GSoP Post 32.0
Manchester Victoria - Preston; State of Play, week beginning 10th December 2018.
All wire runs up and LIVE! Live (from Euxton Jct to Buckshaw Parkway; and from Windsor Bridge South Jct to Ordsall Lane Jct/Deal St Jct) as of 1st October; Windsor Bridge South Jct to Buckshaw Parkway now also live as of Sunday.
Speed changes still seem to be postponed, despite all wires being live. Test runs are now 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 conjunction 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. Are these now complete? Live wires suggests so.
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. Do these now have wires?
At Clifton, Drainage manhole modules are awaiting installation; temporary covers are over their future homes. Have these been installed?
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, both on the main lines, the side platforms and the overrun towards Blackburn.
UTXs wait to be installed in the works compound west of the track off Platform 5. Have these been installed?
6. Bolton (North End) - Lostock (South End); 10m 50ch to 13m 52ch
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 - especially as wires are now live!
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. Assuming all dangly arms and the termination insulators that were reported as "not yet installed" are now installed, as wires are live.
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) - assuming that this is resolved given that all wires are now live.
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. Assuming this is now resolved since wires are now live.
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? I'm assuming so given that wires are now live.) 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.
ATF wires appear to be finished (at least on the Down side), from Salford Crescent up to Euxton Jct. Assumed these are now all installed as wires have gone live.
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!