Ogauge83A Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Crrrikey - it's actually arrived at last! This is only part of the train, looking at pictures online it has been at High Marnham testing (November 2013) and also been at Swindon. Weirdly it wont be in use at Taunton as no electrification plans...(yet) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold mcowgill Posted May 7, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 7, 2014 Weirdly it wont be in use at Taunton as no electrification plans...(yet) Minehead branch being used as an electrification testbed... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Though the GWR did a cost-benefit analysis of electrifying Bristol-Taunton in the 1920s! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 This is only part of the train, looking at pictures online it has been at High Marnham testing (November 2013) and also been at Swindon. Weirdly it wont be in use at Taunton as no electrification plans...(yet) Perhaps it's because Taunton Fairwater has already been used as a base for the other High-Output trains, there are staff there who can train others on specific techniques related to using this sort of equipment adjacent to lines in service? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 The High Output Ballast Cleaner was based at Reading for a while too, though those sidings have now been subsumed into the new Turbo depot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 On delivery, back last November..... https://www.flickr.com/photos/56454775@N06/12569829273/in/photostream/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelintrev Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Saw this bit of kit at Swindon this afternoon. All nice new paint! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfsup Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Saw this bit of kit at Swindon this afternoon. All nice new paint! It's certainly a very impressive piece of kit this new MPV, I saw it a few weeks ago sitting in Reading's platform 9 whilst heading into Paddington to catch my Night Riviera, and passed it split into several sections with the crew working away just outside Pangbourne a few hours later. No photos sadly as apart from it being in the middle of the night my phone wasn't playing ball, but it's certainly a technically impressive piece of kit! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I read the other day that this has gone over budget already due to unforeseen problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted June 1, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 1, 2014 I read the other day that this has gone over budget already due to unforeseen problems. Yes apparently our old pal the Great Crested Newt and some other rare species of flora and fauna have been found during surveys along with other things as the detailed sesign work is completed. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 It's about 9 months behind schedule atm but you never heard it from me........................ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 (edited) More photos of the work. The new Airport Jct. curved girder bridge near Hayes is coming along well Balfour Beattie Class 20's at the site of the former oil depot at Langley Tubes being loaded onto what look like the former Freightliner flats that have been stored at the oil depot sidings for many years XF Edited June 17, 2014 by Xerces Fobe2 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 More photos on the work. IMG_0678.jpg The new Airport Jct. curved girder bridge near Hayes is coming along well IMG_0689.jpg Balfour Beattie Class 20's at the site of the former oil depot at Langley IMG_0696.jpg Tubes being loaded onto what look like the former Freightliner flats that have been stored at the oil depot sidings for many years XF They may look like them, but I don't think they are.. The bogies, as far as I can see through that fence, are different, the underframe is more solid than the open lattice of the old Freightliner flats, and they appear to be black, rather than rust and faded blue. They'll be newish KFAs of some sort- perhaps those that have appeared in other photos of the Class 20s. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Believe they are a pair of Tiphook KFA's, interestingly the platforms appear at first glance to be converted from old Freightliner flatbed containers of the type that used to be in service for Aluminium Ingots....on Tiphook KFA's... http://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/UKRailRollingstock/K-Tops-codes/KFA-Intermodal-flats/i-48Zg4TS 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Whoever "designed" the abutments on some of the rebuilt overbridges should be shot. They are truly appalling. Where's any style. any grace? At first I thought someone had painted graffiti on the bridge, but that's actually the distance from Paddington just carelessly sprayed on. Brunel must be turning in his grave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Yes and try leaning on one to take a photo on a sunny day - guaranteed 3rd degree forearm burns................ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium HillsideDepot Posted August 13, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) A short report on the electrification train has appeared on the BBC News website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28766197 .I'm curious as to where this was filmed, the post location 91.705 possibly suggesting west of milepost 91 which puts it just east of Chippenham, and where there is a convenient access point nearby. I might have to go an investigate later, although I'm not sure what would be visible there from public areas. UPDATE 19:28 I have had a look around the area near milepost 91 and there is no sign of any electrification work. The Stationmaster's suggestion that 91 refers to kms may well be correct. I wonder if that might also account for the report being from BBC South rather than BBC West, which is more likely for a near Chippenham location. Edited August 13, 2014 by HillsideDepot Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 13, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 13, 2014 If anything that will be 91 kms, not 91 miles which would put it just west of Steventon - however the lineside does look right for that on the Down but it could be on the Up side. There are masts for headspan structures in various places east of Moreton Cutting, often with some missing where the piles haven't been sunk or haven't been sunk deep enough. I haven't been west of Didcot for sometime so don't know the rate of progress there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 They won't be headspans, as the new Series 1 design range does not include them. They will either be for portals or pairs of Two Track Cantilevers. They may be tall masts in order to support the Autotransformer feed wires, and they will probably be a large square hollow section rather than Universal Column. It will look quite different to all OLE that has gone before, although with some common components with the Great Eastern upgrade. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 13, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) They won't be headspans, as the new Series 1 design range does not include them. They will either be for portals or pairs of Two Track Cantilevers. They may be tall masts in order to support the Autotransformer feed wires, and they will probably be a large square hollow section rather than Universal Column. It will look quite different to all OLE that has gone before, although with some common components with the Great Eastern upgrade. There are various types of structure erected round Reading already and most of them use the square, presumably hollow, section mast although the ones 'out in the country' west of Reading look much taller. Interesting to hear they won't be using headspans - maybe the wires will stay up a bit better in the occasional strong Thames Valley winds if that is the case (mind you whatever the structures are a lot of the catenary won't stand much chance in heavy winds unless the lineside forests - within the boundary fences - are removed). Edit to add PS Some of the portal structures already erected at Reading New Junction are very similar to some newer structures I noticed on the GE mainline back in March. Edited August 13, 2014 by The Stationmaster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1059 Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 If anything that will be 91 kms, not 91 miles which would put it just west of Steventon - however the lineside does look right for that on the Down but it could be on the Up side. There are masts for headspan structures in various places east of Moreton Cutting, often with some missing where the piles haven't been sunk or haven't been sunk deep enough. I haven't been west of Didcot for sometime so don't know the rate of progress there. The report I saw on South Today showed a sequence including a level crossing, so I guessed Steventon as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Yes they're working between Steventon and Swindon at the moment - mast bases going in Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Things must be changing rapidly with the onward march of electrification. This was Steventon looking west only last month. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickL2008 Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Hi - nice new shiney square metal poles to hold the masts up are now at South Moreton, just south of Didcot, theyre both sides of the line now, theyve pretty much put in the mast bases all the way along now, the dreaded knitting is getting closer slowly but surelyNL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Mast bases only at the moment There's a track renewal just west of Steventon due this weekend too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now