Blackpool - Manchester Electrification

[td97]

P3 - Up 305
P5 - 279m

Good to see Bolton can take an 11 car 390, even if no future service is currently planned

 

[DJH1971]

Good to see Bolton can take an 11 car 390, even if no future service is currently planned

But you never know

 

[LDECRexile]

Wrinkley has kindly sent photos and comments on this weekend's activities at Lostock.

I've added them to his album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157654034635234

and added them, with my own from today, to the Combined Volume here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157661069863633

Thank you Wrinkley.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

During the 2014 Chorley Tunnel blockade six car (3x150) services frequently stopped at Blackrod. These units didn’t have SDO and there was no overhang issues.

Actually there were. The Down platforms at both Blackrod and Adlington (used in both directions due to Single Line Working) were at that time just too short to fully accommodate 3x150. However with the 1/3 2/3 door positions on 150s the simple solution was to provide all such trains with a second guard who was tasked with preventing passengers from attempting to use the non-platformed rearmost set of doors. The first guard used a door control position further forward in the train with doors being released in the normal way. During the 6 weeks of the blockade I happened to find myself working a number of such services: they made for an interesting variation in rostered work.

 

[thealexweb]

Actually there were. The Down platforms at both Blackrod and Adlington (used in both directions due to Single Line Working) were at that time just too short to fully accommodate 3x150. However with the 1/3 2/3 door positions on 150s the simple solution was to provide all such trains with a second guard who was tasked with preventing passengers from attempting to use the non-platformed rearmost set of doors. The first guard used a door control position further forward in the train with doors being released in the normal way. During the 6 weeks of the blockade I happened to find myself working a number of such services: they made for an interesting variation in rostered work.

That does ring a bell actually.... my bad

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

That's what I also thought.

Yes it is, I didn't mean to imply the Liverpools were running via Golborne (though I think it is a diversion route).

 

[Wtloild]

Clifton, Farnworth, Kearsley and Moses Gate are probably the shortest at 4 cars each. Not sure what the actual lengths are. Blackrod just about held a 180 when Northern had them.

Should be noted however that no Preston trains stop at Clifton, Farnsworth, Kearsley or Moses Gate (& haven't for as long as I can remember), only Wigan & Clitheroe trains stop at these.
Incidentally various stations on Clitheroe line have very short platforms - 4-car 156s can only open doors on 3 of the carriages at Clitheroe & Whalley.

 

[InOban]

If heavy rail is to make a worthwhile contribution to the travel market into Manchester then infrastructure should support six-coach trains as a minimum, preferably 8.

 

[Greybeard33]

Before the overrun, and May TT farce there was a perfectly valid timetable for TPE via Bolton, and all the other Northern changes.

One would assume once Bolton is wired, and once the May & December 2018 TT changes are introduced in May 2019, that everything will be as it should’ve been in May 2018.

The TfN Rail North Committee paper, https://transportforthenorth.com/wp-content/uploads/Item-5-Train-Service-Planning.pdf, states, in para. 3.6, that TPE's May 2019 timetable bid includes several amendments to the Train Service Requirement as contracted [and originally bid for May 2018 before the overrun]. One of these amendments is "continuation of existing Manchester to Scotland services".

 

[driver9000]

Should be noted however that no Preston trains stop at Clifton, Farnsworth, Kearsley or Moses Gate (& haven't for as long as I can remember), only Wigan & Clitheroe trains stop at these.
Incidentally various stations on Clitheroe line have very short platforms - 4-car 156s can only open doors on 3 of the carriages at Clitheroe & Whalley.

True but the question asked about the route not service pattern.

 

[AMD]

What is the shortest length platform on the Manchester to Preston (via Bolton) route? What combinations of units will this be able to take?

Moses Gate is the shortest at 79m. It's the one that has thrown a few of the newer guards when a pair of 156s turn up instead of the booked 156+142 on the Wigan/Stalybridge/Alderley Edge circuit!

 

[Elecman]

Still no action on the M61 Bridge parapet. Something will have to be done prior to energisation even if it’s temporary hoarding (wood) and closure of the 2 hard shoulders ala the M55 where both parapets have now sprouted the triangular tops.

