helcion

But how long before tight mesh is installed ?

Dave - Thanks for an excellent atmospheric sequence. I think you've covered every aspect of the job except for the Foreman's inside leg measurement. I guess that there will have to be another possession to fit the steps down from the footbridge to the top of the concrete steps across the rockery, unless they can get a small rubber-tyred crane along the narrow track outside the spray wall. Would like to have seen the crane clambering on & off the track. [& underway as well]. The temporary pad by the yard is long gone & towards the end of the main relaying the road-railers were using the permanent pad on the curve outside Priory Tunnel - not very big for a long-wheelbase monster like that.

Dave was braver than I during the morning & I wasn’t at all tempted to go out into the crud but by about 1400 there was a slight improvement & I thought that I’d better make the effort. Sometimes your luck is in & you catch it right - the main span was rigged for the lift & after about 20 minutes the span was being inched into position with the aid of two cherrypicker crews & more men on the first span, with the gang on the track tugging on ropes from time to time. They must have put the span back down on the deck, perhaps due to the wind, after Dave left - my pix were taken 1433/1500. By 1500 the rain had restarted & with the light rapidly fading I scuttled off. I had spoken to a lady dog-walker lady from nearby Aycliffe who was looking forward to getting her beach back & she said that they had been leafletted that the job would be completed by 0500 Monday & had heard that it would be May/June before the bridge would be opened. A disgruntled gentleman who had walked down to the other end of the site & missed the lift confirmed that there had been delays during the morning due to the wind & rain.

Poised & ready to go on Wednesday afternoon. Can't positively identify the crane on Road Rail Crane Ltd's website, but it's certainly a 'biggy' & the hire charges must be impressive. http://www.roadrailcranes.com/plant A little premature perhaps, but Happy New Year to all hands & thanks to Dave for all the updates, I can imagine where a fair few locals will be taking their New Year Day's walk, so any update on timings for the job will be much appreciated. Cheers Helcion

Wednesday afternoon - the planks had been removed from the spot where the road-railers got on & off the track, nonetheless a crane was still flitting about on the rails. The little hand trollies are no problem of course. No action between Shakespeare Tunnel/Samphire Hoe & out towards Folkestone altho' there were staff & vehicles at the site of the one-time Warren Halt, but nothing on the track. I think that the Gurkhas deserve some sort of formal 'Thank You' for their help & co-operation - any thoughts ? Something alcoholic or do we have some skilled 'appreciative certificate' makers amongst the readership ? Happy to suggest text for it.

Dave - HELICON ? HELICON ? 'HELCION' please ! [the name of a Shell tanker that I worked on, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth].

Friday morning - a riveting sequence of a cherry-picker climbing onto the track whilst Ovenden’s Beach Boys re-arrange the rockery. No activity seen Samphire Hoe length or west of Abbotscliff tunnel where one lonely trackwalker was walking the track.

Virtually identical pix to Dave's views of road-railer activity, hopefully now deleted !

DP123 - Thanks for the interesting explanation in post 3021. More to it than meets the eye.

28th.July - the line west from Abbot’s Cliff Tunnel towards Folkestone, seen from Capel clifftops. Down line lifted & ballast removed to about the site of the former Warren Halt, just east of the Martello Tunnel. New ballast being unloaded onto membrane sheeting. No shiny track behind the wagons so 66732 must have pushed the wagons to the site. No time to investigate Folkestone East.

A few snaps of the rock-dumping Monday afternoon around high water. The dumped rocks are being taken away & stockpiled for future use.

The tug AFON GOCH brought the barge CHARLEY ROCK in to the beach, loaded with the first consignment of rock armour just before high water Sunday afternoon & returned to the stockpile on the STEMA barge moored offshore a few hours later. Hope to get a closer-upper view of the action when the traffic congestion subsides - this distant view is across the harbour from Langdon Cliffs. If you have AIS [e.g. SHIP PLOTTER, MARINE TRAFFIC etc] you can watch the tug's movements.

Fat Controller - Thanks - I was just going to post a similar link. http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/major-weekend-of-progress-at-dover-sea-wall-marred-by-rock-throwing-youths If this goes on any more I can see the cliff path bring closed & that will be the end for this thread. Understandably. Mind you the rock shown looks like a large piece of shingle & not really one that you'd find high up on Shakespeare Cliff, but anything thrown from the height of the cliff path could be a killer.

Fat Controller - Post 2368 - CEMEX Dover - local - Dover Western Docks. BRETTS - Bulwark Street - fairly local [in Deal actually !] Cheers Helcion

I was speaking to a CEMEX employee & was told that CEMEX Dover are supplying the concrete for the piles & that the concrete for the rafts will come from Bretts.