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Washout at Dawlish


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  • RMweb Gold

OK, these photos are all at Dawlish station and the main washout site.

 

New coping stones in place on the Down platform, and the gang working to install more:

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The lorry has delivered another load of pre-cast concrete 'L' sections:

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The 'L' sections themselves:

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The 'L' sections will be secured in place along either side of the main concreted 'track bed' at the main breach site, and these will hold the 'bottom ballast' in place.

 

More images of the Down platform and damage sustained:

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Walking further towards the main breach site. I looked for the camera for the new webcam (dawlishbeach.com) but couldn't find it!

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Scenes from the main breach site this afternoon. The concrete in the main 'track bed' area is now at it's 'completed' height, which is roughly in line with the tops of the containers. The 'L' sections will be secured on here and the outer and inner walls built up further. The inner wall is actually having more concrete poured and will be at a higher level than the 'track bed' area, this is to support the road and adjacent area.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

No, not at all, I think you're referring to that house on Riviera Terrace. I was talking to someone who lives close by, and apparantly the insurance company of that poor family haven't even sent an assessor down yet, some 3 weeks after it happened...

 

They also tried to get their car insurance to fund a hire car, whilst theirs was trapped on the wrong side of the hole, but that insurer apparently declined, on the grounds that their car wasn't actually damaged...

 

 

Regrettably typical. Maybe a little press naming and shaming would be helpful.

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How kind - they managed to spare me a complete Portacabin for myself!! :D

Priceless; a pasty store.

 

Anyway, I spotted from an earlier post you shouldn't have a problem in shifting the containers when you're done as the Branscombe wreckers may lend a hand.

 

Dawlish_Containers.jpg

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Thanks (understated) CK for the great informational pictures posted and the true carnage in the Dawlish area that has happened, not only have you guys done outstanding work in the short time since the event. But all your fellow NR colleagues around the UK who are battling other major rail site problems, like the landslip near Sheffield and one in Hampshire where a whole railway embankment is having to be dug out and fully replaced etc. I don't think there are many areas of the rail network that haven't had some sort of problem.

 

 

 

ps: have a good brew n butty oh and some sleep ;)  you deserve it.

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Priceless; a pasty store.

 

Anyway, I spotted from an earlier post you shouldn't have a problem in shifting the containers when you're done as the Branscombe wreckers may lend a hand.

 

attachicon.gifDawlish_Containers.jpg

 

no wonder the containers worked well as supported by pampers........

 

 

 

ok where`s the door who turned out the lights :scratchhead: 

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  • RMweb Premium

Ah the Branscombe wreckers!  Some of whom are known personally to me from my days living and working in Beer next door ;)

There are still some mysterisosly-acquired items around the area.

 

Back to insurance and while I can't comment on specific policies I can say that an insurer will not cover for damage whhich has NOT been caused meaning no hire cars if yours is undamaged but inaccessible. 

On the good news side that is fantastic progress in difficult circumstances by all concerned.  Clearly a way to go yet but the big hole is no more!

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I heard something recently about a village where flooding had cut the residents' car parking off from the rest of the road network, stranding the cars for a considerable period.

 

A meeting was held in the village hall where people could offer suggestions to the problem. One young lad at the meeting had been given the telephone number of an officer in the Royal Marines when the Marines had visited his school, and suggested calling him to see if he could think of anything. Shortly afterwards the Marines arrived with landing craft, rescued the cars and refused payment from the villagers as it had gone down as a "training exercise"..

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sea has not looked for last couple of hours,

 

post-14408-0-88044800-1393463961_thumb.jpg

 

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I heard something recently about a village where flooding had cut the residents' car parking off from the rest of the road network, stranding the cars for a considerable period.

 

A meeting was held in the village hall where people could offer suggestions to the problem. One young lad at the meeting had been given the telephone number of an officer in the Royal Marines when the Marines had visited his school, and suggested calling him to see if he could think of anything. Shortly afterwards the Marines arrived with landing craft, rescued the cars and refused payment from the villagers as it had gone down as a "training exercise"..

