londonmidland
Established Member
Was definitely TTC's, as identified by the 'pointy' ends. Both the mast and the 'bridge' were on site, waiting to be bolted together.
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MML Electrification: progress updates
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59CosG95
Established Member
I've just been near the compound myself; it's visible from the giant green bridleway bridge east of Braybrooke village (SPC3-35AA). Around 40-45 masts are now there; the majority of masts awaiting installation are indeed TTCs, but there are some other UKMS ones there too - a couple of portal bridges, UC masts etc. (The compound is numbered 'Braybrooke Compound 3' by SPL, so that implies another 2 in the same area.)
Around the bridge itself, 30-40 piles await installation, and another 7 are sunk. Of these 7 piles, all south of the bridge, 5 of these are on the Down side, while the other 2 are on the Up side, protected with a road barrier. (Another pile location, north of the bridge and on the Up side, has a similar barrier in place, but no pile yet).
At SPC3/34 (Three Arch Bridge), the bridge by Braybrooke ATFS, work has now very much progressed - a section of the slope by the access track next to the Up line has been flattened to make way for the ASG building that controls the supply to the OLE once complete. The adjacent National Grid substation work is going nicely too - ABB have delivered a large, substation-y package to National Grid/Murphys etc.
Nothing new yet in the Desborough or Kettering North Jn areas, but Rushton (bridge SPC3-42) has changed beyond recognition! The field to the south of the line and west of the bridge (by the signal gantry), on the Down side, has been cleared and is in the process of being turned into another SPL Compound.
A RRAP has also gone in, meaning that this is likely to be another one with rail access, and will probably cover as far as Kettering North Jn (to the south) and Desborough (to the west), with Braybrooke covering Desboro' to Market H'boro'.
Pics for Braybrooke Compound 3 to follow in a separate post.
Braybrooke ATFS:
1. Bridge ID for the small bridge leading to the construction site.
View attachment IMG_5665.jpg
2. View looking west towards Mkt H'boro'. Nothing of note yet.
View attachment IMG_5666.jpg
3. Peg on the Up side for a potential piled foundation.
View attachment IMG_5667.jpg
4. 222021 passing with a STP-SHF service, showing the compound on the left. Note the road collision barriers beyond the compound, near the milepost - these continue at regular intervals towards the bridleway bridge further east.
View attachment IMG_5675.jpg
5. Earthworks complete-ish at the spot where the ASG building will eventually go.
View attachment IMG_5677.jpg
6. ABB (or should I say, A Bloody Big) transformery-type thing. Most likely for the National Grid works.
View attachment IMG_5680.jpg
Rushton:
1. Looking SW over the old field, now the new compound for works.
View attachment IMG_5684.jpg
2. Looking west, showing a little more detail.
View attachment IMG_5687.jpg
3. SW again, showing the extent of temporary land take for the compound.
View attachment IMG_5688.jpg
4. West again, showing the RRAP in more detail.
View attachment IMG_5690.jpg
Braybrooke Compound 3:
1. Looking west from the bridleway bridge (SPC3/35AA). Note the vehicle collision barrier on the right.
View attachment IMG_5636.jpg
2. Looking east from the bridleway bridge. Most piles are on the Down side; note, however, the one on the Up side behind another length of road barrier. Perhaps a portal?
3. Looking NE from ground level, showing the large number of piles on site and the TTC booms awaiting installation.
View attachment IMG_5660.jpg
4. Another NE view, showing the metalwork in more detail. There are around 35 TTC masts here in total, plus 20 or so booms. Other mast types are also here, but the 380x100 PF DC masts for TTCs are the main type on show.
View attachment IMG_5662.jpg
5. Another eastern look, showing the RRAP off too.
View attachment IMG_5664.jpg
Apologies if images don't show up fully in the body of the message - these are all ex-RAW from a DSLR!
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westcoaster
Established Member
Lots of SSP staff out and about this week, south of Bedford.
