Could any modern uses be found for the Ashford Chart Leacon site?

[Wyrleybart]

In all honesty they bit off more they could chew. The had too.much in their order books

mods note - split from this thread:

Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates

701001 - In Passenger Service (2 Mar 26) 701002 - In Passenger Service (18 May 26) 701003 - In Passenger Service (27 Jul 26) 701004 - In Passenger Service (10 Jul 26) 701005 - In Passenger Service (27 Aug 25) 701006 - In Passenger Service (6 Mar 26) 701007 - In Passenger Service (24 Feb 26)...

www.railforums.co.uk

On the face of it they may have bit off more than they could chew, given their factory and staffing capacity, but maybe had they opened another facility somewhere and recruited staff to operate it, perhaps a different outcome. Is there still an empty works at Ashford ? Could they have dedicated a train factory there, even if only of limited lifetime maybe ?
Hypothetical now but there is no way in a world of pigs pudding that the Aventra production could have run to any kind of a timetable if three or four of ROGs diesels are shuttling half built trains around the country day after day. That is expensive and time consuming - neither conducive to Alstom's well being.

 

[4SubAsociation]

On the face of it they may have bit off more than they could chew, given their factory and staffing capacity, but maybe had they opened another facility somewhere and recruited staff to operate it, perhaps a different outcome. Is there still an empty works at Ashford ? Could they have dedicated a train factory there, even if only of limited lifetime maybe ?
Hypothetical now but there is no way in a world of pigs pudding that the Aventra production could have run to any kind of a timetable if three or four of ROGs diesels are shuttling half built trains around the country day after day. That is expensive and time consuming - neither conducive to Alstom's well being.

Sorry to say that Ashford Chart Leacon got knocked down in 2020. It had been out of action since 2014 and it had to be complusory purchased by Network rail for the new sidings for South Eastern. A little Off Topic i know.

Huge railway depot reduced to rubble

A long-standing railway works is no more after contractors pulled down the main workshop.

www.kentonline.co.uk

 

[Wyrleybart]

Sorry to say that Ashford Chart Leacon got knocked down in 2020. It had been out of action since 2014 and it had to be complusory purchased by Network rail for the new sidings for South Eastern. A little Off Topic i know.

Huge railway depot reduced to rubble

A long-standing railway works is no more after contractors pulled down the main workshop.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Oh well !!!!
That would have put paid to that, although when were they 701s ordered. Presumably after the 345s 710s 720s additional 710 and 378 augments, 730s and yet more of whatever C2C have ordered. Perhaps a factory south of the Thames might have been more useful for Bombardier, but it is rather san fairy Anne now.

Thanks for the sad info

 

[tomuk]

Oh well !!!!
That would have put paid to that, although when were they 701s ordered. Presumably after the 345s 710s 720s additional 710 and 378 augments, 730s and yet more of whatever C2C have ordered. Perhaps a factory south of the Thames might have been more useful for Bombardier, but it is rather san fairy Anne now.

Thanks for the sad info

Bombardier expanded Derby, as well as the Pre Delivery Test shed they opened additional production lines.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Sorry to say that Ashford Chart Leacon got knocked down in 2020. It had been out of action since 2014 and it had to be complusory purchased by Network rail for the new sidings for South Eastern. A little Off Topic i know.

Huge railway depot reduced to rubble

A long-standing railway works is no more after contractors pulled down the main workshop.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Chart Leacon gone but what about the original Works Site - I thought that was a different place ?.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Chart Leacon gone but what about the original Works Site - I thought that was a different place ?.

Correct the works was at the East end of the station between the Folkestone lines and Hastings line Chart Leacon was about mile west of Ashford..

 

[Peter Sarf]

Correct the works was at the East end of the station between the Folkestone lines and Hastings line Chart Leacon was about mile west of Ashford..

Thanks. I remember the Works was somewhere to the East of Ashford.

 

[Lee Bradfield]

Some if not all of the works are still there in varing states of disrepair, I've only seen it since I moved south a few years back.

 

[Wyrleybart]

Some if not all of the works are still there in varing states of disrepair, I've only seen it since I moved south a few years back.

Assuming there are still rails into it, and it is still legally a railway works then maybe it is worth considering, if only because it is in the southeast and not too far from the channel tunnel, as well as possibly becoming a useful works for building and overhauling DC powered vehicles.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Assuming there are still rails into it, and it is still legally a railway works then maybe it is work considering, if only because it is in the southeast and not too far from the channel tunnel, as well as possibly becoming a useful works for building and overhauling DC powered vehicles.

Balfours were doing overhauls on there rail mounted cranes and on track machinery fleet there but don't know if that is still the case as a lot of its up for redevelopment. As a side note BB made a huge amount of money off the land there were gifted with the old RT1A/B contracts so many locations that were potentially useful railway locations are no longer useable to the industry. This is why Chart Leacon site had to be acquired under a compulsory purchase order after Bombardier sold the site to a developer.

 

[swt_passenger]

Assuming there are still rails into it, and it is still legally a railway works then maybe it is worth considering, if only because it is in the southeast and not too far from the channel tunnel, as well as possibly becoming a useful works for building and overhauling DC powered vehicles.

