GSoP Post 13.1 - updated to reflect the wiring developments at Horwich & Salford Crescent
Manchester Victoria - Preston; State of Play, week beginning 16th July 2018.
All bases in! 90 masts still missing (an approximate guess).
All mileages from Manchester Victoria. Bridge mileages are approximated where noted.
1. Man Vic Station (West End) - Man Vic West Jct - Deal Street Jct; 0m 0ch to 0m 32ch
Fully wired 2013-15.
2. Deal Street Jct - Salford Central (East End); 0m 32ch to 0m 59ch
Fully masted. Limit of electrification is currently at 0m 46ch; SPS is up along the unwired stretch.
3. Salford Central; 0m 59ch
Fully masted, most SPS (Small Part Steelwork e.g. dangly bits) up. No wires.
4. Salford Central (West End) - Windsor Bridge South Jct; 0m 59ch to 1m 46ch
All bases in place, mostly with masts, no catenary or contact wires. Two runs of Earth wire are up.
5. Windsor Bridge South Jct - Windsor Bridge North Jct (inc. Salford Crescent); 1m 46ch to 1m 70ch
Windsor Bridge South Jct now wired (catenary/contact) from the Deal St direction on both the Up & Down Salford Lines; however, the Up Bolton line is fully wired through Salford Crescent, and terminated just north of Windsro Bridge North Jct. Earth wires (+ AT wires) are also in situ here.
6. Windsor Bridge North Jct - Clifton (South End); 1m 70ch to 4m 57ch
Between Frederick Rd & Broughton Rd (2m 26ch) bridges, the Up side earth wire extends south from Broughton Rd as far as the line is visible. It can be assumed that all uprights are in position.
Between Broughton Rd Bridge & Cockrobin Bridge, the Up side earth wire is up (for about 4 masts northwards, thru Pendleton Old), and steelwork looks complete.
North of Cockrobin Bridge, an Earth wire and an AT wire have gone up on the Down (northound) side.
Dangly bits up near Agecroft, and the missing bases in the walled stretch north of Agecroft Rd have now appeared & gained TTCs - woohoo! The problem was due to excessively sandy ground conditions in the area.
At Park House Rd Bridge, the first earth wire is now up on the Up side.
Lot of masts with SPS up on the southern approach to Clifton.
7. Clifton Station; 4m 57ch
2 boomed TTCs (with SPS); fully masted. No wires. Drainage manhole modules awaiting installation; temporary covers are over their future homes.
8. Clifton (North End) - Kearsley (South End); 4m 57ch to 7m 57ch
Brackets are fitted to the underside of the M60 overbridge. Bridge MVE1 27B (immediately NW of this) is fully erected, but unopened, and work the walkway is not yet finished.
The line through the former Dixon Fold station site (around the new footbridge, approx. 6m 00ch) now has earth wires up to the south and north.
Earth wires now up between Clifton & Kearsley; definitely through Clifton Country Park but the full extent is not confirmed.
Looking south from Kearsley, all masts that are up appear to be fully kitted out with SPS.
9. Kearsley Station; 7m 57ch
Fully masted. Earth wire (on the Up side) now runs south from Farnworth Tunnel (8m 25ch) through the station as far as the eye can see.
10. Kearsley (North End) - Farnworth (South End); 7m 57ch to 8m 31ch
Fully masted. Dangly bits almost all in place, but folded OOU at the tunnel end. Farnworth Tunnel has all its registration arms in place. Earth wire certainly in through the tunnel too.
11. Farnworth Station; 8m 31ch
Fully masted. Earth wire now in on the Down side through the station.
12. Farnworth (North End) - Moses Gate (South End); 8m 31ch to 9m 06ch
The pair of squat masts between Farnworth Station footbridge and Rawson St Bridge (approx. 8m 44ch) have now gained their boom.
The 2 bases each side of the "squat portal" have now gained TTCs; the southern one is certainly fully danglied.
Fully boomed and fully bedanglied TTCs up between Rawson St & the Balustraded Bridge (approx. 8m 56ch); this stretch now looks wire-ready.
