Granitechops

Work is ongoing tidying up 2.30 am Sunday workman with small trolley Scene at 6 am Sunday all the blue pipes (Water supplies?) are gone all electric cables & etc are gone apparently those sand castles left on the beach by the digger last week was the result of "sieving" the sand with a special digger bucket to remove broken concrete & steel etc left over from emptying the shipping containers And a lot more of the beach has to be yet "Sieved" over the next weeks? months? Shot of the ice cream cart Andy in action, view of 'Toblerone' wall topping end on view from south generous landing space on " High traffic" steps was it raining? yes it was It was also a pleasure to meet up with Tim & many of his colleagues,. and several visitors & locals who recognised me as Granitechops from my web scribbllings

At 10 am today it was raining, the wall almost deserted & plastic barriers in place plus two security blokes at the Old Life Boat House overnight rain had been almost non stop 60 mm in last 24 hrs I believe water was spouting out of the lower, old wall stonework could not see wether it was out of proper pipe outlets or just cracks definately no railings on outside of new steps the ice cream was supplied by this concern using a "Stop me & buy one" tricycle Edit this is Andy & Tara Their vintage ice cream van is a 1972 Bedford CF ( left in the Station car park) And Tim with two work collegues, sorry but forgot their names, not good!! I have more photos, but as I have an early start tomorrow they will have to wait till Sunday

Well today is scheduled for reopening of the walk way but its been raining hard with little sign of letup hope it improves by lunch time!! the orange army have been busy clearing up on reflection much plant etc. has been going off site & out of the compounds low loader awaiting loading at Dawlish Warren compound Hopefully the Warren compound will be much shrunk by next Sat, 22nd as its Dawlish Air show & the warren car park will be bursting at the seams It was heard said that last year 100,000 visitors came to town. Oxy cutting gear has been in use to remove all protruding steel anchor bolts from stanchions etc empty bottle awaiting removal railings on steps at Warren end on Tuesday one assumes they have also put railings on the outside edge!! still Tuesday, steps at town end (south) in use but railings not yet in place Dawlish is looking good flower displays in fine shape and it is also carnival week, with Dave Rowlands fair in town Bridge over the brook, with the Shaftesbury Theatre in the background Might get some photos later IF the rain lets up

Nah, you all got it wrong The plasticard is going on the top of the walkway, horizontal layer not the front vertical face Edit and I did hear that after the main tourist season is over that in the autumn the walk way will be closed again to accomplish that

Good job it was only me hat, not me head, thanks Tim. BTW, why does the big landing on the "High mileage steps" have an inclined edge on the north side. Cant seen any practical design advantage? Interestingly talking to one of the guys, the original wall was not a smooth curve but is "wiggly" to break up the waves when they swept at an angle ALONG the wall. so they have had to follow the original profile as they have built up the walkway you can actually see this looking along the BASE of the wall towards the tunnels from the Viaduct, not acentuated, but probably only about a 10 -15 inches 'wiggle' Sandcastles left as digger goes off duty 5pm yesterday Tues.

Spring tides, very low 3 sets of people observed walking past work site Has security gone home/finished? not been down there today myself

teams were working overnight, even had auxilliary services parked in Sealawn & Riviera Terr, but more later Edit Sun 2 Aug 3am from https://www.lobstervision.tv/home# roadrailer at work on wall most likely pouring concrete into steps & support vehicles in Riviera Terrace still in possesion at 5.30 am

2 fishermen at Dawlish Warren at 7.15 this morning formwork mostly under water at high tide the Doosan has been lodging at the Old Lifeboat House slip during high tides So it can get on site quicker than if it returned to Red rock each tide a rash of blue blobs appeared on the sea wall they are on closer inspection, drain outlets, with hinged covers to keep wave surge out of the drains, and still allow storm water to escape the temporary wall lights have been disconnected & unscrewed from the wall prior to removal interesting vessel sighted off Coryton today looks like a (short) Tall Ship, anyone any ideas as to identity? the red rusty stanchions at each end of site will probably get removed towards next weekend

Thurs 30th July 2015 NWR units?? going north at 12.08 it was proceeded by a tamper? going south, but didnt get my camera out quick enough fettling/snaging / joints being given attention large piece of shuttering being moved into position by Doosan swing arm smaller detail shuttering panels being moved into site by shanks's pony precast 16 step section being transported, chippy recons it only weights 3.5 tons then of course they had to re-sling it to the correct angle to land it gently on its mountings several adjustments, were needed moving SLOWLY into place snug fit against the wall but the top needed adjustment on the support jacks so swing away while that was done 5 hours later, precast steps in place, first shuttering panel fixed, tide rising, so break in progress view from Rockstone bridge showing completion of top flight. and shuttering still to be fixed to back of middle landing ( 6ft x 12 ft ) Information was received, that rest of shuttering will be done tomorrow, friday and concrete will be poured sat night which probably means early sun morning as in 1 - 2 am onwards and shuttering will begin to be removed on Monday through wednesday leaving snagging and fixing of the handrails around & down the new steps some gangs will be working their final day tomorow

from NWR,s cam https://www.lobstervision.tv/home Works in progress at 5 am this Sun morning Pouring concrete? possibly earlier this week one of the 8 step precast sections was lying on the slip at The Old Lifeboat House Saturday it was gone So probably it is now in situ on the wall with concrete around it dont know if that is the first or second 8 step section as I have not been to the Warren compound for a few days

