MML Electrification: progress updates

[richieb1971]

Took these the other day at Sharnbrook.

North and South respectively.

 

[Ploughman]

Did somebody not order enough spoil wagons?
Looking at the heaps of spent ballast tipped on the bank.

 

[sharpley]

Did somebody not order enough spoil wagons?
Looking at the heaps of spent ballast tipped on the bank.

The new section of track in the photos still needs ballast, guess its for that

 

[Ploughman]

Doubt it, I am looking at the dirty ballast piled on the vegetation on the left hand banking.
Tipping to bank especially in a cutting was a total No / No when I was looking after the diggers on a site.
Unless you had been granted permission by those on high.

 

[westcoaster]

image upload

Another weekend closure on the MML. Platform extension works in progress at Wellingborough, also looks like the first ohle structure in place on the fast line northbound platform.

Also saw works going on near the Weetabix factory.

Bromham road bridge works going on as well.( I'll add some pics when I arrive into Bedford).

 

[Aictos]

Apart from Bromham bridge being higher for the OHL, is there any improvements being done compared to the old bridge?

 

[hooverboy]

image upload

Another weekend closure on the MML. Platform extension works in progress at Wellingborough, also looks like the first ohle structure in place on the fast line northbound platform.

Also saw works going on near the Weetabix factory.

Bromham road bridge works going on as well.( I'll add some pics when I arrive into Bedford).

certainly starting to look a bit more like the finished article.made good progress here

how are the slows looking?
P3/P4 I would anticipate is what folks in general are hoping will be operational fairly soon.

 

[westcoaster]

Photo showing how the ohle structures fit through the station canopy.




P3/4 latest extension work,at the moment foundations and under coping fitted. Just awaiting infill. Lots of work to go on to make P2/3 joined. I'd say still a few months work ahead.

 

[WesternS]

Photo showing how the ohle structures fit through the station canopy.




P3/4 latest extension work,at the moment foundations and under coping fitted. Just awaiting infill. Lots of work to go on to make P2/3 joined. I'd say still a few months work ahead.

Um, not especially material to the subject, but is the man standing just to the right of the OHLE stanchion real ? He looks a little like one of the Mysterons in civvies.....

 

[59CosG95]

Some observations from a quick Corby - Kettering out and back spin this evening.
1) Corby; Looking south from Platform 1, the two TTCs south of the former Platform 2 have anti-climb guards, indicating that a future extension of the platform for use in revenue service has been taken into account. Indeed, all TTCs opposite P1 but one have an anti-climb guard affixed.
2) Kettering; the canopies over the rails at Platforms 3 & 4 have now been reduced to exo-skeletons, their glass having been removed. Work has not yet started on the Platform 1/2 canopies AFAIK.
3) Kettering; the 4 southern platform extensions have their edge blocks in situ.

 

[Merle Haggard]

At Wellingborough, the construction of the platform for the former USL/UGL seems to be going well; but what about access? Perhaps work can't start on building the footbridge on that platform until construction of the platform itself has progressed more, but of course it involves a lift as well as stairs and also connecting to the end of the existing bridge. Building the present footbridge a few years ago was quite protracted, I wonder if it was designed with this extension in mind.

I think that the platforms on the slow/goods line side extend further South than the existing platforms 1 and 2 (12 cars) , but there is no sign of work starting on extending the existing platforms South - they are 10 car at the moment.

I say 'think' because nowadays walking to the end of a platform for such an innocuous reason as this seems to create a lot of bother, shall I say.

Edited to remove repeated phrase

 

[swt_passenger]

I think that the platforms on the slow/goods line side extend further South than the existing platforms 1 and 2 (12 cars) , but there is no sign of work starting on extending the existing platforms South - they are 10 car at the moment.

Have you seen the planning application drawings, they're linked in post #2864 of this thread. If you use the third link, then find the documents, the file “Site plan wellingborough station and footbridge extension” shows where the footbridge extension and lift ought to be. The four platform ends will eventually line up across the south end as can be seen. Browsing other applications and files provides a lot of other relevant info...