There’ll soon be no need for any special provision for “DC powered vehicles”, as all the modern stock has an AC traction package, and the complicated stuff underneath is all the same. SWT used to send their 455s to Ashford for overhaul, but that ceased when they got AC traction modifications.

 

[Wyrleybart]

There’ll soon be no need for any special provision for “DC powered vehicles”, as all the modern stock has an AC traction package, and the complicated stuff underneath is all the same. SWT used to send their 455s to Ashford for overhaul, but that ceased when they got AC traction modifications.

Fair enough, if that is the way forward. I suppose Siemens were able to build the 450s in Germany without need for a 750V DC rail anywhere.
Thanks

 

[43096]

Fair enough, if that is the way forward. I suppose Siemens were able to build the 450s in Germany without need for a 750V DC rail anywhere.
Thanks

They laid a 750V DC supply at the Wildenrath test track from memory, which was set up to give similar problems that would be encountered over here.

 

[DanNCL]

I suppose Siemens were able to build the 450s in Germany without need for a 750V DC rail anywhere.

A 750v DC third rail was provided at the Siemens test track in Wildenrath, Germany, specifically for the purpose of testing the 444s and 450s. It's since been used by Stadler for the 777s.

 

[Goldfish62]

A 750v DC third rail was provided at the Siemens test track in Wildenrath, Germany, specifically for the purpose of testing the 444s and 450s. It's since been used by Stadler for the 777s.

Yes, and an SWT VEP, 3810, was sent out there to conduct trials on the track to endure everything worked as authentically as possible, which included making the track a bit rough to truly simulate that traditional Southern ride quality!

A couple of days after the unit's return I caught it into work and wondered if anyone else on the train was aware that it had been through the channel tunnel, run in Germany and come back again a few days previously!

 

[Domh245]

SWT used to send their 455s to Ashford for overhaul, but that ceased when they got AC traction modifications.

I thought the 455s only went to Ashford for their major refurbishment? That naturally ceased a long time before AC traction modifications as that programme completed 2008

 

[swt_passenger]

I thought the 455s only went to Ashford for their major refurbishment? That naturally ceased a long time before AC traction modifications as that programme completed 2008

It‘s before my taking an interest in what was going on really. I just thought it showed an example that Ashford being a centre of excellence for older DC units was pretty much finished quite a while ago.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Yes, and an SWT VEP, 3810, was sent out there to conduct trials on the track to endure everything worked as authentically as possible, which included making the track a bit rough to truly simulate that traditional Southern ride quality!

A couple of days after the unit's return I caught it into work and wondered if anyone else on the train was aware that it had been through the channel tunnel, run in Germany and come back again a few days previously!

Never knew that - any pictures about

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Yes, and an SWT VEP, 3810, was sent out there to conduct trials on the track to endure everything worked as authentically as possible, which included making the track a bit rough to truly simulate that traditional Southern ride quality!

IIRC Siemens also replicated the electromagnetic interference generated by trackside equipment, which had caused problems with the 458s.

 

[Goldfish62]

Never knew that - any pictures about

Can't find anything at the moment.

Back nearer the time I certainly remember seeing photos of 3810 on the Wildenrath test track and also being towed into the tunnel.

 

[XAM2175]

Never knew that - any pictures about

Can't find anything at the moment.

It's taken me a bit of searching but I've managed to find a handful here:

Siemens Wildenrath

The images below were recovered from the old Fotopic site, their size is small and quality crap, but I have included them at this stage.

www.dawlishtrains.com

 

[tomuk]

Some if not all of the works are still there in varing states of disrepair, I've only seen it since I moved south a few years back.

Most of the site is being redeveloped as Ashford International Studios. Balfour Beatty retain their shed, the next two works shops the frontages are retained with offices built inside them, the rest already demolished.

Walk Around Newtown Works | AshfordFOR

Newtown Works will be transformed into apartments and potential commercial space, plus a 120-bed hotel, a roof-top restaurant and a multi-storey car park.

www.ashfordfor.com

 

[D365]

Assuming there are still rails into it, and it is still legally a railway works then maybe it is worth considering, if only because it is in the southeast and not too far from the channel tunnel, as well as possibly becoming a useful works for building and overhauling DC powered vehicles.

Fair enough, if that is the way forward. I suppose Siemens were able to build the 450s in Germany without need for a 750V DC rail anywhere.
Thanks

DC traction supply, or DC motored vehicles?

 

[Wyrleybart]

DC traction supply, or DC motored vehicles?

DC traction supply
I guess that anything newer than 450 can be tested and run under 25kV then returned to 750V DC routes after overhaul - if indeed works overhauls happen anymore.
I was thinking of the large fleet of Electrostars which might need midlifing. The current arrangement seems to be to haul them with barriers to Wolverton or Doncaster

I admit to not knowing much about the 3rd rail traction.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

It's taken me a bit of searching but I've managed to find a handful here:

Siemens Wildenrath

The images below were recovered from the old Fotopic site, their size is small and quality crap, but I have included them at this stage.

www.dawlishtrains.com

Fabulous many thanks.

 

[4SubAsociation]

The works building from what i understand are going to be converted to houses and the film studio side will be built on the land next to the building. Its being built by a developer who has a lots of developments around Kent.

As for Chart Leacon. From what i understand it got compulsory purchased and some of the space reinstated for siding. However i think half of the site is not going to have anything on it.