 

yes I saw an extended view on CH4/CH5 news about this and how it would normally take ages to plan something like this, but this gave real time training of one day in camp and next day helping some unknown spot in the world. As you say skill learning as you go that cant be taught or planned upfront.

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I know we should avoid frothing over the various routes - but....!

Plymouth Chamber of Commerce have been 'agitating' for a 3 hour London-Plymouth journey time. The Dawlish inland routes would seem to be the only option(s) able to deliver this as they would most likely built for higher running speed than the coastal route. They would also enable (hopefully) electrification in some dim & distant future. I'm unsure what the phrase in that NR document 'current level of trains via Dawlish route could be maintained' implies - keeping the route for local traffic perhaps? Reduced traffic might allow 'strategic singling' to give a wider buffer zone between the track & sea wall.

It's a shame as allegedly South West MP's have formed a cross-party alliance to campaign for rail improvements - but any bickering/championing of their own schemes and desires is just going to sink the partnership and detract from any positive and well thought-out points they could be putting across as a team to the government, as one poster on another forum quite rightly remarked. Bearing in mind that if there's no agreement on what to do next, DafT and the Treasury will not commit funds, and it's going to be a struggle to wrestle any pennies for such investment away from the Treasury anyway. Add to that this alliance is threatening to vote against HS2 (please don't start on HS2 chaps, I don't want to drag the thread any further off-topic!) if they don't get any money to improve Dawlish or get a new route, the whole "alliance" is already looking farcical.

 

With regard to the 3 hour can of worms, Plymouth already has two crack expresses from London which do it in three hours, running fast from Reading to Exeter leaving Paddington at 10.06 and 12.06, and in the other direction there's two taking 3h7, I imagine 7 minutes of that is slack along the course of the journey. Dawlish in tatters is not the time to push their own agendas - to get an hourly 3h service DafT would have to retain extra HST's for a new Plymouth semi-fast to call at intermediate stations to allow the fasts to go Reading, Exeter, Newton Abbot and Plymouth, a timetable re-cast in the West and possibly resignalling to boot to accommodate another train per hour. This is the perfect opportunity to almost back the Treasury into a corner for a new route, they need to go about it in the appropriate manner. Dick-waving and thrusting forward their personal agendas won't work unfortunately, they need to tread carefully and take one thing at a time before tackling any "desirable" schemes as opposed to necessities. I hope I'm wrong though!

 

Finally thank you to the Captain for the shots. Keep up the good work, and make sure you're looking glamorous for those dates with the press every day! ;)

Edited by NXEA!
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  • RMweb Gold

It's a shame as allegedly South West MP's have formed a cross-party alliance to campaign for rail improvements - but any bickering/championing of their own schemes and desires is just going to sink the partnership and detract from any positive and well thought-out points they could be putting across as a team to the government, as one poster on another forum quite rightly remarked. Bearing in mind that if there's no agreement on what to do next, DafT and the Treasury will not commit funds, and it's going to be a struggle to wrestle any pennies for such investment away from the Treasury anyway. Add to that this alliance is threatening to vote against HS2 (please don't start on HS2 chaps, I don't want to drag the thread any further off-topic!) if they don't get any money to improve Dawlish or get a new route, the whole "alliance" is already looking farcical.

 

With regard to the 3 hour can of worms, Plymouth already has two crack expresses from London which do it in three hours, running fast from Reading to Exeter leaving Paddington at 10.06 and 12.06, and in the other direction there's two taking 3h7, I imagine 7 minutes of that is slack along the course of the journey. Dawlish in tatters is not the time to push their own agendas - to get an hourly 3h service DafT would have to retain extra HST's for a new Plymouth semi-fast to call at intermediate stations to allow the fasts to go Reading, Exeter, Newton Abbot and Plymouth, a timetable re-cast in the West and possibly resignalling to boot to accommodate another train per hour. This is the perfect opportunity to almost back the Treasury into a corner for a new route, they need to go about it in the appropriate manner. Dick-waving and thrusting forward their personal agendas won't work unfortunately, they need to tread carefully and take one thing at a time before tackling any "desirable" schemes as opposed to necessities. I hope I'm wrong though!