 

[WymoWanderer]

Visiting London today and took this photo of the progress on Bromham Bridge just North of Bedford station.

 

[yorksrob]

Does anyone know how long the weekend engineering works North of Bedford from xmas onwards will be going on ?

I would like a last trip on the EMT HST's, but every opportunity I try to book, the line seems to be up.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Have you seen the planning application drawings, they're linked in post #2864 of this thread. If you use the third link, then find the documents, the file “Site plan wellingborough station and footbridge extension” shows where the footbridge extension and lift ought to be. The four platform ends will eventually line up across the south end as can be seen. Browsing other applications and files provides a lot of other relevant info...

Yes, thanks for that; but I was more wondering about whether starting the footbridge extension (and main line platforms) work was being left a little late to still get everything finished on time. Some work seems to be almost complete but there are small, but crucial, bits that don't seem to be being addressed. For instance, on Tuesday there was a track machine working on the newly-laid up slow at Burton Latimer, but ahead of it a signal remained on the u/s formation with (as far as I could see, at speed) no sign of preparation for a replacement to allow track to be laid in the short gap. Travelling on the MML only about every other week the high pace of progress is striking, though.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Used Wellingborough station today and I can report that walls for the F/L platform extension have now been built, and a start made (services in conduits) on the pier for the footbridge extension.
No sooner had I posted that it seemed to have been forgotten that work started. Coincidence, what.

 

[swt_passenger]

Used Wellingborough station today and I can report that walls for the F/L platform extension have now been built, and a start made (services in conduits) on the pier for the footbridge extension.
No sooner had I posted that it seemed to have been forgotten that work started. Coincidence, what.

They must have read your post in their office...

 

[Meerkat]

In the full MML electrification Plan where is the next feed point after Braybrooke?
I was just wondering whether if Leicester remodelling went ahead it could only be electrified by wiring from Market Harborough to Leicester?

 

[InTheEastMids]

In the full MML electrification Plan where is the next feed point after Braybrooke?
I was just wondering whether if Leicester remodelling went ahead it could only be electrified by wiring from Market Harborough to Leicester?

Pretty sure it was supposed to be somewhere between Kegworth and Ratcliffe on Soar Village.

 

[edwin_m]

Pretty sure it was supposed to be somewhere between Kegworth and Ratcliffe on Soar Village.

There are power lines crossing the line just south of EM Parkway (connecting the power station) so that would be the logical place. By adding a relatively short "extension lead" to Trent it would be possible to do things like keeping Nottingham-Derby live while the line south from Trent was isolated.

 

[Meerkat]

Thanks,so if there is electrification of Leicester as part of remodelling then they need to extend from Market Harborough to meet it in time.

 

[WAO]

From a FoI letter from NR:

"The proposed locations of the four National Grid supply points were:
Sundon, Bedfordshire
Braybrooke, near Market Harborough
Kegworth, near East Midlands Parkway
Hasland, near Chesterfield"

Kegworth is the Ratcliffe power station site and Hasland is from the Chesterfield NG 400kV substation nearby.

Braybrooke should be able feed to Leicester, about the mid point in mileage.

WAO

 

[59CosG95]

Braybrooke should be able feed to Leicester, about the mid point in mileage.

I recall from another document that there was a Mid-Point AT Site at South Wigston, probably in the "triangle" between the MML and the chords leading to Nuneaton.

 

[WAO]

The map I have shows South Wigston as a SATS, along with Kettering North and Leagrave.

The MPATS's are at East Hyde and Sharnbrook and (at a guess) Leicester.

Don't expect things to stay the same!

WAO

 

[Bob Buckler]

The new road bridge over the railway at Wellingborough station was opened around lunchtime today.

No sign as yet of the replacement bridge over the railway at Irthlingborough Road, although the pipes were removed a few weeks ago.

 

[Merle Haggard]

The new road bridge over the railway at Wellingborough station was opened around lunchtime today.