Oh Yes, prepared for anything, fleeccies, waterproof trousers & jacket, extra leg insulation for bad circulation, camera, tablet for notes, bottled water, cooler bag for goats milk ( react to cows milk) ready for the mornings coffee, etc.!! etc I do have the advantage over the able bodied in that I can carry for any eventuallity. very little chance of getting hypothermia if I were to get stuck somewhere!!! even been known to carry a yard brush to ease the way when the seawall has been deep in shingle though that has not been neccessary the last 4/5 months as the council beach staff have started to do some clearing! Edit and of course, it will also pull the tanden chair behind, as my wife is also disabled as seen at the weekend do at Powderham

thank you Tim for those photos, particularly those taken almost at right angles to the work photos I could not take, unless I persuaded a friend to take me out in his boat That is very unlikely , as boats & me do not blend well!! And for those travelling the rails last sat/sun, you may have noticed an event, right beside the track at Powderham Castle, just north of Starcross The Devon Crash box Club annual show, vintage, veteran, classic cars steam etc well worth a visit saw an 1928 Lagonda similar to one I once drove in the early 1960s the only car I remember to carry a set of spare spark plugs readily to hand! but my favourite car, not very practical, but just love the style, a Ford Capri

Had the pleasure this morning of meeting Tim, Capn Kernow, with his colleague Dave, on the sea wall at Dawlish it would appear that the walkway could be open unofficially on the 12th August Later on, from a different source, I got sight of a working drawing of the steps at the south end entitled "High mileage Stairs" a landing will jut out from the walkway of about 6 ft, a flight of 16 steps (2 sections of 8 as seen at the Red Rock compound above) will lead down parallel to the walkway to another landing (12 ft x 6 ft ) and a lower flight of 16 steps will lead down back the other way (parallel to the first flight, down on to the concrete toe area all with safety railings digger lifting rebar fabrication from off top of wall to be positioned

North end steps, formwork removed, at the moment, the new steps only go down to the top terrace of toe platforms there is an old handrail visible down to the sand, so maybe an older set of steps existed there. and back of same steps, no permanent handrail as yet visible on new step section South end more formwork being placed precast step sections at beach compound at Red rock, Dawlish Warren complete with hefty turnbuckle type lifting gear steel reinforcing cages for use under the precast step units at Red Rock

Sign at entrance to Sealawn & Riviera Terraces road marked out for trench work & utility relaying first wood facing in place (edge on towards us) next piece awaiting placement meanwhile down at Coryton cove caught Simon & Charlie at "Love at first bite" it appears he loves his food & shares that passion with his customers

its one of NWR's working tools., isn't it. was told by a resident that, the terraces were closed to all traffic including residents cars, someone drove down when security were not on duty, within a short time an "enforcement?" unit arrived complete with camera to rectify the situation I understand that some one at NWR ( or delegated contractor) is on monitor duty 24/12 or similar in order to facilitate such action there was an incident last year picked up on the Dawlish Beach webcam of an adult & child walking late at night along the works on the seawall & then climbing over the wall & proceeding along the trackside a webcam is a brilliant security tool I recon that it will be there at least the official opening aug 15th and maybe even longer as an observation window as to conditions at Dawlish ( but that may not be considered cost effective, the long term, that is)

No messing, at around 5.45am today digger in use at spot where cage was landed from https://www.lobstervision.tv/home#

4th July Steps at warren end, the north end, taking shape, only down as far as top level of toe additions probably got more to do at that end, to get down to the beach itself 7th July large steel reinforcing cage arrived on beach, about 4 mtrs each side? the diagonal shaped side fits against the bottom slope of the original seawall cage in place, looks like a much more complicated set of steps here at the south end maybe a halfway platform/landing? and at Coryton Cove the new refreshments stand is open for business, the operator, Simon, says they will be open every day a minimum amount of hours opening being a condition of the lease good coffee, friendly staff and on the 24th June, a survey ship was seen working off Redrock. but no information as to its purpose

