Blackpool - Manchester Electrification

[LDECRexile]

Mornington Crescent!

<Wild applause>

 

[Joseph_Locke]

My parts are neatly divided;

One part looks forward to meeting you all ...

... the other fears such an event with great dread

 

[Magicake]

Viewed the Down line from Ordsall Lane to Euxton today.
There are now 15 bases installed from the Liverpool St bridge near Ordsall Lane, northwards to Windsor Bridge South Jn.
That's most of the way from the existing masts at Ordsall Lane to Salford Crescent.
It just needs maybe 3-4 more to go in south of the Liverpool St bridge to complete this section,
No change elsewhere, didn't see the Up line.

The Up is a little further behind. The last 4 bases southwards before Liverpool Street bridge are in but there are still 6 more to go between there and Windsor Bridge Junction.

 

[LDECRexile]

The Up is a little further behind. The last 4 bases southwards before Liverpool Street bridge are in but there are still 6 more to go between there and Windsor Bridge Junction.

Thank you.

You say 'The Up is a little further behind', is that 'behind the Down' or 'behind where it should be'?

I have no feel for whether the electrification side of the project is on track, ahead or behind, do you have any inkling?

Dave

 

[Magicake]

I meant behind the Down. I believe this section is sightly but not significantly behind target. North of Salford Crescent however there is rather more work left than was intended for this stage.

 

[LDECRexile]

I meant behind the Down. I believe this section is sightly but not significantly behind target. North of Salford Crescent however there is rather more work left than was intended for this stage.

Very interesting, thank you.

 

[snowball]

On the Northern Programme Twitter feed, pictures of platform demolition at Farnworth (edit: and Moses Gate) and the TBM under construction.

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailNP

 

[LDECRexile]

Paul and I did a bridge bash up 'our' line today:

Oldfield Road: roadway to be surfaced early next week, whereafter it should open pdq
Broughton Road: Orangeman said it is still expected to open in June
Dixon Fold: all scaffolding gone, men working on footway surface, nothing else visibly still to do, bollards have been concreted in at the ends of the bridge
Farnworth Tunnel: lots of activity, land clearance at N end has moved on a lot in a week
Orlando Street: now closed to road traffic
Dean Clough: site cleared of heavy lifting gear, couple of Orangemen working on tops of piers, public signs still say due to open in June. Water main not yet threaded through the bridge proper. Coincidentally, Class 66 with spent ballast left the site area whilst we were there, ie track work going on, but we couldn't see exactly where.
Ladybridge: no change, won't start until Dean Clough is open
Lostock Junction: another Class 66 with old track panels and spent ballast waiting for clearance to exit the possession via Westhoughton
Footbridge at 14m 7yds: no work on bridge yet, but mast bases have appeared to its Chorley side
Blackrod: at least one temp metal bridge still in place as we drove past
Chorley Rd Skew Bridge: two huge cranes have reappeared, we couldn't figure out what for, one did a desultory lift of a bag of stone while we were there, the other did nowt. I hope someone can get down tomorrow to see what's what.
Spencers Bridge: IS OPEN!

Photos later (probably tomorrow)

Dave & Paul

 

[ALX400]

Al nip down tomorrow Dave see what the score is at Skew Bridge seems odd that, unless it has something to do with this mine shaft that's been discovered which wasn't on the plan, will try and have a chat with an Orangeman

 

[LDECRexile]

Al nip down tomorrow Dave see what the score is at Skew Bridge seems odd that, unless it has something to do with this mine shaft that's been discovered which wasn't on the plan, will try and have a chat with an Orangeman

Fab, good luck.

We couldn't find any Orangemen near enough to talk to. A fellow observer talked about what he called the tunnel they'd come across unexpectedly.

In my summary above I forgot the foot crossing in Adlington which is just as it was a few weeks ago - closed off to users, but nothing whatsoever has happened on site towards installing a bridge. Dashed odd.

Have fun tomorrow.

Dave

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Fab, good luck.

We couldn't find any Orangemen near enough to talk to. A fellow observer talked about what he called the tunnel they'd come across unexpectedly.

What, the mine shaft that's quoted in the records as being directly under the bridge? Or is this a different 18th century mineworking?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Paul and I did a bridge bash up 'our' line today:
Coincidentally, Class 66 with spent ballast left the site area whilst we were there, ie track work going on, but we couldn't see exactly where.