This should make access to the new housing development easier - there has been a poster inviting prospective purchasers to visit the new housing estate with a map that says 'only 4 miles away' ... but it looks quite close when viewed from the island platform.
As a pedestrian and user of public transport I note that there are 3 light controlled pedestrian crossings around the station on railway land. Unfortunately, when walking from the town centre down Midland Road one has to cross, on a staggered cross-roads, what is effectively the inner ring road just before the station. Whichever side is used, it's effectively blind from one direction and there are no centre refuges, let alone a crossing. When leaving the station, the pavement on the first corner (to the right) is invaded by articulated trailers. At least the council have put down paving - it used to be churned mud - but this just encourages this bad driving. Stagecoach EMT persuaded the council to ban parking around the station (presumably to ensure their expensive car parks were used) but obviously didn't care about the non-car user.

 

[Class 170101]

The map I have shows South Wigston as a SATS, along with Kettering North and Leagrave.

The MPATS's are at East Hyde and Sharnbrook and (at a guess) Leicester.

Don't expect things to stay the same!

WAO

What is a SATs and a MPATs please?

 

[swt_passenger]

What is a SATs and a MPATs please?

Sectioning Auto Transformer Site
Mid Point Auto Transformer Site

In the “chain” of autotransformers along the line, the MPATS comes midway between 2 feeder stations, and denotes the normal electrical boundary between two grid supplies. The SATS are autotransformer sites that allow for reconfiguration of the supply under fault conditions, or to isolate for maintenance.

 

[59CosG95]

Notes from Bedford this evening. The "F/xx/yy" codes reference the individual OLE structure numbers on the existing system.

• New portal going up north of F/80/22; pile fenced off on P2/3, new mast up behind P1; new pile presumed to be behind hoarded-off area on P4
• New TTC going up opposite F/80/21 (1st headspan north of lifts); mast in, no boom
• New TTC going up south of F/80/20 (1st headspan south of lifts); mast in, no boom
• New portal/TTC going up between F/80/18 & F/80/19; mast up on P4, pile fenced off on P2/3
• New TTC going up at southern end of P4, behind signal gantry; mast in, no boom

Additionally, all TTCs are now complete over the (existing) platforms at Wellingborough, and canopies at Kettering are still incomplete on Platforms 3 & 4 (i.e. they haven't been stripped back to bare skeletons on a few sections).

Regards wiring, wires are now confirmed to terminate just north of Bromham Road Bridge at their southern extremities. Spanwire feeder/switching arrangements around Bedford North Jn now have their spanwires in position; the feeder/switching masts south of Bromham Rd do not.

 

[Helvellyn]

This should make access to the new housing development easier - there has been a poster inviting prospective purchasers to visit the new housing estate with a map that says 'only 4 miles away' ... but it looks quite close when viewed from the island platform.
As a pedestrian and user of public transport I note that there are 3 light controlled pedestrian crossings around the station on railway land. Unfortunately, when walking from the town centre down Midland Road one has to cross, on a staggered cross-roads, what is effectively the inner ring road just before the station. Whichever side is used, it's effectively blind from one direction and there are no centre refuges, let alone a crossing. When leaving the station, the pavement on the first corner (to the right) is invaded by articulated trailers. At least the council have put down paving - it used to be churned mud - but this just encourages this bad driving. Stagecoach EMT persuaded the council to ban parking around the station (presumably to ensure their expensive car parks were used) but obviously didn't care about the non-car user.

Well hopefully once the footbridge extension is and the new drop off area at the Platform 4 side opens that will ease some of the pressure. The completion of the ring road is a couple of years off though, so whilst Irthlingborough traffic will be off Dryden Road now it's still a bad junction as you say heading down to the A45.

I notice the large bus bay by the station in the direction into Wellingborough and the bus stop opposite heading out of town. But given that nothing serves the station currently, and only the 47/48 run near the station (half hourly to Finedon, with every other one via Irthlingborough) I can't really see Stagecoach offering an enhanced bus service to the station. It's shockingly bad given not only the size of Wellingborough but the fact you have Rushden/Higham Ferrers so close. Isn't Rushden the largest or second largest town without its own rail station now? Yet no public transport links to Wellingborough station.