The first of the two "Gravity Bases of the century" south of the Squeeze Belly Entry footbridge (approx. 8m 67ch) has gained a TTC. Of the two TTCs sandwiching the bridge, the southernmost one has gained dangly bits, while the bridge itself has had its parapet raised.
North of the Squeeze Belly Entry bridge, the earth wire resumes (on the Down side) from a portal boom, fitted with Tensorex drums.
13. Moses Gate Station; 9m 06ch
Fully masted, no wires.
14. Moses Gate (North End) - Bolton (South End); 9m 06ch to 10m 50ch
Weston St to Moses Gate looks almost ready for wiring.
Many bases, many masts, no wires. SPS and Tensorex drums appearing on some masts/cantilevers around Burnden Jct (10m 09ch).
All uprights appear to be up on both sides of Lever St footbridge; a multi-track portal is up immediately to the south of the bridge. To the north (on the east side), a TTC with reduced-height registration arms is up.
Stretching south from Bolton, long stretches of earth wire are now up. Another portal has been erected in 2 replacement bases.
Orlando St Bridge appears to be fully "stovepiped".
15. Bolton Station; 10m 50ch
Through the station, all lines are fully masted with the exception of the "wicket-keeper" (termination mast) on P2.
The 1st TTC up over P1/2 has now been bedanglied; in total, P1/2 is covered by 4 TTCs and 3 STCs.
Platforms 98% open to public; the 2% not open is a fenced-off section of canopy support to the right of signal "MP9239". P2 buffers look finished. Canopies look complete.
Earth wires now going in; the first one runs parallel to P3, from the southern end almost up to the road bridge at the northern end. A second one (parallel to P5) is up, and it extends south through Burnden as far as the eye can see.
Two sets of chalked "hieroglyphs" are etched into the bridge deck of Trinity St over P3/4; possible locations for stovepipes? Additionally, bolts & brackets are now drilled into the glazed brick retaining wall opposite P1.
16. Bolton (North End) - Lostock (South End); 10m 50ch to 13m 52ch
Newport St bridge has now had studs/brackets of some kind drilled in. The run of masts between Newport St & the NW end of P5 now have their earth wire affixed. Just east of Newport St Bridge, a TTC (unbedanglied) has now gone up on the southbound side.
A pair of wall brackets have been drilled into the retaining wall on the Down side at Bolton West Jct with corresponding brackets on the Up side. The westernmost pair of these have now gained a portal boom and uprights.
Between Newport Street Bridge & Moor Lane (the Bullfield Tunnels area), the tunnels are bedanglied throughout, with Aerial Earth Wire (AEW) brackets up over both tracks' respective tunnels/bridges.
Immediately NW of Newport St, one of the concrete bases that was poured over the weekend of May 5th has now had a mast affixed; the other mast for the other base is now similarly masted.
Gt. Moor St. bridge now has a stovepipe in on the Down side. The most recently cured base, fresh from unwrapping, has now had a mast & two dangly assemblies put up (see pic. A300k; between Great Moor St. & Dawes St. bridges). Of the "3 amigos" (the three closest masts to Great Moor St. Bridge), 2 now have Tensorex Drums fitted and the other has its dangly bits cabled-tied down(see pic. A320k).
Cable ducting troughs laid between Black Horse St & New St on the Down side, in the cess; all 6 masts are now up in this gap.
The overrun along the line to Blackburn (as far as Bradshawgate Tunnel) looks nearly ready for SPS & wires.
All masts are now up between Moor Lane & Mayor Street bridges, with the addition of a portal just NW of Moor Ln. Earth wire up on the Down side west of Moor St Tunnel.
East of Dean Clough Bridge (12m 26ch), only two masts are missing; these are on the concrete gravity pad replacements for failed piles.
Between Dean Clough Bridge and Lostock Station, all masts of all varieties are now up. Earth wires are already being strung, but registration arms are still folded out of place.
Masts have started to appear immediately south of Lostock; at the extreme southern end of the station, a twin track portal with SPS has been erected, with the 4-track portal over Lostock Jct (13m 39ch) immediately south of that now being boomed too. 3 "failed" protruding, uncapped pile bases are on the Wigan Line; one assumes that gravity pad replacements will eventually be in the offing.
More masts around the switchgear box are sprouting dangly bits, switchgear kit etc.
