Manchester - Stalybridge Electrification

[LNW-GW Joint]

When laying the extension lead have they avoided the footprint of any Miles Platting re-alignment?

Difficult to tell.
The cable route dives under the current curve roughly at its sharpest point.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

7 miles of piles/foundations/ masts/SPS and wires in 3 days? Most unlikely!!

Is Anneka Rice involved?

 

[Elecman]

Is Anneka Rice involved?

Or DIY SOS?

 

[M60lad]

If the overheads don't go that far out of Victoria towards Miles Platting and it seems they won't be going any further for the foreseeable future then what was the point in putting them up in the first place as nothing is going to be able to use the wires surely?

 

[59CosG95]

If the overheads don't go that far out of Victoria towards Miles Platting and it seems they won't be going any further for the foreseeable future then what was the point in putting them up in the first place as nothing is going to be able to use the wires surely?

Future-proofing. It also means that Manchester Victoria won't have to be closed for OLE works nearly as much.

 

[Tim_UK]

Future-proofing. It also means that Manchester Victoria won't have to be closed for OLE works nearly as much.

Is so that Viva Rail battery EMUs can run the Stalybridge to Victoria service and charge in platform 1 and 2 at Victoria. One of the reasons the Heyrod feeder has been taking so long is the provision to tap it to provide a short length of overhead to recharge at Stalybridge.

 

[notlob.divad]

If the overheads don't go that far out of Victoria towards Miles Platting and it seems they won't be going any further for the foreseeable future then what was the point in putting them up in the first place as nothing is going to be able to use the wires surely?

My understanding was that it would allow trains to reverse at the crossovers to the East of Victoria. Thus meaning they did not block a platform at Victoria.

 

[59CosG95]

My understanding was that it would allow trains to reverse at the crossovers to the East of Victoria. Thus meaning they did not block a platform at Victoria.

Indeed, that's also rather useful, alongside wiring the crossovers now so less time and money needs to be spent on them later.

 

[edwin_m]

My understanding was that it would allow trains to reverse at the crossovers to the East of Victoria. Thus meaning they did not block a platform at Victoria.

And shunt into one of the east-facing bays if necessary.

 

[deltic08]

Are they thinking of connecting Newton Heath with 25kv?

 

[Starmill]

Are they thinking of connecting Newton Heath with 25kv?

It seems not at the moment.

 

[jonesy3001]

What are they actually doing on the victoria - stalybridge line?
Is it the extension lead they are finishing off or are they putting up overheads as well, nothing makes sense on this page.


https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds...bria-over-easter-and-may-early-bank-holidays/

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I suspect the "Victoria-Stalybridge" work is on the extension lead and the wiring of P1/2 at Victoria.
Certainly not wiring anywhere out of sight from Victoria station.

This one is a bit odd:

Track foundation improvements between High Wycombe and Leighton Buzzard

​

 

[td97]

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...e-electrification.148433/page-19#post-3936267
Details some of the work. Must be more than turning the OLE on though, considering there's a weekend-long possession

 

[Chester1]

Its a step forward and in time for the May timetable change.

When Victoria was last redeveloped, I wonder if they considered replacing platforms 1 and 2 with one much longer terminating platform? Both are quite short because they have to converge by the bridge in order to fit under it. If there was only one terminating platform then it could extend underneath the bridge. That might be more useful once TPE introduce 5 coach trains and if 160m long there would still be capacity to store 2 units off peak.

 

[jonesy3001]

The overhead wires going up to miles platting are now live as well as platforms 1 and 2;

https://t.co/Ta3HB2eYQ2

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Is there much use of the bays now? It's a while since I've been the "wrong" side of the Pennines but I was under the impression that pretty-much everything ran through these days.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Is there much use of the bays now? It's a while since I've been the "wrong" side of the Pennines but I was under the impression that pretty-much everything ran through these days.

Currently P1/2 are used to reverse trains from the east, mostly Calder Valley services.
Trains also park up there empty off peak.
There will still be terminators after May, but eventually I think most trains will run through.
Obviously there will be no passenger EMU departures for a while, but I expect ECS will sit there.
Otherwise they will just clog up the through platforms.

 

[Greybeard33]

Is there much use of the bays now? It's a while since I've been the "wrong" side of the Pennines but I was under the impression that pretty-much everything ran through these days.

Even after the May timetable change, there are still 2tph booked to reverse in Vic Platform 2:

• A Leeds via Bradford service, which would probably be extended to the Airport via the Ordsall Chord if Northern could get a path through the Castlefield corridor.
• The Stalybridge DMU shuttle. This could not be replaced by an extension of the Preston EMU even if the wires were up to Staly, because the timings do not match.