 

Finally thank you to the Captain for the shots. Keep up the good work, and make sure you're looking glamorous for those dates with the press every day! ;)

Am I unduly cynical in holding the view that, if there was a high level of demand for rapid transport in/out of Plymouth, their airport wouldn't have gone down the tube?

 

John

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Rich - the best I can recommend is to try overlaying the map at the back of the Peter Kay 'Exeter to Newton Abbot - a Railway History' book over an O/S map...

Hi All,

 

Has anyone got this book? If anyone could post up a scan of the route, I would add it to the map already done. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=217632946174687534054.0004f213172d2cb60f317&dg=feature

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Chris

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  • RMweb Gold

 

Back to insurance and while I can't comment on specific policies I can say that an insurer will not cover for damage whhich has NOT been caused meaning no hire cars if yours is undamaged but inaccessible. 

 

 

The fact that such chicanery is an industry standard world-wide doesn't make it any more acceptable, but does contribute to a generally-held view that all insurance is a scam, and that must cost insurers serious amounts of sales, again world-wide. Media attention, putting insurers on the back foot, will do no one any harm at all.

Edited by Oldddudders
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Am I unduly cynical in holding the view that, if there was a high level of demand for rapid transport in/out of Plymouth, their airport wouldn't have gone down the tube?

 

John

Plymouth airport was a thriving concern when it was run by Brymon Airways with 4 flights a day to Heathrow and 4 to Gatwick.  I used it regularly to make international connections at Heathrow.  Then BA bought Brymon and shut down the Heathrow flights - they wanted the landing slots for soemthing bigger than a Dash 8.  Staff levels at  Plymouth increased and BA said they were losing money on the remaining routes and gave up.  All they wanted was the landing slots at Heathrow which are impossible for another regional airline to get back.

Mike

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  • RMweb Gold

I heard something recently about a village where flooding had cut the residents' car parking off from the rest of the road network, stranding the cars for a considerable period.

 

A meeting was held in the village hall where people could offer suggestions to the problem. One young lad at the meeting had been given the telephone number of an officer in the Royal Marines when the Marines had visited his school, and suggested calling him to see if he could think of anything. Shortly afterwards the Marines arrived with landing craft, rescued the cars and refused payment from the villagers as it had gone down as a "training exercise"..

Yes, this was at Calstock (as in the location served by the Gunnislake branch).

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  • RMweb Gold

Hi All,

 

Has anyone got this book? If anyone could post up a scan of the route, I would add it to the map already done. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=217632946174687534054.0004f213172d2cb60f317&dg=feature

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Chris

 

Best not to post scanned maps - copyright rules and all - but a hand traced version might be allowable...?

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  • RMweb Premium

Tim, who is the main contractor on site, is it Amco Rail or Bam Nuttal?

Either way, we're (NR) lucky to have such good civil engineering company's to work with. Looks like they really know their stuff when it comes to big rebuilding projects!

No doubt it'll be reflected when they hand over the bill though. :O

(Me, bigging up sub companys! Whatever next?) ;)

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  • RMweb Gold

who is the main contractor on site, is it Amco Rail or Bam Nuttal?

 

Amco at main breach site

Bam Nuttall on most of remainder of wall, Dawlish-side of tunnels

Dyer & Butler on wall, Teignmouth-side of tunnels

Edited by Captain Kernow
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  • RMweb Premium

HI CK

 

Those photo's really bring home how much work has gone on in the last few weeks, the odd photo here and there doesn't really bring home the enormity of the job, Well done to all involved, I look forward to a visit to Dave at the Exeter Model shop at Easter. Everything crossed.

 

SS

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