A UTX has been installed in the "vee" in Lostock Jct, for buried service access.
Work currently going on with stacks of cable ducting on the Wigan Line - possibly from the substation?
All masts (bar one) now up on the Wigan overlap; the missing mast is at the country end.
17. Lostock Station; 13m 52ch
Switchgear box delivered 6th April '18.
All TTCs now in behind the Down platform; one of them is not like the others (additional bracing member).
18. Lostock (North End) - Horwich Pkwy (South End); 13m 52ch to 15m 50ch
Two more UTXs have been installed in the "vee" between the two lines, to the north of the station.
Immediately north of Lostock, the closest TTCs to the platforms have now sprouted part of their switchgear kit.
All wires up from the "Golf Course" Footbridge (approx. 14m 04ch) to Red Moss Footbridge - see below! Earth wires have gone up on the Down side immediately north of the station; these presumably extend to the existing wired section.
All masts appear to be in place with SPS for the remaining sections between the two, including the A6027/De Havilland Way overbridge, which now has dangly bits mounted on the walls.
19. Horwich Parkway Station; 15m 50ch
The existing wired section between here & Lostock has now extended through the station on both lines - hooray! Wires now terminate 3 stanchions short of Red Moss footbridge.
20. Horwich Pkwy (North End) - Blackrod (South End); 15m 50ch to 17m 14ch
SPS appearing on portals near Blackrod, and SPS assemblies have been folded out of the way on the station's southern approach.
Work has concluded on the footbridge that will replace Red Moss foot crossing; complex portal/masts are up there too, which now have earth wires strung up on both sides of the track. 3 stanchions south of here, the wires from Lostock have arrived.
21. Blackrod Station; 17m 14ch
No wires. Empty mast base at the southern end. Bonding complete on P1. A second TTC has now been erected, and the extant one has now been boomed. Both have almost all SPS bits affixed (registration arms, and autotransformer growths; see photo A520m).One missing mast on the Down side, just east of the platform.
22. Blackrod (North End) - Adlington (South End); 17m 14ch to 19m 15ch
Lots of masts up just north of Blackrod, with SPS all fitted. Some base replacement work occurred over 17th/18th Feb to replace failed bases. Successful bases have masts up with SPS on.
23. Adlington Station; 19m 15ch
2 single masts up (one on each side) and 2 TTCs (on one of the sides); all are bedanglied and earth bonded. The road bridge at the southern end has also been stalactited. No wires.
24. Adlington (North End) - Chorley (South End); 19m 15ch to 22m 20ch
2 short stretches of wire on the s'bound track.
All bespoke mast fixings are now up on Yarrow Viaduct (21m 26ch at the southern end); work had stopped after the alleged discovery of a large void within the structure, but this appears to be resolved. All evidence of a worksite has now gone, which suggests a portal (south end) and a TTC (north end) are next!
25. Chorley Station; 22m 20ch
No wires. First mast now up over the Down/Northbound/Preston-bound platform; this is at the northern end of the station, and features dangly bits. A portal has now gone in, north of the previously installed TTC; a gap may still be extant between the station and said TTC. One mast in the station may still be missing.
26. Chorley (North End) - Buckshaw Pkwy (South End); 22m 20ch to 24m 39ch
Many bases, some masts, 1 or 2 wires. Roof brackets affixed in Chorley Tunnel (23m 20ch to 23m 25ch), and at least 6 dangly bits/SPS are up in the Flying Arches cutting. All bases on top of the retaining wall at the northern end now have portal booms affixed.
27. Buckshaw Parkway Station; 24m 39ch
Some bases in place, 2 TTCs up on the Down side, 1 TTC up on the Up side. The footbridge has now sprouted stovepipes. No wires.
28. Buckshaw Pkwy (North End) - Euxton Jct; 24m 39ch to 25m 31ch
Almost fully masted; about half the wires up until halfway to Euxton, then fully wired the rest of the way.
Do let me know if I've missed anything!
Poor quality photos from the train, on my way home. Wires in situ visible coming from Deal St onto Windsor Bridge South Jn, both Up and Down Salford lines, then only on the Up Bolton (through line) through the station, terminating just after Windsor Bridge North Jn on the Up Bolton line.