Still here Keith, been very busy with various things recently must see if I can add few photos early tomorrow But for now, I heard today from a knowledgable source that the walkway would be finished & open by first week in August 6th, 7th 8th? with the official opening ceremony on Sat 15th of Aug Time will tell how that will turn out But if so that will greatly be beneficial for the Dawlish Air show Red arrows, et al on 22nd of August edit the residents of Sealawn & Riviera terraces have not had vehicular access for 9 days now, no access for refuse collection vehicles, etc etc, and although the terraces are tarmacked, the access road down the back hill is also being resurfaced due to deterioration caused by passing of all the heavy contractors vehicles they have hit a snag, finding utility supplies only 2 inches under the surface so another long delay for the residents for all that to be relaid deeper, before resurfacing can take place

Thank you for that observation prof Thats the sort of pipe used for Storm water drains BUT what is interesting is that if you compare NR webcan for 12th Thurs with Sat 13th, and today, sun am, you will see that they have cut through the innner line of 2014 'L' sections, removed short 3'? /4'? or 5'? sections, inserted formwork through to outer 'L' section wall or now Parapet. In the field of vision viewed on NWRail webcam there are 4 point where they have done this. SO just guess work they may be major drainage points to drain seawater off the track? maybe? EDIT looking further on NWRail webcam see https://www.lobstervision.tv/home# they cut the sections out ( to about 2ft deep) on Sat am early Cut sections sitting on Road Railer wagon constucting formwork full wagon of concrete ( 2 inches from top?) arriving at 3 am Sun. And poured concrete sun morning uptill at least 5.45am you can just see the infill of concrete poured to the left of the left formwork filling in between the two lines of 'L' precast units the next formwork is in place to the right probably get poured over night

A team of Dean & Dyball pointing the seawall on 3rd of june, a helpful guy working for them said that when they 'repointed' the breakwater at the Old lifeboat house, they ground out to 60mm (approx 2 foot) before refilling, and as the centre was soft infill originally, they packed in a lot of 'grout'? to fill in the voids! dont think this was grouting, my guess is that they were preparing Anchor points ready for when they pour the steps 5th June, during the previous week, half term, traffic in Dawlish was chaotic due to the increase of holiday traffic trying to negotiate the traffic lights, there are some 5 or 6 holiday camps at the warren, each catering for thousands of holiday makers so from the 5th on, no more pumping concrete from Exeter road for the duration of the summer season, concrete will be delivered by road railers at night when the track is closed to normal traffic last week residents at the flats right by Dawlish Station, had their sleep disturbed as mixer trucks delivered concrete to the Dawlish town Station yard, instead of from Dawlish Warren compound as previously done roadsweeper cleaning up site before removal of traffic lights all pumping pipes gone from gateway of derelict house concrete pumper at Dawlish Warren Compound, awaiting going off hire, I should imagine formwork removed from wall, and stacked at the Old Lifeboat House, awaiting collection by the night Road Railer removed from this side of the site, notice that there is still part of the ramp exposed on Weds this week, I think it was, 2 arctics were seen carting off loads of the concrete pumping pipes going past Dawlish Viaduct in the direction of Teignmouth

Network Rail's web cam, courtesy of Lobstervision seems to be stuck on 8.15 this morning doesn't want to update. But its obvious that they poured another section of parapet, yesterday or the day before, as they were dismantling the formwork. and another section previously poured., off to the right, has had its "Toblerone" 'Prism' top section added EDIT;- rewinding the webcam to Yesterday, they poured at least 10 m of parapet between 9.30 am & 10.45 am And at 10.15am there appeared to be some consternation over the formwork holding/leaking? but it must have been just precautionary, as 15 mins later pour had been completed

From information that came my way yesterday, it looks like work may start on the formwork for the first lift of infilling the existing steps at the north end ( Warren end) of site. Looks like a working platform will be built on the concrete apron at low sea level, and the struts ( similar to those already in place at the south, Dawlish end) to anchor/ support the formwork will be supported on that base Was told that an inner wall would be constructed first, then the outer steps done as a second build but this was information from a PRELIMINARY projection, so some adjustments or change of procedure are possible edit from Lobstervision, the house that has been empty for nearly 16 months on Riviera Terrace the scaffolding is gone, the garage door is open, and a "Packfirst" red removal van is coming down the road!! ( from 8.45 onwards)

Going the long way round on my old slow PC got these there has to be quite a gap between the first ('L' units Mar 2014) and the new parapet seeing these guys putting up the next lot of shuttering last lot to the right has not yet got its "toblerone" top 'prism' on putting finishing touches to new section, probably be running concrete in them on Tuesday Maybe.

Well it may be sunday on a bank holiday weekend, but looking at https://www.lobstervision.tv/home and rewinding the guys have been visible on the wall from 7.30 am to at least 2. 45 pm today (cant do a screen capture, haven't got really used to this windows 8.1 yet!!) which is a shame as I have just discovered there is a ZOOM button on that page giving very good definition. In fact it looks like the parapet is at least up to the guys shoulders when standing on the seawall path!