Blackpool - Manchester Electrification

[snowball]

I've found this 12-minute video of the works around Farnworth, taken from a series of passing trains between May and July this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDHksaikETQ

It ends just before Fillie started boring. A further video is promised later in the year.

I frequently do web searches for phrases like "Farnworth Tunnel" but it wasn't one of those that found it. I found it by accident as a side effect of searching for information on the balustraded bridge.

I now believe that the photo captions are wrong to identify the name Squeeze Belly Entry with the balustraded bridge.

In order along the line going towards Bolton we have

Farnworth tunnels
Cemetery Road bridge
Farnworth station
A footbridge from which many photos have been taken
The narrow road bridge connecting Rawson Street to Lower Rawson Street
The balustraded bridge
An extremely narrow humpback footbridge with solid stone parapets
Bolton Road bridge
Moses Gate station

The name Squeeze Belly Entry surely applies to the incredibly narrow footbridge. Here is a video of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqWZMikOTxA

And when I watched that video on YouTube, the next video that came up automatically afterwards was the one linked at the top of this post.


--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've had correspondence with a proven wellwisher for the project expressing increasing concern that Fillie is way behind.

Please bear in mind that normal traffic is due to resume in early October, as shown on public posters and timetables.

The prime cause for his concern can be seen in the temporary mini-album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157657384006325

4730c - The Network Rail image - shows Fillie geared up but still on dry land, so to speak. Her extreme rear appears to be the conveyor belt above the road vehicle with a white metal framework above it.

4818p - taken on 6th Aug shows her in the earth, with a large grey framework visible ahead of the Orangemen who stand at her rear.

4866g - taken 15th Aug shows her rear end still visible, though the large grey framework has disappeared. The Orangemen stand in the same general rear area as in 4818p.

Network Rail sent a tweet to the correspondent on 31st July saying they expected to start boring that night.

The expected rate is 6 metres per day, which over 15 days would be 90 metres. This would make her invisible from the Kearsley footbridge.

The original published target start date for boring was 22nd July, published target end date 8th Sept.

Orangemen he's talked to give conflicting stories or know nowt.

Can anyone allay or confirm these fears?

They are the same fears expressed in #1455, #1461, #1465 and #1474, with the additional information of the picture taken on the 15th.

NR are reported to have said:

1. By the 11th (when the Minister visited) Fillie had made 10m progress.

2. She was then 1m ahead of schedule.

It's hard to believe statement 2.

Is this another example of NR's seeming habit of refusing to admit that a project is behind schedule until it's actually missed its previously announced completion date?

 

[LDECRexile]

Farnworth tunnels
Cemetery Road bridge
Farnworth station
A footbridge from which many photos have been taken
The narrow road bridge connecting Rawson Street to Lower Rawson Street
The balustraded bridge
An extremely narrow humpback footbridge with solid stone parapets
Bolton Road bridge
Moses Gate station

Agreed

Cemetery Road Br = MVE1/42
A footbridge from which many photos have been taken presumably MVE1/43
The narrow road bridge connecting Rawson Street to Lower Rawson Street presumably MVE1/44
The balustraded bridge presumably MVE1/45
An extremely narrow humpback footbridge with solid stone parapets presumably MVE1/46
Demolished bridge visible just south of Bolton Rd bridge, presumably MVE1/47
Bolton Road bridge = MVE1/48

I've looked for bridge numbers on the ones where I've made presumptions, but couldn't see them.

These two shots from Joe a while back show the big picture well:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/16967468448

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/16967472098

The very narrow humpback bridge really is very narrow! When I visited in April it was well used, pedestrians I collared to ask if it had a local name all said they just know it as 'The Humpback Bridge'.

The balustraded bridge is wider, perhaps two good strides wide, but in poor nick on top, with lots of foliage, a substantial tree growing mid-bridge and, of course, the wooden parapets which don't inspire confidence. No-one used it whilst I was there on Saturday - perhaps 20 minutes.


