GSoP Post 31.0
Manchester Victoria - Preston; State of Play, week beginning 3rd December 2018.
All wire runs up! LIVE (from Euxton Jct to Buckshaw Parkway; and from Windsor Bridge South Jct to Ordsall Lane Jct/Deal St Jct) as of 1st October.
As wiring is not completed between Windsor Bridge South Jct & Buckshaw Parkway, testing has been postponed. Speed changes have also been postponed until all wires are live - this is due to be the weekend of 8th/9th of December (aka Timetable Change Day).
Test runs are now apparently booked - a 390 will do multiple Man Picc - Bolton - Preston runs overnight on 12/13 & 13/14 December, followed by a 319 doing multiple daytime Man Vic - Salford Crescent runs on December 15th.
All mileages from Manchester Victoria. Bridge mileages are approximated where noted.
1. Man Vic Station (Platforms 3-6) - Man Vic West Jct - Deal Street Jct; 0m 0ch to 0m 32ch
Fully wired and energised 2013-15.
(N.B. Platforms 1 & 2 at Man Vic have now been bedanglied; more masts may still need to be installed at the east side of Man Vic before wires can go up over all lines; however this is not considered as part of this programme. Wires due to go up here over Christmas, in cunjunction with the installation of the "Great Extension Lead" from Stalybridge.)
2. Deal Street Jct - Windsor Bridge South Jct; 0m 32ch to 1m 46ch
Fully wired and LIVE as of 1/10/18. Wires overlap into the CEMEX sidings (Hope Street). At Salford Central, the westbound (Down) platform has had RSC ducting installed at shin height.
Protruding roof beams were also cut back to facilitate the addition of wires. With Salford Central now wired, all wires are up from Manchester Victoria & Manchester Piccadilly to Euxton Jct.
3. Windsor Bridge South Jct - Windsor Bridge North Jct (inc. Salford Crescent); 1m 46ch to 1m 70ch
Salford Crescent station is fully wired; all wires east and south of Windsor Bridge South Jct are LIVE (as of 1/10/18). P1 (and the avoider) now have Section Insulators.
Repairs to the wooden fence on the eastern side have/are taken/taking place.
The crossovers at Agecroft South Jct, and Windsor Bridge North Jct are also fully wired. Wires are also up on the overruns along the Atherton Line.
4. Windsor Bridge North Jct - Bolton (South End); 1m 70ch to 10m 50ch
The track sectioning cabinets (north of Windsor Bridge North Jct, and between Moses Gate/Overbridge 47 "Squeeze Belly Entry") are now both in, but the concrete plinths on which they rest each have 3 ducting tubes sticking up, suggesting more work needs to be done.
Overhead, Salford Crescent to the Ladybridge looks juice-ready.
At Agecroft, there are a couple of masts (sans wires) in the bush alongside the sidings, leading to a terminal gantry with very odd attachments.
At Clifton, Drainage manhole modules are awaiting installation; temporary covers are over their future homes.
Bridge MVE1 27B (immediately NW of the M60 overbridge) is now open.
5. Bolton Station; 10m 50ch
Canopies look complete, and platforms now fully open. All wiring is complete.
Platform 1: Fully wired through the platform and onto the Blackburn overrun, parallel to their comrades on P3.
Platform 2: Line is fully wired (C&C) from the points at Weston St to the SSA (Self-Supporting Anchor - aka "the wicketkeeper"), which is now insulated. Buffers look finished.
Platform 3 (Up Bolton): Fully wired through P3 and onwards to Lostock & the WCML. One "overlap" mast (with 2 reg arms) has now had its "guy rope" (backstay) installed.
Platform 4 (Down Bolton): Fully wired through P4 and onwards to Lostock & the WCML.
Platform 5: UTXs wait to be installed in the works compound west of the track. Engineers have also installed a gas pipe in the ducts, to (allegedly) heat the P4/5 waiting room.
6. Bolton (North End) - Lostock (South End); 10m 50ch to 13m 52ch
All lines heading north out of Bolton are now wired: P1 & P3 to the end of the Blackburn overrun, and P3-5 towards the Bullfield Tunnels and thence to Lostock & the WCML.
Cable ducting troughs laid in the Down Side Cess between Bolton Station, past Newport Street, under Soho Street, Black Horse St & New St, and through Bullfield Tunnel.
ATF cable now in the troughs in the immediate vicinity of Bolton Station. The troughing looks all finished NW of Bolton, so it is assumed the run is now complete to Lostock.
A UTX has been installed in the "vee" in Lostock Jct; this now takes the ATF wires for both routes at Lostock Jct.
C&C wires also up on the overlap on both lines until the Limit of Wiring. Some dangly arms and half the termination insulators have not yet been installed; those on the Wigan-bound line are now installed.
7. Lostock Station; 13m 52ch
Switchgear box delivered 6th April '18. Over the August Bank Holiday Weekend, the two Autotransformers (AT1 & AT2) were delivered.
The "ziggurat" is now fenced off. Work done?
Cables connected to all the feeder points north and south of the station.
One Tensorex drum is still missing a connection to its wires, which are on a temporary webbing strap (photo B748i) - has this been resolved?
One "guyrope" (backstay) is missing on the Up side just south of the Up platform, and ducting troughs look unfinished; other than that, most of Lostock looks complete above track level.
Platform extension/resurfacing work complete on the Down platform and the Up platform.
1 of the 2 reg arms connected to the bridge are not yet registered, but otherwise all the OLE within Lostock is now complete. (is this resolved?) The registered wires have an insulating plastic shield over them.
ATF wires are in through the ducting by the station car park; they have now been guided through the UTX to the switchgear.
The arrangements at Lostock were designed to support the electrification to Wigan, so the UTX should be sized to take four feeder cables to the proposed neutral section located towards Westhoughton. Two feeders for each track, one each side of the NS. Wigan-Lostock has no AF, classic boosterless only.
8. Lostock (North End) - Euxton Jct; 13m 52ch to 25m 31ch
Two more UTXs have been installed in the "vee" between the Preston & Wigan lines, to the north of Lostock station; one takes the feeder wires for the Wigan Line, the other does the same for the Preston Line.
Immediately north of Lostock, the closest TTCs to the platforms have now sprouted part of their switchgear kit. Cables connected to all these feeder points north of the station.
ATF wires appear to be finished (at least on the Down side), from Salford Crescent up to Euxton Jct.
Orangemen at work on the footpath at the foot of the northern steps of Heath Charnock FB.
Do let me know if I've missed anything!
