Hoping the 'sound screns' will allow view out. The view from (and of!) the train is a great feature of 'old' train routes. Glass is great.
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HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct construction updates
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Would have thought they were glass, purely to reduce the visual impact from the area. IIRC there is only 8 minutes on the way to Birmingham that won’t be in tunnel or between sound walls/bunds. Dull eh?!
Tbf on HS1 there's not an awful lot of view available either.
Snow1964
Established Member
Latest update, covers the Colne Valley viaduct, Copthall tunnel and Ruislip area (19 page pdf with map location diagrams), has timelines of works through to 2024
I think it looks hideous. Ultimately it has to and will serve a functional purpose but when you think about the impressive viaducts of yesteryear, it is hardly going to be an amazing legacy of our generation.
This is probably what the locals said about Ribblehead
Yes, quite possibly I suppose. Perhaps future generations will be wowed by the concrete functionality of the new viaduct. Assuming it lasts of course! Doesn't concrete have a 100 year lifespan?
Elegant simplicity - that's the beauty of concrete viaducts when done well (ie not column, beam, slabs like many of the flyovers)
The Pantheon in Rome is 1900 years old and still standing, so no, concrete doesn't have a 100 year lifespan. Civil engineering projects regularly build things with a 120 year life, but that is more because they can't realistically promise it will last any longer, not because it will definitely fall down in 120 years
Wasn't that a mix of stone and concrete rather than a concrete superstructure?
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
It illustrates how complex a project this is, especially in residential areas.
I have a perception that they are going slower than planned at the moment on this section (Colne Valley Viaduct and Northolt Tunnel).
I also can't get my head round the various temporary works in advance of the main ones (spoil removal and treatment for instance).
It's unlike the progress posted on the Chiltern/Long Itchington tunnels which seems steady and successful.
I've seen some reference to the tunnelling conditions being largely unknown in the Ruislip/Northolt area, with no LU tunnels close by.
But there's plenty of recent experience around Heathrow, which you'd think would have similar geology.
No, definitely solid concrete, and there are other concrete structures from that time surviving too, so longevity isn't an issue. Building it properly in the first place is key
Dave_Cardboard
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They also sink a ton of boreholes and extract the cores ahead of planning the tunnel design and construction process.
A while ago there was a story running that, as a result of those surveys, they "Discovered an ancient coastline under Ruislip."
Here's their puff piece on the matter...
HS2 workers discover ancient coastline in West London
Engineers working on Britain’s new high speed railway have discovered an ancient, sub-tropical coastline dating back 56 million years.
What do you think would have looked better?
Majestic stone arches fronted with ashlar?
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Not sure there are skills to build one like that these days, in the time/cost allowed (for the 2.1-mile viaduct - 3 times the length of the brick Harringworth Viaduct*).
Could it provide the water clearance arches needed for the lakes?
Could it cope with 300km/h plus trains on a slight curve?
* Harringworth is 82 arches each of 40ft span (about 12m).
Colne Valley is 56 variable-length spans, averaging 60m.
I suspect Harringworth has longer approach embankments, and sits higher in the landscape, than Colne Valley will.
Ribblehead is 400m long and has 24 arches of 14m span.
Much of the HS2 route crossing river valleys (as was HS1 in Essex) is on piled viaducts sitting low in the landscape.
Edit:
I've had a look at the construction of the GC's London Extension in the 1890s, and the largest viaduct was at Brackley over the River Ouse.
It was intended to be 22 brick spans over 250m, but had to be modified with some girder spans after early ground settlement.
It was demolished in 1978, apparently for use as hard core in the construction of Milton Keynes' road system.
It didn't have any saving architectural features.
There are some good pictures of its construction in this article:
Brackley Viaduct
www.forgottenrelics.co.uk
This may be over-generalising, but I think that brick (cheap and easily transported) was the medium of choice for major railway viaducts, particularly in the south-east.
Stone was only used in areas with a ready supply of local stone, as in the Pennines, or for decorative features.
Metal was also increasingly used, such as the Bennerley Viaduct at Ilkeston (20 spans over 400m), and for major bridges.
Bennerley is impressive as engineering, yes, but I don't think you could call it "pretty".
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I am sure you are right - and ultimately it is about serving a purpose - it just strikes me that we as a generation are likely to leave behind very few buildings and structures that will impress future generations both for their practicality and appearance. Instead, it will be molded concrete functional spans.
Flying Phil
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I quite like those elegant concrete moulded functional spans and regard them as very impressive....But appreciate that it is a personal perspective.
Just to report things seem to be progressing quite nicely here today. Further to a visit on 23/2/23, 3 further spans have been completed. So we have 2 and bit spans before the A412, then including the span across the A412 a further 8 spans. So 10 completed spans - in total just under 18% complete (10/56). These recent spans look as if they are closer together than the ones before. Suprised to see contractors working on a Saturday/weekend!
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Fazaar1889
Member
Wow that looks great!
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
HS2 talk about the viaduct needing 1000 deck segments, and the last I saw they had installed 200.
So that indicates about 20% completion.
Launched with a 2-year construction timescale in May 2022, progress seems behind schedule.
Much work has been completed ahead of the viaduct spans, of course, and the winter weather won't have helped
So that indicates about 20% completion.
Launched with a 2-year construction timescale in May 2022, progress seems behind schedule.
Much work has been completed ahead of the viaduct spans, of course, and the winter weather won't have helped
I think the large sweeping curves in the design are quite nice, personally. Only minor issue I have is concrete is a unpleasant colour and doesn't tend to look especially nice once it's weathered. I have no idea what would have been better, though. Maybe some additives to the concrete to subtly tint it a more organic colour, perhaps? Or some kind of cladding with something artistic on it, though I suspect that would never be acceptable given the budget constraints.
Fazaar1889
Member
I suspect it'll look a little nicer once the trees grow around it
New pics by RailNutter
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Fazaar1889
Member
New drone shots of the Colne Valley Viaduct
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Looks like Dominique is about 5 spans short of its first water crossing.
The perspective from the Grand Union Canal was interesting.
In the lakes it's quite difficult to identify the real viaduct piers from the temporary access/haul road structure alongside.
The perspective from the Grand Union Canal was interesting.
In the lakes it's quite difficult to identify the real viaduct piers from the temporary access/haul road structure alongside.
Three weeks since my last visit, and check on the progress with good weather yesterday and a further 2 spans have been completed. 3 piers to go to where the access road crosses the line of the viaduct, must be approaching around 1/3 complete in distance. Piers in the Korda lake well on their way(to my untrained eye) to receiving Dominique later in the year. I posted some videos around Moorhall Road on my twitter.
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GardenRail
Member
Its horrible. But it IS impressive at the same time.
It might improve once construction is completed and everything is in place, tracks wires etc, trains running..
My only question is.. will the colour of the concrete change/ deteriorate overtime..not that the paying passengers would care.
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
All engineering materials weather/change colour over time.
DelW
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Horrible, really? I think that when all the construction clutter has gone, it will look very elegant.
It's evident that a lot of effort has been made to reduce the visual impact. It *could* have been just a forest of columns, crossheads and beams, like the M6 in north Birmingham or the M4 through Port Talbot (and that's right outside houses!).