Track lowering in Bullfield Tunnel, I believe.

 

[LeylandLen]

Forgive me for asking, but this thread is Blackpool to Manchester Electrification. I like reading all the posts here as I lived in Chorley, now Leyland so I take an interest. So Im asking whats happening about the bridges between Preston and Blackpool? Has work started on them yet? I count at least 18 between Preston and Blackpool N on my OS map including one over the line at Blackpool Road Preston shortly after the line diverges from the WCML. I assume the M55 bridge over the line has sufficient clearence. I assume they will do the work once Man to Preston has been done. 18 bridges means a lot more work and disruption.

 

[snowball]

Some bridges between Preston and Blackpool were done a couple of years ago as you can see from the earlier pages of this thread.

Maybe the others had adequate clearance already????

Edit: I see post #6 gives statistics: 16 bridges to be done altogether. I didn't think that many had been done yet so does anybody know the position on Preston-Blackpool?

Further edit: Posts from early in this thread that relate to bridges between Preston and Blackpool include #44, #47, #138 and then a bunch starting at #156.

I don't really know the area so I don't have a clear picture of how many have been done or still need to be done.

 

[Class 170101]

I thought Preston to Blackpool was to be done in a continuous blockade so as not to interfere with Blackpool's tourist season.

EDIT
Will be Blocked 22:50 Saturday to 05:40 Monday 15 May to 10 December 2016 (every Sunday)
Also midweek 22:50 Monday to Thursday nights until 05:40 Tuesday to Friday mornings

 

[DJH1971]

I thought Preston to Blackpool was to be done in a continuous blockade so as not to interfere with Blackpool's tourist season.

And it makes sense to do it that way.

 

[snowball]

I thought Preston to Blackpool was to be done in a continuous blockade so as not to interfere with Blackpool's tourist season.

EDIT
Will be Blocked 22:50 Saturday to 05:40 Monday 15 May to 10 December 2016 (every Sunday)
Also midweek 22:50 Monday to Thursday nights until 05:40 Tuesday to Friday mornings

So seven months of closures, Sundays daytime and five nights a week, through the summer and autumn? That sounds the opposite of a continuous blockade.

I too had heard of a continuous blockade at the beginning of 2017. I thought that was to rebuild and wire the track layout at Blackpool North.

However that doesn't answer the question about which bridges have been rebuilt and which, if any, remain to be rebuilt.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I too had heard of a continuous blockade at the beginning of 2017. I thought that was to rebuild and wire the track layout at Blackpool North.

However that doesn't answer the question about which bridges have been rebuilt and which, if any, remain to be rebuilt.

Well North West Sparks says - http://nw-sparks.co.uk/progress.shtml

QUOTE-
Phase 3 - Preston to Blackpool North

Activity on this section at the moment consists only of "enabling" works.
•Carr Lane bridge at Treales has been rebuilt.
•Sidgreaves Lane/Darkinson lane bridge: Works complete and road now open.
•Salwick Station bridge: Work pretty much complete.
•Kirkham and Wesham: Bridge work near completion. (Actually finished)
•Ashton Street bridge in Preston was completely reconstructed in December 2012 - February 2013
•Lea Lane bridge in Preston, the last public bridge requiring work, has been completed.

I asked about Poulton-le-Fylde but was assured that had been complete. So I am not 100% certain but fairly confident the bridge work is complete.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's a shame there isn't a loop or two on the Fylde Coast line, which would allow an increased service along there while Kirkham to Blackpool North is closed...

 

[LDECRexile]

I've now processed the photos Paul and I took yesterday.

I've added the ones Paul took to his album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/sets/72157649792560381

and added his and mine to the Combined Volume here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/sets/72157648767927083

Bridgeoscope updated as below. Any constructive or helpful info from anyone on Preston-Blackpool developments will be very welcome.

PS: since posting this I've received some very welcome shots taken today of Skew Bridge activity and elsewhere in the Adlington area, from ALX400 and Bill Watson.

It will be tomorrow night before I can do them justice.

 

[snowball]

It's a shame there isn't a loop or two on the Fylde Coast line, which would allow an increased service along there while Kirkham to Blackpool North is closed...

The electrification map in the current issue of Rail magazine has a number of curiosities, including apparently showing the Blackpool South line rather than North as due to be electrified. (Also shows what might be the Manchester-Atherton-Wigan line as already electrified!)

 

[WatcherZero]

Its Chat Moss isn't it?

