Modern Railways – April 2019

86 April 2019Modern Railways http://www.modern-railways.com

Trackwatch

A DIGEST OF THE MAIN

CHANGES ON NETWORK RAIL,

LONDON UNDERGROUND AND

NORTHERN IRELAND RAILWAYS

INFRASTRUCTURE DURING

JANUARY 2019; COMPILED

BY MARTYN BRAILSFORD OF

THE BRANCH LINE SOCIETY

(WWW.BRANCHLINE.UK).

January has seen its usual share of

level crossing upgrades and other

minor works, however the two

major alterations this month are

the closure of the line between Old

Oak Common West Junction and

Park Royal to enable HS2 works to

commence, and around Bletchley

Flyover, where work on the East

West Rail project is commencing.

EAST MIDLANDS

Cricklewood (4:8B)

The long-term disused South Freight

Siding headshunt (5M 18ch to

5M 20ch) has been taken out of

use to be permanently recovered.

Between Leagrave and Luton (4:11B)

Limbury Road siding No 3 has been

extended and is now a through road.

KENT

Fawkham Junction (5:7)

It is reported that the connection

at Fawkham Junction (22M 50ch)

to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link has

been restored to operational use.

LONDON NORTH EASTERN

Huntingdon (2:15C)

The catch points at 59M 27ch on the

Down Slow have been recovered

and replaced with plain line.

Fletton Junction (2:15D)

A new power operated ground

frame for moves on and off the

Nene Valley Railway has been

installed and commissioned at

74M 79ch, and the relevant point

work has been upgraded. The

existing manually operated ground

frame has been abolished.

The facing points at 74M 71ch

in the Down Main that give access

to the Down Slow have been relaid

and repositioned to 74M 69ch.

Between Stainforth Junction and

Ferrybridge North Junction (2:40C)

Cridling Stubbs Automatic Half Barrier

Crossing at 60M 45ch has been

upgraded to a Manually Controlled

crossing with Barriers equipped with

Obstacle Detection (MCB-OD).

Between Newark North Gate

and Retford (2:17A)

Barrel Lane footpath crossing

at 127M 08ch has been closed

and all associated equipment

has been recovered.

The emergency facing and

trailing crossovers at Grove Road

(136M 27ch) have been plain lined

and all associated equipment

(including the overhead line

equipment) has been recovered.

Thoresby Colliery Branch (2:29)

The relevant section (LN788) in the

Sectional Appendix for this branch

(ELR:TYC) has been withdrawn,

reflecting the fact that this branch

has now been closed for a few years.

LONDON NORTH WESTERN

Bletchley Flyover (4:3B)

As part of the East West Rail project,

sections of line in the Bletchley

Flyover area have been taken out of

use. In detail, these are the lines from

Swanbourne Buffer Stops (1M 27ch)

to Flyover Junction, from Flyover

Junction towards Bletchley Flyover

North Junction – temporary buffer

stops on the Up Bletchley at 1M 19ch,

and on the Down Bletchley at

1M 15ch, and from Flyover Junction

towards Fenny Stratford Junction –

temporary buffer stops on the Up &

Down Bletchley Chord at 1M 26ch.

Birmingham New Street (4:20)

As part of the Birmingham New

Street resignalling project, Engine

Sidings 2 & 3 have been taken

out of use, pending recovery.

Dorridge (4:19A)

The revised layout at Dorridge

(118M 75ch) has now been brought

into use. See diagram for detail,

but in summary the Dorridge

Neck and Down Dorridge Siding

have been abolished and the

Down Dorridge Spur shortened.

The Up & Down Dorridge Goods

Loop has been lengthened

using the space freed up.

Wigan Springs Branch (4:30A)

Further work has taken place

here in connection with the new

EMU stabling sidings, with the

plain lining of points in the Up

Goods that used to give access

to Springs Branch Sidings; these

alterations are already shown in

the latest edition of Book 4.

LONDON UNDERGROUND

Farringdon (5:44B)

The trailing crossover at Farringdon

(42.470km) has been plain lined.

NORTHERN IRELAND RAILWAYS

Between Lisburn & Portadown (6:17E)

Robinson’s crossing (XD263) at

100M 36ch has been abolished.

SCOTLAND

Between Dunblane and

Gleneagles (1:15B)

As part of the project to provide a

new rail freight facility at Blackford,

a new facing crossover between

the Up Main and Down Main has

been installed at 132M 65ch and

also a trailing turnout in the Up Main

has been installed at 132M 71ch.

These points are clamped out of use

until the facility is commissioned.

Perth Muirton (New) Yard (1:15D)

The trailing crossover between the

running lines (152M 32ch) and also

the facing turnout on the Down

Main have been reinstated, thus in

theory giving access to the yard.

Between Methil and Thornton

North Junction (1:14B)

The sidings at Earlseat Opencast

(roughly at one mile from Thornton

North Junction) have been recovered.

Between Dyce and Inverurie (1:17B)

Fullerton User Worked Crossing

at 14M 46ch has closed and

all equipment associated with

it has been recovered.

WALES

Between Port Talbot Parkway

and Bridgend (3:22A)

In connection with the Port

Talbot West resignalling project,

a new Hot Axle Box Detector

has been installed on the Down

Main at Stormy (194M 72ch).

Tondu (3:27B)

Due to the condition of the track,

the Down and Up (Llanfi) Goods

Loop (2M 72ch) at Tondu is out

of use until further notice.

WESTERN

Between Old Oak Common

and Park Royal (3:2A/B,3A)

The Wycombe Single line has

been taken out of use between

3M 29ch (Old Oak Common West

Junction) and 4M 75ch. The point

work at Old Oak Common West

Junction has been secured for

running towards Friars Junction.

Between Bradford-on-Avon

and Bath Spa (3:5B)

Glass’ User Worked crossing at

0M 20ch has been upgraded and

is now equipped with miniature

red/green stop lights (MSL).

Cotswold Line (3:14B)

Thanks to a correspondent for

pointing out that Hanborough

(70M 39ch) has indeed only got

one operational platform and not

more as I had implied last month,

although the correspondent did

mention that the old down platform

has recently been uncovered

and is visible once more.

SUSSEX

Between Ford and Barnham (5:20C)

Yapton Automatic Half Barrier

crossing (20M 79ch) has been

upgraded to a Manually Controlled

Barrier with CCTV crossing, controlled

from Barnham Signal Box.

NEXT MONTH

February sees remodelling work at

Ambergate and Balcombe Tunnel

Junctions. The overheads on the

new third line on the Lea Valley, on

the Grangemouth branch and on

the Shotts line are all energised.

Elsewhere, Edinburgh Waverley sees

two new platforms open and more

work takes place at Lowestoft.

Information has been grouped

according to the main Network Rail

‘Routes’ in January 2019. All details can

be subject to subsequent amendment.

Books and Diagram Reference

Numbers (in brackets) relate to the

latest relevant Quail Track Diagram

books obtainable from Trackmaps at

http://www.trackmaps.co.uk. a

Boundary fence: this structure has been erected on the trackbed east of Claydon LNE

Junction to delineate East West Rail project territory from that of Network Rail. Phil Marsh

The revised layout at Dorridge.

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