 

[td97]

B410p Lostock
The ziggurat still seems to need heavy fettling.

The retaining wall doesn't look completed, so my guess is the 'fettling' may be the installation of some new piles for it, as it should have been completed by now
The entire reasoning behind these piles is an anecdote for NR's incompetence and sky-high electrification costs.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Where's

Farnsworth

?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Near Farnworth possibly?

 

[Elecman]

The retaining wall doesn't look completed, so my guess is the 'fettling' may be the installation of some new piles for it, as it should have been completed by now
The entire reasoning behind these piles is an anecdote for NR's incompetence and sky-high electrification costs.

Certainly hope not now the ATF cables have been installed!

 

[LeylandLen]

But you never know

Obviously useful for diverted 390s...and the work is done should some 390s call in the distant future..

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Obviously useful for diverted 390s...and the work is done should some 390s call in the distant future..

That's what we thought when we designed it. Electric route, with 390s running (nearly) past both ends ... too obvious an eventuality to ignore. Platform 4 also has passive provision for extension to the same kind of length, if you look closely at the south end.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Near Farnworth possibly?

I thought:

 

[TBSchenker]

Obviously useful for diverted 390s...and the work is done should some 390s call in the distant future..

Be handy to start an early morning Manchester Picc - Euston from Bolton, and terminate one there in the evening. Capacity at Piccadilly P13/14 being one of a few issues.

Still, if there’s a will.

 

[Hophead]

Be handy to start an early morning Manchester Picc - Euston from Bolton, and terminate one there in the evening. Capacity at Piccadilly P13/14 being one of a few issues.

Still, if there’s a will.

Exactly as proposed by First Group when they briefly "won" the franchise some 6 years ago (but apparently not a franchise commitment).

 

[Joseph_Locke]

B418m - section insulator (SI) where two electrical sections meet but are not always connected; the section switch that connects them (or not) can be seen above the boom. The strange wiggly horns are arcing horns to allow over-voltages (e.g. lighting strikes) to be dissipated into the other section if required.

 

[ALX400]

AT wires now up and stretch from Blackrod towards Adlington.

 

[Norb]

I assume then that B418m is the famous "Stanchion MG02 37" being the limit of electrification at Salford Crescent

 

[LDECRexile]

I am delighted that Joe Callaghan has sent shots of Kearsley. I first met Joe on my first ever visit to Kearsley four years or so ago. My painful and undignified entry had just been to fall flat on my face in mud and stone.

A look at Joe's album shows the quality of his contributions. His photo 4688m remains my favourite of the line.

I've added his latest contributions to his album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157651953947345

and to the Combined Volume here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157661069863633

Thank you Joe, welcome back.

 

[LDECRexile]

B418m - section insulator (SI) where two electrical sections meet but are not always connected; the section switch that connects them (or not) can be seen above the boom. The strange wiggly horns are arcing horns to allow over-voltages (e.g. lighting strikes) to be dissipated into the other section if required.

Thank you very much. I have copied this into the photo's captions in the Combined Volume.

 

[LDECRexile]

AT wires now up and stretch from Blackrod towards Adlington.

Splendid.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Incidentally various stations on Clitheroe line have very short platforms - 4-car 156s can only open doors on 3 of the carriages at Clitheroe & Whalley.

What was the original length capacity of the platforms that are at Clitheroe station? I think that I saw old unused portions on the Helllifield-bound line last time I used that station.

 

[Ploughman]

Managed my first trip, yesterday, into the OHLE Zone for about 3 years now.
Could only do a short stretch coming in on the Wigan line to M Vic. As I was technically at work heading back to York.

General impression compared to other OHL Schemes I have been around is that it was fairly tidy.
However that is let down by the vast amount of vegetation that is going rampant on the tracks and shoulders let alone the wide areas and buildings.
Surely with the amount of possessions there have been vegetation clearance should have been a consideration.
On the Leeds NW scheme I had to work to at least 6m out and 6m up from rail to get a clear area, it seems that that has been ignored totally this time round.

It may have been done but if it is regrowth then the follow up treatments do not appear to have worked.
I have seen one section of the ECML that had 23ft of regrowth in a year because they missed the follow up work.

 

[Philip]

What is the line speed now for the Bolton and Chorley lines?