I guess the wires to Miles Platting and P1/2 might be particularly useful when there are EMU diversions into Vic from the west, due to disruption or engineering work.

 

[edwin_m]

What's all this with wires to Miles Platting? I thought they were going to end a train length beyond the protecting signals so an EMU could shunt between platforms.

 

[Greybeard33]

The overhead wires going up to miles platting are now live as well as platforms 1 and 2;

https://t.co/Ta3HB2eYQ2

What's all this with wires to Miles Platting? I thought they were going to end a train length beyond the protecting signals so an EMU could shunt between platforms.

Yes, not one of Network Rail's most accurate press releases. The wires only go as far as the Bromley Street area, well short of Miles Platting Junction. And there are not yet any wires into P1/2 to be energised!

 

[Trapper]

What's all this with wires to Miles Platting? I thought they were going to end a train length beyond the protecting signals so an EMU could shunt between platforms.

Electrification only going as far as Bromley Street Junction, which is only 29 chains from Manchester Victoria, so we are talking about 638 YARDS max. I think this is about the third time NR have announced the electrification being complete so far!!!

 

[Mordac]

I don't really understand that. There's no Junction 29 chains from Victoria as far as I can see?? *scratches head*

 

[edwin_m]

I don't really understand that. There's no Junction 29 chains from Victoria as far as I can see?? *scratches head*

I assume the both ways ladder shown towards the bottom is referred to as Bromley Street by some, though evidently not by the Sectional Appendix. Incidentally not sure where "October 2009" comes into it as the page shown is from 2019.

The signals controlling access to Manchester Victoria are at 22 chains, midway through this group of crossovers, and there are signals for the move away from the station at 27 chains. So this amount of OLE would allow a train of up to 4 cars to go out of the station and reverse at one of these signals without falling off the end of the wire. Unlikely though that a pair of units could do so.

However the signalling only allows these shunts to take place via the middle two tracks - unless the plan I have is out of date there's no signalled move out to the Up Rochdale Slow or back from the Down Rochdale Fast. They may electrify those tracks to avoid having to re-visit the junction if the wires are extended further, but if so those wires won't be used unless and until that happens.

 

[Greybeard33]

Bromley Street (the road) runs alongside the Metrolink lines from the vicinity of the two crossovers at 31ch, so I imagine "Bromley Street Junction" is the name given to those crossovers.

 

[hwl]

The dotted metrolink lines are your subtle hint - what was it like pre MetroLink?...
Very obvious from google satellite view.

 

[Trapper]

I don't really understand that. There's no Junction 29 chains from Victoria as far as I can see?? *scratches head*

Looks like I got it slightly wrong as the NEWLY named Bromley Street Junction is at 31 chains (i.e. the asterisk on the sectional diagram)

From Realtimetrains :-

M Ch Location
0 0 Manchester Victoria [MCV]
0 9 Manchester Vic.(East Jn)
0 31 Bromley St. Jn (Man Vic) <------
1 30 Miles Platting [MLP]

 

[edwin_m]

The dotted metrolink lines are your subtle hint - what was it like pre MetroLink?...
Very obvious from google satellite view.

See this article about Victoria East Junction, including some pictures showing the track diagram and giving some idea of what the layout used to be.

https://signalbox.org/branches/bw/manvic.htm

memory of the day I visited Manchester Victoria East Jcn., so many, many years ago ('64). They didn't have buttons there. They had bloody big switches lad, good, solid, Lancashire, by goom switches - yards (well feet anyway, perhaps a good 25 ft plus was the length of the panel?), triple and quadruple banked switches, which would have put those of another box’s Belling food warmer to shame! And even if they weren't ceramic, I wouldn't knock it! It was One Control Switch (OCS) lad, 'lectric (and damned proud of it they were too) which, at the time, was something out of a science fiction magazine to me. Built brand new in 1962 and only two years old, state-of-the-art, 1955 Modernisation plan stuff. And I was standing in front of it!

 

[Llama]

I don't really understand that. There's no Junction 29 chains from Victoria as far as I can see?? *scratches head*

That's an out-of-date Table A, Bromley Street Jn has been shown for a few weeks now in the live document.

 

[Mordac]

That's an out-of-date Table A, Bromley Street Jn has been shown for a few weeks now in the live document.

Fair enough, I don't have access to the live document, so that was the best I could do.

Thanks to everyone who helped make sense of that.

It turns out that that's not quite the "To Miles Platting Junction" that the press release promised.