Also mid week staff seen on site in the yet unused compound at East Hyde. Messroom talk of a new Neutral section going in here (for the New EMR bi-modes).
Also mid week staff seen on site in the yet unused compound at East Hyde. Messroom talk of a new Neutral section going in here (for the New EMR bi-modes).
59CosG95
Established Member
There is indeed a neutral section (and MPTSC) going in there; it'll replace the one at Sandridgebury further south.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Presumably this is the tank and windings of a 400kv/25kv-0-25kv 40MVA? supply transformer bereft of its radiators, oil tank and bushings.
Elecman
Established Member
Certainly looks like it I think the radiator is behind the Wooden protection
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
Mmmmm it’s a big one - to misquote Dirty Harry
Flying Phil
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Thanks for those pictures 59CosG95
59CosG95
Established Member
No worries!
In other news: https://www.networkrailmediacentre....e-1970s-track-between-london-and-kentish-town
This article mentions that the existing Sundon feeder will be decommissioned over Xmas.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
swt_passenger
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AIUI from previous posts Chalton ATFS. It‘s quite close by apparently, it was about getting a more powerful supply from the 400 kV grid. Chalton ATFS is about a km south of Sundon FS
Track mileage etc can be found within the progress listing here:
MML Electrification: progress updates
Somewhere on here recently, it was concluded that the feeder will be just south of Chesterfield station. Post #3233 of 25/11/19 refers. (also 3838 and 4452) Precisely where the line-side switches will be sited isn't stated. WAO
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Brissle Girl
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So slab track is being replaced by conventional ballasted track and bring "a more modern railway". I bet NR's predecessor said exactly the same thing in 1979 when the slab track was installed in the first place (not that they had a website to say it on, but you know what I mean). Lower maintenance, longer life-span etc etc...
they did. And they are both right.
There were signs of renewed activity at the Napsbury access point adjacent to the North Orbital Trading Estate when I went to St Albans South this afternoon, although I couldn't see much in detail. Too dark on the way back.....
Can you share what changed in technology/knowledge to change the preferred solution to slab track and then back to ballast?
AIUI, it was slabbed back then as the cheapest way to get the clearances for electrification, whilst protecting the adjacent retaining wall. Fairly sure it was also the first stretch of slab track anywhere on the network (other than as a trial).
However the process of installing the slab undermined the retaining wall on the downside, albeit that wasn’t known at the time. That resulted in expensive repair and strengthening a few years ago, and the weakened wall eventually caused problems with the slab. Now this has been solved, and with the slab needing replacement, replacing with ballasted track is the cheapest method.
that’s my understanding anyway.
Western Sunset
Established Member
Not sure if the first trials were on the Nottm - Grantham line east of Radcliffe-on-Trent at Saxondale Junction and the first application was south of Duffield on the up main (slewed onto the former up goods where the slab track had been laid). Though whether that was also considered as a trial, I'm not certain.
Nottingham59
Established Member
Is that why you can still see a variety of different sleeper styles on the disused sidings on the south side of the running lines around there?
alf
On Moderation
Bald Rick is wrong.
Western sunset is right.
The concreted up slow from south of Duffield, where the line from Denby joined the main line to just north of Derby, was put in before the concrete section Baldrick incorrectly instances.
It carried heavy freight trains, probably totally a million tons, south.
Reduced freight traffic put it out of use.
But it was visible below the brambles & budlea when I last looked ten or so years ago.
A piece of history.
Western sunset is right.
The concreted up slow from south of Duffield, where the line from Denby joined the main line to just north of Derby, was put in before the concrete section Baldrick incorrectly instances.
It carried heavy freight trains, probably totally a million tons, south.
Reduced freight traffic put it out of use.
But it was visible below the brambles & budlea when I last looked ten or so years ago.
A piece of history.