 

[snowball]

Its Chat Moss isn't it?

In the tan colour that represents lines already electrified at 25kV it shows (1) the WCML, (2) the Chat Moss line, and (3) the Huyton-Springs Branch line, but also (4) another line which runs from the Chat Moss line (at a point midway between Manchester and Newton-le-Willows) to Springs Branch. It looks like a mirror image of the Huyton - Springs Branch line with the WCML as the mirror.

It's possibly a grossly exaggerated representation of the Parkside-Golborne link, which they may consider worth showing on the grounds that it was completed before Liverpool to Earlestown and used by electric trains to Scotland. It's not clear whether Winwick to Earlestown is shown - it certainly isn't shown in any similarly exaggerated way.

Windermere is shown but Lostock-Wigan and Micklefield-Selby aren't.

Other curiosities are that the Midland Main Line and South Wales valleys are shown as not committed for electrification, but merely "under study", and the key includes a red colour which is supposed to mean "Routes now planned for immediate electrification", but no routes are shown in red.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I agree the map is not really of good quality.

 

[hwl]

Other curiosities are that the Midland Main Line and South Wales valleys are shown as not committed for electrification, but merely "under study", and the key includes a red colour which is supposed to mean "Routes now planned for immediate electrification", but no routes are shown in red.

The Bridge works and mast base piling on the MML might be a bit premature then
So base map circa 3-4 years old with partial updates?

 

[WatcherZero]

Its the Parkside Golborne link then.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

On a run round Phase 3 today I was not convinced any more mast bases have appeared in the last week.
Possibly some more excavations between Chorley station and tunnel.
To clarify progress on the complicated Salford Triangle:
- from Salford Crescent station to Windsor Bridge South Jn there are something like 6 bases along each of the 3 running lines
- from Windsor Bridge South Jn towards Ordsall Lane there are 10 bases on the Down and 4 on the Up, the southern limit being the Liverpool St bridge
- from Windsor Bridge South Jn towards Salford Central there are 9 bases on the Down and 13 on the Up, the eastern limit being the Oldfield Road bridge.

Running through the working bore at Farnworth, I would say about 80% of the length has now got concrete strengthening ready for the TBM work next door in the big tunnel.
Plenty of track-lowering work was going on under the bridges/tunnel west of Bolton.
Of all the Bolton route trains I saw today, only one was a double unit (one of the Hazel Groves).
Trains are thin on the ground at Salford Crescent in the special timetable.
I found to my cost there are connections there from Bolton to Victoria as long as 31 minutes!

 

[Grumpy]

Windermere is shown but Lostock-Wigan and Micklefield-Selby aren't.

.

Apologies for my ignorance but I wondered what is the point of the Lostock-Wigan electrification?
I realise it's only a short distance but I cant think what services will actually use it.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Apologies for my ignorance but I wondered what is the point of the Lostock-Wigan electrification?
I realise it's only a short distance but I cant think what services will actually use it.

Eventually, probably Wigan-Bolton-Stalybridge/Manchester Airport.
Other destinations (diesel) will go via Atherton.
TPE might route some Scotland services that way (ie serving both Bolton and Wigan).
It would be another electric diversionary route for the WCML.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

It would be another electric diversionary route for the WCML.

I used to love Sunday travelling from Crewe -Preston. Quite a few times I have had a 47 attached to the electric at Wigan station and then a pair of Class 20s at the rear. The train has then travelled to Lostock Junction hauled by the 20s with the 47 in tail mode. Then at Lostock the 47 has taken over in Top mode with the 20s in tail mode.

Long story short, for a closure between Wigan and Preston even with a Pendo, no need for loco attachment, reverse on electric power at Wigan NW station and then reverse again under electric power at Lostock Jct. A really good (non shortsighted) decision to electrify that little stretch of line.

 

[LDECRexile]

ALX400 and Bill Morton kindly sent photos they took over the weekend at Chorley Road Skew bridge plus one at Rawlinson Lane.

Their shots make sense of the mystery which Paul and I faced as to why two whopping great cranes had been brought in at considerable expense.

I've added ALX400's shots to his album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/sets/72157651121057352

And Bill Morton's to his album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/sets/72157650900509369

I've added them all, plus one taken at Bolton today, to the Combined Volume here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/sets/72157648767927083

Special thanks to ALX and Bill for turning out at short notice in pretty crap weather.