' seem to move the flood problem from one place to somewhere else - if you prevent the water from going somewhere, it's going to appear somewhere else, it just can't disappear into thin air! There was a story on the local news this evening about someone who had had his house flooded out several times and had put flood boards on the doors, one-way baffles in the ventilation blocks and other things to prevent the water coming into the house - this time it just came up thru the floorboards! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted November 26, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2012 ................some of the 'Flood Prevention Works' seem to move the flood problem from one place to somewhere else - if you prevent the water from going somewhere, it's going to appear somewhere else, it just can't disappear into thin air! Some years ago there was a plan put forward to drain the swamp by the WCML north of Stafford and turn it into a housing estate. Fortunately someone realised that the annual flooding would have been transferred to the town centre instead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 During the 2000 floods the local TV featured someone complaining that his golf driving range was flooded. He'd built it a couple of hundred yards away from Trent Lock, near the convergence of three rivers that drain a large part of the North Midlands, and hadn't twigged why the two nearby pubs are raised up on little mounds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 How long will it take to get all running again? SWT are now saying the LSWR route will have a partial service tomorrow. http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/uploads/westofenglandtimetable-flooding27nov2012.jpg Well done NR for coming back from the likes of this: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted November 27, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 27, 2012 Watched a politician trying to score cheap political points last night saying that the damage resulting in the stopping of trains going east of Exeter would not have been allowed to happen it it was nearer London. Yeah right, nature can be controlled but only up to a certain point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 27, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 27, 2012 Watched a politician trying to score cheap political points last night saying that the damage resulting in the stopping of trains going east of Exeter would not have been allowed to happen it it was nearer London. Yeah right, nature can be controlled but only up to a certain point. Some of these politicos are so idiotic as to make you wonder why they are allowed out. Over the years 'the railway' and local authorities have done a lot of work to try and mitigate the flooding in the vicinity of Cowley Bridge Jcn and Riverside Yard - from what the Cap'n has said the latter seems to have been successful (again) this time while the former has, I think, probably had some effect even tho' the railway has still been blocked. The situation at Cowley Bridge is largely one of topography - the area is a natural funnel at the end of a flood plain so it floods when there is heavy rain and the escaping water increases in volume. The only truly effective solution would probably be an underground pipe large enough to drive a 'bus through and lowering sea level or taking the pipe a few miles offshore. As far as 'near London' is concerned there's S*dding Chipbury Tunnel and its regular flooding at the west end which took years to mitigate due as much to lack of funds as anything else while in the very strong winds and flooding c.25 years ago the GW mainline was closed between Reading & Didcot due to the weather; not as frequent as the Cowley Bridge situation but still down to the weather. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 27, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 27, 2012 I do not suppose it has helped that it has happened at the same time as a lot of leaves have fallen so they can block the drains. Not much more than minor troubles around Banbury (touch wood). Went to a location just south of Fenny Compton yesterday where a siphon flows under the line and feeds into the canal. There are metal barred gates across the drain to stop large debris getting jammed in the drain under the railway. It was noticeable that in the twenty minutes or so I was clearing leaves from the gates with a long handled rake that the water level dropped by the hight of 5 courses of bricks on the adjacent bridge. We stopped off at Kings Sutton on our way to Warley on Friday. Made for some nice shots with all the water either side of the station but not so good for some of the nearby residents who did have water in their gardens (if not even in their homes) and was even approached by a local asking if we were from the Environment agency!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLD Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Watched a politician trying to score cheap political points last night saying that the damage resulting in the stopping of trains going east of Exeter would not have been allowed to happen it it was nearer London. Yeah right, nature can be controlled but only up to a certain point. That would be like the one in Hull in 2007 who pronounced that the flooding here would never have happened if her party had still been in control of the Council. The previous leader had certainly been called a few names by the local populace but 'Kanute' wasn't one of them (though one was similar...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Just a post to say a big THANK YOU to all the staff of East Coast Trains and Network Rail for keeping the ECML open and the trains running today. Went from Edinburgh to Hertfordshire today and cannot remember a journey with so many seperate problems. The quote of the day has to be by the guard on leaving Edinburgh. We are proceeding to Newcastle. We intend to go on to London, Kings Cross. I do not know the time of arrival or even if we will get there. The situation south of Newcastle is very fluid. We did get through and were only an hour and ten minutes late after a very interesting trip. Never seen fences almost completley submerged with just the top of gate posts showing above the water. Even worse around Huntingdon but fortunately the railway is well above the surrounding land in that area. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted November 27, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 27, 2012 SWT are now saying the LSWR route will have a partial service tomorrow. http://www.southwest...ng27nov2012.jpg Well done NR for coming back from the likes of this: http://youtu.be/Cd3y5_mJB30 Cheers, Martyn. Its appreciated and Im sure CK will agree. I got to deliver "some signalling materials" for Cowely late today, and I also know that reballasting has been taking place all day so things are now moving on. Apparently we came in for some stick about the delay of work but its kinda difficult to do anything when the infrastructure is under 3 feet of water. Listening in to our daily conferance call this morning sounded like a war zone, I quickly got the imprsseion there was damage all over the place and on nearlly every ELR in the Devon & Cornwall area. Looking at the Exe river just before darkness fell tonite was an eye opener! Its a huge torrent when its in flood as many know but not living in the area it was the first time I'd seen it like it. Im not sure what else could be done as regards mitigating it happening again, I do get the impression its abit like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Apparently we came in for some stick about the delay of work but its kinda difficult to do anything when the infrastructure is under 3 feet of water. Quite - just throwing rock into a running river like that doesn't sound like a workable plan...and even if it was i'd be reluctant to send a big crew into an environment that dangerous to try it. Im not sure what else could be done as regards mitigating it happening again, Ref Cowley - no, simply jacking the track up a bit isn't an option as there's the road bridge, and anyhow the water would presumably then just try and go through the embankment rather than over the track - putting in some kind of huge mega-culvert just under the track doesn't do much as the whole area floods - not sure there's a simple answer there. Had to go to London for a funeral yesterday so was very glad the SWT partial service was back - it was slower than usual, service was thinner than usual - but it was at least a train service. 5mph TSRs at one end of both Buckhorn Weston and Honiton tunnels point to NR being (rightfully) nervous of still-sodden earthworks in some locations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted November 28, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 28, 2012 Cheers, Martyn. Its appreciated and Im sure CK will agree. I got to deliver "some signalling materials" for Cowely late today, and I also know that reballasting has been taking place all day so things are now moving on. Apparently we came in for some stick about the delay of work but its kinda difficult to do anything when the infrastructure is under 3 feet of water. Listening in to our daily conferance call this morning sounded like a war zone, I quickly got the imprsseion there was damage all over the place and on nearlly every ELR in the Devon & Cornwall area. Looking at the Exe river just before darkness fell tonite was an eye opener! Its a huge torrent when its in flood as many know but not living in the area it was the first time I'd seen it like it. Im not sure what else could be done as regards mitigating it happening again, I do get the impression its abit like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! Well, we are ready to reopen the main lines, albeit with emergency ticket working, from 4pm this afternoon. It means that trains can again run between Exeter, Taunton and beyond. A huge thanks to Gary and all his colleagues for continuous hard graft since the floods! We also got the trapped FGW unit back from Crediton at lunchtime today, one less thing to have to sort out! We are also hopeful that we will be allowed to run trains on the up line at Sprey Point again, albeit with an emergency speed restriction pending further works, following temporary closure due to a landslip there yesterday morning. The cliff netting and fencing, that a former MP complained about several years ago, actually did it's job and prevented a large amount of material from actually inundating the railway! In the meantime, we've had to close the down line at Westerleigh Jct this morning, due to another earth slip, and down trains are now subject to diversion, unfortunately this will take a few days to repair as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted November 28, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 28, 2012 Well, we are ready to reopen the main lines, albeit with emergency ticket working, from 4pm this afternoon. It means that trains can again run between Exeter, Taunton and beyond. A huge thanks to Gary and all his colleagues for continuous hard graft since the floods! Cheers Tim, but i feel im just a very small piece of the much bigger puzzle! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted November 29, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2012 Well, we managed to reopen the up line at Sprey Point again yesterday afternoon, so SLW was withdrawn, albeit with a 5 mph speed restriction past the site of the slip and with a Watchman keeping an eye on it. Unfortunately the cliffs started to show signs of movement again last night, and the Up line was closed, with SLW reintroduced during the evening. After only a short while, the landslip moved some more until it got to the stage where both lines had to be closed. Contractors are now getting stuck in there, removing the many hundreds of tons of liquified spoil and making it all safe again. The current plan is to have the down line reopened for down passenger trains only from approx 1600 tomorrow afternoon, to allow the TOCs to get sets into position for Saturday morning, and to reopen both lines from Saturday morning. More work will take place during further overnight possessions until everything is sorted out. Here are some of my photos taken first thing this morning. It was a lovely morning for a walk along the Sea Wall... Photos of the slip site: There are natural drains from the cliffs side, under the railway and out onto the beach. Note the distinctive red earthy colour of this one: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 29, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2012 Looks as though the Geotechnics boys had already done their best on this site - evidence of netting in the spoil. What more can NR do? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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