Pacific231G Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Apologies for the poor quality photos taken on my ancient phone but I wondered what this train is. I've seen it twice in the past two days but hadn't seen it before. According to Realtime Trains it's the 09:15 train 726Z801E12 from Willesden Euro to Calvert but I wondered what it was carrying. The wagons carry UIC markings so from that and the origin I'm assuming it's come through the tunnel so are we now selling landfill to the rest of Europe? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 The fact they have UIC markings doesn't mean they've been through the tunnel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Spoil from CrossRail. C6T. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted June 12, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 12, 2013 The new issue of Rail, out today has an article about this working and mentions that it is tunnel spoil loaded at Willesden but doesn't say where from. i was intrigued as it says that complete narrow gauge trains are upended by a gantry to fill the wagons. As the Royal Oak Crossrail site is some distance away with the spoil going to the Thames Estuary via South London I wondered if this was spoil from some other tunnelling contract possibly a sewer contract. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 The wagons are the former Tiphook bogie boxes now owned by General Electric, that have recently been extended up to increase capacity for scrap traffic and have been UIC registered from new. All new wagons in the UK are UIC numbered now! Mark Saunders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Lynch are a public works contractor, I believe, so the spoil could be anything from tunnelling waste to the stuff left over when they've installed new pipes and back-filled with fresh stone. Tipping space is very limited within Greater London, and so it's probably cheaper and easier to accumulate it at a Licenced Transfer Point, then ship it to somewhere for use in enlarging Essex/building Boris Island or whatever. Those wagons have been used in mainland Europe; a large number were being used by ECR when they started the flows from Caffiers; subsequently replaced by hoppers, they came back to the UK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 I did a bit more digging and found that Lynch have a new material rail hub in Willesden http://www.l-lynch.com/new-material-rail-hub.html the address is Channel Gate Road, Willesden NW10 so I assume this is around where Willesden Euro is (using pat of the area that was supposed to be heaving with cross channel rail freight perhaps?). I don't know if its related but I've also noticed in the past couple of months that there is some kind of rail freight activity alongside the Oxford-Bicester line near the Water Eaton Park and Ride centre in front of the old silos. There are plans to build a railway station here in conjunction with Chiltern Railways' London-Bicester-Oxford project but I think it's too early for this activity to be associated with that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 I did a bit more digging and found that Lynch have a new material rail hub in Willesden http://www.l-lynch.com/new-material-rail-hub.html the address is Channel Gate Road, Willesden NW10 so I assume this is around where Willesden Euro is (using pat of the area that was supposed to be heaving with cross channel rail freight perhaps?). I don't know if its related but I've also noticed in the past couple of months that there is some kind of rail freight activity alongside the Oxford-Bicester line near the Water Eaton Park and Ride centre in front of the old silos. There are plans to build a railway station here in conjunction with Chiltern Railways' London-Bicester-Oxford project but I think it's too early for this activity to be associated with that. Channel Gate Road is the approach to the Euroterminal; there seem to be various firms using the various offices there. However, this particular resident might explain Lynch's activities there:- http://www.londonpowertunnels.co.uk/default.asp I confess that, despite being a regular reader of the IET Journal, I'd not heard of this project. The Oxford site looks as though it could be the ARC Terminal, which has seen sporadic activity since the 1970s- the image on Google Maps has a large front-loader in plain sight, though no trains. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted June 16, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2013 Looks like the tunnel starting from Willesden with TBM Evelyn is the main suspect for this. The article was written about a journey a few months ago and definitely mentioned complete trains being turned upside down to dump the spoil having been hauled by locos that had worked in the Channel Tunnel. Thanks foir the link Brian. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted June 16, 2013 Author Share Posted June 16, 2013 Fat Controller, on 16 Jun 2013 - 07:07, said: Channel Gate Road is the approach to the Euroterminal; there seem to be various firms using the various offices there. However, this particular resident might explain Lynch's activities there:- http://www.londonpowertunnels.co.uk/default.asp I confess that, despite being a regular reader of the IET Journal, I'd not heard of this project. The Oxford site looks as though it could be the ARC Terminal, which has seen sporadic activity since the 1970s- the image on Google Maps has a large front-loader in plain sight, though no trains. Thanks for this.Interesting that several of these deep tunnels follow the course of the Grand Union and other canals. I assume this has more to do with wayleaves than engineering rather as the deep tube tunnels twist and turn to follow streets way above them.Water Eaton has become noticeably active in the past few months which could relate to the University's current projects to ruin Oxford's skyline. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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