Donington Road

To compliment Richard's good photos today here are some from the Walton end of the large pipe that feeds into Brook Drain south. The gang were marking out levels at the time these photos were taken. A seven metre wide concrete slab is supposedly being put in here for access to this side of the railway. I see there has been a name change on the building to the left which is a trampolining park. It was previously called 'Bounce'

This just arrived. We think it is work to extend the sides of the bridge at the end of the ramps nearest the Down Stamford line on the Bretton side of the bridge.

Still doing the fencing around Cock Lane footbridge.

For photos go to google and search Kings Cross Upgrade then click on Images For video go to Youtube and put Kings Cross Upgrade in the search box. There is quite a few videos on there.

That photo looks spot on to me for colour. Maybe you need to photograph it outside in natural light on a dull day for the best effect. Superb job you have done so far.

They are just levelling and tidying up that area. It will look nice with about 50 flower planters on it.

I would have thought that vehicle access to the relay room and the area between the two Joint lines was a necessity for future maintenance. If there is no space between the Up Slow and the end of the dive under box to allow vehicles to cross then that to me is a poor design. Should have made the cutting ten feet shorter and the box ten feet longer. I saw the signalling gang last year reverse their van from the Waterworks Lane access all the way down to Hurn Road. It was quite a wiggle around the OHE masts and through the undergrowth. When I said to them why didn't your mate just bring the van round to Hurn Road by road to pick you up? They said we haven't got a key to get out of the gate at Hurn Road. So not only does all that fencing keep the public off the railway it keeps the workers caged in too.

The construction of the girders are such that they are for longitudinal forces connecting the piles. Putting a concrete slab on top of them would create vertical forces which they are not designed for. The only NR access once the area has been handed over will be via the old track from Hurn Road footbridge which runs alongside the Up Slow. Vans and very small lorries can use that but I can't imagine employees carrying their kit very far, even small lightweight toolboxes seem to sprout wheels on them these days, or as we have recently witnessed they use an excavator and bucket if there is one available!

There could be a walkway across the girders but they would not be strong enough for vehicular access they way they are bolted to the sides. All I can see is a tight squeeze between the OHE post and the end of the girder. Looking at the photo below it does suggest that the end of the dive under cutting has been angled which might accommondate such a senario or is that just a concrete wall to deflect any derailment on the Up Slow..

It can't be far away once the heavy equipment has finished using the access between the old and new lines. I'm a bit surprised that a lightweight bridge is not being installed somewhere near that for future access. Looking at aerial photos there does not look to be much room if any for the old access road that ran down the side of the Up Slow to the relay building. There is hardly any distance between the end of dive under where the girders are and the Up Slow.

Trackside ECML then made his way up to Lincoln Road. Remember these nice new water signs and the re-instated verge and road surface done on the 25th February? It now looks like this! .....and those poor new signs have bit the dust! So much for utility companies talking to each other and working togather. The brick work is still being done joining the two bridge abutments together. Nice sweeping view under the A15 bridge looking towards the dive under.

Some views of the north ramp of the dive under. Pallets of concrete trunking for the electrical work. The haul road has been cleaned up and levelled out on the west side. The concrete lorries are now using this.

At Cock Lane some wooden post and rail fencing being put around the footpath near Werrington Brook. A temporary speed restriction on the Up Slow towards Walton. No obvious sign of what that is for.

The wall has been taken down next to Walton footbridge. According to Trackside ECML a concrete slab is to be laid from here to the first pylon, hence the amount of rebar panels.

I was waiting for the safety valves to lift.

After reminding Trackside ECML this morninrg that work was due to have started at Walton on the access to the west side of the Stamford lines he duly went out this afternoon in the wind and rain to report back for us. That's dedication for you, so many thanks for that. As it happens there was not much to see. The barriers and fencing to divert the footpath were just being put in place at the time of his visit. Some wooden mats had been put down next to the wall on the soft ground for the excavator to stand on. The inside and outside of the wall had been disc cut so it looks as though the small right hand side section is being retained. A good stack of reinforcing mesh has been delivered trackside. Presumably once all the paving slabs have been taken out streetside the mesh will be used to build a more substantial concrete access area. There was a photo I posted of the entrance area back on page 89. Shame Walton footbridge doen't look as nice as the Hull Trains Back at Cock Lane the last of the fencing has been tied in with the Werrington Brook fence. We still wait to see what will happen to the east side of the footbridge area. Out intrepid reporter said that is a much better view than the temporary mesh fencing that was there, although it is still rather cluttered with OHE posts and lineside rubbish for decent photos.

I think that may well be wishful thinking Richard. I am sure there will be more barriers put in place before it is finished.

That sounded funny to start with but it is actually quite thought provoking. I bet it is or has been discussed already by railway authority. A lot of farm machinery is now satellite guided. It is only hands on when getting to the headland to turn and go back down the field. A malfunction of the operator and the machinery will keep going. Then what of the future when more robotic machinery will be working in the fields?

I think you are right. Underneath all the muck at the top of the embankment is a tarmaced haul road. That will probably be cleaned off and retained for access to Glinton Junction, hence the Armco.

Please post images of whatever you take. As you have made the effort to go out and record events it would be a shame not to post them. I see some progess on the dive under. The drainage is being put in each side with a sand covering. Then on the west side there has been sand put down and ballast being spread to tidy it all up. The fencing at Cock Lane looks ok so far. I just hope that something is done so it is kept tidy where the cherry pickers stand. I'm sure that is Council land, before it was just a wilderness of trees and rubbish from the car repair places. This old photo shows the fence line which is the one that has just been re-instated. Also it looks like Armco fencing is being put up along the top of the embankment towards Glinton Junction in your 7th photo, thats a bit odd.

Trackside ECML has been out this morning to have a look at the new fencing being erected around Cock Lane footbridge. Re-instating the original fence line from the access gate. Around the end of the first ramp. Along the inner side the footbridge then back to the footpath.

The Spalding to Nottingham/Nottingham to Spalding service already uses platform 6 and would likely use the dive under. Werrington Junction as it is now is staying which implies all passenger services on the Joint will continue to use platform 1. Apart from the service mentioned all other services on the Joint to Spalding, Lincoln, Newark, and Doncaster terminate at Peterborough. Any special, one off through service from the south either via the ECML or March would probably use the dive under to access the Joint should that be the route it takes. If every Joint Line service was to use platform 6 then there would be too much congestion with all the cross country services. If it is to be then NR had better start quadrupling the Stamford lines from Peterborough the Marholm Junction.

Jeff, if you need to send large files like I do nearly every day then use WeTransfer https://wetransfer.com/ You can sign up for a free account and send as many files as you want up to 2GB per upload. You can do this as many times as you like per day as long as you dont go over the 2GB limit for each upload. Drag and drop the file(s) to the WeTransfer window. You get an email stating you have sent the files once they have uploaded and then the recipient gets an email stating that files are ready to download from WeTransfer. They have 7 days in which to download the files before they get deleted from WeTransfer.

2nd post of screenshots. The last photo. The box has been pushed to its final position and the main lines have been re-instated

1st of two posts containing the screen grabs taken by Trackside ECML from Thursdays U3a Zoom meeting about the Werrington Upgrade.