Great Western Electrification Progress

[3973EXL]

Thatcham
Both roads are now wired from west of Thatcham LC to east of Kennet river viaduct Newbury RC.

Wires start west of the station level crossing at the portal structures in the distance, MP49 3/4.


View across the fields, portals on the right is where the wires start.


Views of wires on both roads around MP50.


View east from Thatcham station.


Before the wires go up over the LC and through the station some masts are required.
Possible locations for three masts next to the down side platform.

 

[3973EXL]

Newbury Racecourse

Views east from the station.


Just passed the signal on the up road is the start of a wire run, up road only.

This goes just passed the new road bridge in the distance. There is then a gap before the wires start again after the Kennet river viaduct.

Racecourse platform and views towards Newbury Town.

 

[jyte]

Cheers for the photos. Looks like decent progress is being made on the B&H.

 

[3973EXL]

B&H takes second place to the work around Swindon, one route for diversions and quarry access has to be open. This means there is only an opportunity for work during the week when there are the booked maintenance weeks (like this week).

Hopefully the blocks coming up will provide an opportunity for more work to be completed. I haven't looked at them all, but at least the first, March 12th, is west of Theale. East of Theale to Reading West and Newbury seem to have the most work outstanding.

Excluding the stations I would describe the current state of progress as;
West of Newbury RC - piles in, masts single figures.
RC to Thatcham - possible 3 wire runs and wire crossovers RC east to complete.
Thatcham to Midgham - steel work including SPS nearly complete. Wire starting to appear.
Midgham to Aldermaston - Again all steel work not far of completion.
Aldermaston to Theale - Most mast up but some outstanding Ufton to Padworth. SPS started to go up around Ufton. Some portals/cantilevers to complete.
Theale to Southcote Junction. A lot of the missing masts have gone up but still some gaps/piles without masts. Some portals and cantilevers to go up.

Through Southcote to Reading West, perhaps 50% of masts at best up.

 

[Non Multi]

Progress is consistently inconsistent when it comes to GW electrification. Thanks for the B&H updates 3973EXL.

 

[linuxlad7]

Progress is consistently inconsistent when it comes to GW electrification. Thanks for the B&H updates 3973EXL.

(in contrast to the Lickey, where its just been glacially slow - melmburys pictures have been nice though )

 

[jyte]

Progress is consistently inconsistent when it comes to GW electrification. Thanks for the B&H updates 3973EXL.

No progress then sudden rapid progress...sounds about right

 

[deltic08]

B&H takes second place to the work around Swindon, one route for diversions and quarry access has to be open. This means there is only an opportunity for work during the week when there are the booked maintenance weeks (like this week).

Hopefully the blocks coming up will provide an opportunity for more work to be completed. I haven't looked at them all, but at least the first, March 12th, is west of Theale. East of Theale to Reading West and Newbury seem to have the most work outstanding.

Excluding the stations I would describe the current state of progress as;
West of Newbury RC - piles in, masts single figures.
RC to Thatcham - possible 3 wire runs and wire crossovers RC east to complete.
Thatcham to Midgham - steel work including SPS nearly complete. Wire starting to appear.
Midgham to Aldermaston - Again all steel work not far of completion.
Aldermaston to Theale - Most mast up but some outstanding Ufton to Padworth. SPS started to go up around Ufton. Some portals/cantilevers to complete.
Theale to Southcote Junction. A lot of the missing masts have gone up but still some gaps/piles without masts. Some portals and cantilevers to go up.

Through Southcote to Reading West, perhaps 50% of masts at best up.

Is the race between B&H and Cardiff still neck and neck for energising first?

 

[jyte]

I'll put a packet of hobnobs on the B&H being first.

 

[Non Multi]

I'll put a packet of hobnobs on the B&H being first.

Sadly NR's electrification budget can only stretch to a packet of discounted broken biscuits at the moment.

 

[CdBrux]

Sadly NR's electrification budget can only stretch to a packet of discounted broken biscuits at the moment.

If NR ha the competence to electrify for a reasonable cost it may stretch further. Better to spend the next years recovering some sort of credibility...

 

[jimm]

No progress then sudden rapid progress...sounds about right

There's nothing very sudden about it at all. Work to install the overhead has been going on a steady rate for many months now west of Didcot and on the Newbury route. Many of the bridges were rebuilt several years ago and steelwork was going up in the Vale of White Horse at least 18 months ago.

 

[Mintona]

Between the western portal of the Severn Tunnel and Bishton area there is currently no sign at all of an electrified railway. No piles, no masts, nothing. To have this all done and switched on by December looks unlikely.

 

[jyte]

Between the western portal of the Severn Tunnel and Bishton area there is currently no sign at all of an electrified railway. No piles, no masts, nothing. To have this all done and switched on by December looks unlikely.

Hence why I have hob-nobs on the B&H first.

J

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Hence why I have hob-nobs on the B&H first.