Western Sunset
Established Member
Yes; it incorporated some slab switches and crossings too (at Saxondale).
edwin_m
Veteran Member
I think this counted as experimental, which is why it was positioned alongside the original track not replacing it. Proximity to Derby is a bit of a clue too.
Saxondale was on the former four-track section, giving it space to wiggle around a bit and probably test out some curve-related issues. IIRC it was abandoned about 1990, possibly as a result of line speed improvements for Regional Express service.
The Kentish Town area may have been the first use "in anger", although I've a feeling the tunnel out of Glasgow Queen Street was done about the same time.
InTheEastMids
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In perhaps the least unexpected event of the day, the Integrated Rail Plan confirms today that electrification of the MML will be extended from Market Harborough to Nottingham and Sheffield via Derby.
Of course, still plenty of time to get Grayling back into DfT to cancel it again
Link to the official UK Government announcement:
www.gov.uk
Quote:
Of course, still plenty of time to get Grayling back into DfT to cancel it again
Link to the official UK Government announcement:
Integrated Rail Plan: biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network will deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys across North and Midlands
Major rail investment to transform services in the North and Midlands.
Quote:
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Western Sunset
Established Member
Wasn't there some slab track on the south side of Glasgow too, between Central and Polmadie, at Rutherglen?
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Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
It does but the timescales look woeful from this chart although lets hope this is end state and they will progress intermediate stages earlierIn perhaps the least unexpected event of the day, the Integrated Rail Plan confirms today that electrification of the MML will be extended from Market Harborough to Nottingham and Sheffield via Derby.
Of course, still plenty of time to get Grayling back into DfT to cancel it again
Link to the official UK Government announcement:
Integrated Rail Plan: biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network will deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys across North and Midlands
Major rail investment to transform services in the North and Midlands.
Mikey C
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There's an unfortunate (and entirely avoidable) gap between current work finishing and the next section being worked on, but that's where we are...
InTheEastMids
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They do, although the September 2021 National Infrastructure Pipeline update from the Infrastructure & Projects Authority suggests we could be a bit more optimistic as it's not consistent with this picture.
The spreadsheet that's interesting is linked from this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-and-construction-pipeline-2021
Row 435 of the spreadsheet is MML electrification and Columns U to Y show over half the project budget of £1.4Bn is spent by end of FY 24/25, with £0.56Bn in FY 24/25 alone, it would seem odd to then spend about 6-7y spending the remaining half of the programme budget.
I think the possible explanations are
- the picture is unclear/misleading or inaccurate
- the programme has had an unexplained multi-year slippage in the last 2 months
- the programme includes a 'long tail', perhaps mopping up lots of bits of infill
Take you pick
Brissle Girl
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Hopefully the certainty will now mean that the project team can be retained following completion to MH, maybe continuing the next bit to just short of Leicester, whilst the bigger project gets into gear.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Useful document and looks like it sources its information from individual bodies so would have been NRs input based on getting authority to proceed at some assumed point. Maybe now the IRP is out the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline document will get updated as its over two years since the last version was released.They do, although the September 2021 National Infrastructure Pipeline update from the Infrastructure & Projects Authority suggests we could be a bit more optimistic as it's not consistent with this picture.
The spreadsheet that's interesting is linked from this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-and-construction-pipeline-2021
Row 435 of the spreadsheet is MML electrification and Columns U to Y show over half the project budget of £1.4Bn is spent by end of FY 24/25, with £0.56Bn in FY 24/25 alone, it would seem odd to then spend about 6-7y spending the remaining half of the programme budget.
I think the possible explanations are
- the picture is unclear/misleading or inaccurate
- the programme has had an unexplained multi-year slippage in the last 2 months
- the programme includes a 'long tail', perhaps mopping up lots of bits of infill
Take you pick
Nottingham59
Established Member
At the very least, they should now be able to start work to design and build the OHLE feeder at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, which I understand is often the longest lead time item on all these projects. It will be needed to power both HS2 and the MML.
AIUI, it’s already underway.