J

God I love hob-nobs. One of the best choccy biccies ever invented. Can’t get them in yank land. Back on topic I think your bet is safe and btw I would even offer 3 : 1 odds on it

 

[Dai Corner]

Listed building permission for the work in Newport Old Tunnel was only applied for in September and granted last month. For historians / engineers, there are some interesting details about the tunnel in the application.

I don't think I can link directly to it but search for application 17/0934 at the Newport City Council planning portal http://www.newport.gov.uk/en/Planni...nning-applications/Planning-applications.aspx

 

[nlogax]

God I love hob-nobs. One of the best choccy biccies ever invented. Can’t get them in yank land.

You can pick up a (heinously expensive) pack of Hobnobs about 15 miles north of downtown Dayton

Between the western portal of the Severn Tunnel and Bishton area there is currently no sign at all of an electrified railway. No piles, no masts, nothing. To have this all done and switched on by December looks unlikely.

That's..what..6 to 7 miles? I wonder how quickly that could be prepped, piled and wired.

 

[jyte]

God I love hob-nobs. One of the best choccy biccies ever invented. Can’t get them in yank land. Back on topic I think your bet is safe and btw I would even offer 3 : 1 odds on it

I would agree to that...but I just checked with Royal Mail and I'd be spending more on the shipping that the biscuits!

 

[ATW158Xpress]

Between the western portal of the Severn Tunnel and Bishton area there is currently no sign at all of an electrified railway. No piles, no masts, nothing. To have this all done and switched on by December looks unlikely.

There was an engineering procession on the reliefs today and spotted piling machines trains by Undy halt footbridge running along side the main road

 

[kaiser62]

I know it's off topic, so apologies in advance.

When I lived in New York there was a place called Tea & Sympathy and it sold all sorts of English things, like HP sauce and proper English tea bags. I'm pretty sure they did hobnobs. teaandsympathy.com might be worth a try.

 

[HowardGWR]

Between the western portal of the Severn Tunnel and Bishton area there is currently no sign at all of an electrified railway. No piles, no masts, nothing. To have this all done and switched on by December looks unlikely.

It doesn't matter much does it? That stretch is pretty open ground. It's the structures' alterations that decide the critical path surely?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

It doesn't matter much does it? That stretch is pretty open ground. It's the structures' alterations that decide the critical path surely?

Do you mean civils or bases/steelwork good sir?

 

[hwl]

Do you mean civils or bases/steelwork good sir?

Structures alterations = Bridge rebuilds etc.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Structures alterations = Bridge rebuilds etc.

= civils as in civil engineering

 

[nlogax]

I know it's off topic, so apologies in advance.

When I lived in New York there was a place called Tea & Sympathy and it sold all sorts of English things, like HP sauce and proper English tea bags. I'm pretty sure they did hobnobs. teaandsympathy.com might be worth a try.

(sorry, yes, still off-topic but they were right next door to A Salt & Battery, the only chippy within an easy drive of where I used to live. They did a mean deep-fried Creme Egg)

Anyway. Sorry, carry on..

 

[59CosG95]

Photos up from "Steve" on flickr, of a new signal gantry that went up at Chipping Sodbury over the weekend. https://flic.kr/p/231daJu & https://flic.kr/p/EqTB8H.

 

[deltic08]

= civils as in civil engineering

A far as I could see at my last visit in November, all bridge rebuilding is complete between Severn Tunnel west portal and Bishton flyover. The last one completed and reopened in September/October 2017 was the minor road over the west end of Severn Tunnel Junction station.
There is no obvious reason on the ground for delay in piling. Could be still deciding on whether to wire the relief lines or not as we are talking Wales now on this side of the tunnel.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

A far as I could see at my last visit in November, all bridge rebuilding is complete between Severn Tunnel west portal and Bishton flyover. The last one completed and reopened in September/October 2017 was the minor road over the west end of Severn Tunnel Junction station.
There is no obvious reason on the ground for delay in piling. Could be still deciding on whether to wire the relief lines or not as we are talking Wales now on this side of the tunnel.

Surely with the microscope this project is under - better to worry about the relief lines later - just get her done to use an American expression.
Civils - done
Signaling - no worries
Piling - plenty to do
Masts - plenty to do
Wiring - plenty to do

 

[ATW158Xpress]

A far as I could see at my last visit in November, all bridge rebuilding is complete between Severn Tunnel west portal and Bishton flyover. The last one completed and reopened in September/October 2017 was the minor road over the west end of Severn Tunnel Junction station.
There is no obvious reason on the ground for delay in piling. Could be still deciding on whether to wire the relief lines or not as we are talking Wales now on this side of the tunnel.

They wiring the reliefs aswell for when engineering works close the main (fast) lines as seen from the masts from Llanwern East Jn to Llanwern West Jn.

 

[59CosG95]

To get us back on topic, I saw a shot on Facebook at Shrivenham; the OLE there now looks pretty much complete.