My correspondent's fears do indeed mirror yours, but I fancy he's arrived at them independently.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I've heard again from my local source for Squeeze Belly Entry.

I had misread his earlier email, the very narrow bridge one north of the balustraded bridge is indeed SBE.

I've changed the captions to series 4854 and 4858 accordingly.

Thanks to snowball and my correspondent for the research and info.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Wrinkley has kindly sent three shots of Ladybridge and three of Lostock Footbridge which he took last Wednesday.

I've melded them into series 4794 and 4790 respectively as appreciable change occured to both sites between then and Saturday.

I've added them to Wrinkley's album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157654034635234

and to the Combined Volume here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157648767927083

Thank you Wrinkley.

 

[LDECRexile]

Joe Callaghan has sent me Network Rail's letter to Farnworth residents giving the timetable of events.

I know we've had it before, but maybe there are others out there like me who don't remember everything, so I attach it and an enlarged extract below.

I believe tunneling started on 31st July, nine days late in a tight schedule.

Joe has now sent more NR output, including a clip with comments by Mr McLoughlin supporting the venture.

I have woven them and the schedule into the Fillie's Progress album here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157657384006325

The film clip can be accessed from the 'Comment' box below the very first item in the album.

Please note that it was issued on 12th August and makes express reference to the 5th October reopening date.

 

[LDECRexile]

Joe Callaghan has tweeted Network Rail asking after Fillie. They have promised to reply.

The Real Mad Haggis has added more to his Ladybridge album linked to the very first image in the Combined Volume here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127646831@N03/albums/72157648767927083

Our discussion about Squeeze Belly Entry and the Balustraded footbridge has sent Wrinkley down memory lane, he writes:

Having looked at Google Earth, I’ve just realised that I know quite a bit about the bridge. I was at Farnworth Grammar School in the fifties, it was at the corner of Bolton Road and Bentley Street. It closed sometime in the seventies and there are apartments on the site now. Our playing fields were on the other side of the railway and to get to them we went through streets of terraced houses, which have mainly disappeared and crossed the bridge, which was wide enough to take vehicles.

As you go down the track from the bridge to towards the A666 bypass the first part of the field on the right was our football pitch and still is a football pitch. The area on the left immediately over the bridge was where the changing rooms were, the two dark rectangles were the tennis courts and the rest of the field was the cricket pitch, plus a small football pitch, there’s a primary school on part of it now. The bridge was boarded on each side at that time, in fact I never realised that there was a balustrade behind the timber. There was a dirt track road at the end of the fields running roughly on the line of the bypass with prefabs on the far side the track then ran on to the council houses on Fern Street, which are still there.

It’s amazing what you find out.

He then went trawling t'internet and came up with these, which include SBE and the Balustraded FB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DahWIIP_UB0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Ibhm41fH4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzZubAV_-Mg

Confusingly, one of the shots of the Balustraded FB names it as Bridge 46, does anyone know the numbers of the bridges between Cemetery Rd and Bolton Rd?

Thanks to all three - Joe, Haggis and Wrinkley

 

[snowball]

There are four new Farnworth tunnel photos on the Northern Programme Twitter feed. One shows what I think is the Farnworth portal waiting for Fillie. Another shows a tipper truck receiving some spoil. Another shows three rings of placed lining segments (more may have been placed but if so are out of shot), proving she has advanced by at least 4.2m plus the length (whatever it is) of the front part of Fillie herself.

https://twitter.com/networkrailnp

 

[ianhr]

The latest 'Rail' magazine (although they have got things wrong before) claims that Man Vic-Stalybridge + the Philip's Park line + Guide Bridge-Stalybridge electrifications are going ahead along with the NW Scheme and have not been 'paused', confirming what some people have posted on this thread.

It is hard to see what use Guide Bridge-Stalybridge will have unless and until the Standedge line is wired!

 

[po8crg]

The latest 'Rail' magazine (although they have got things wrong before) claims that Man Vic-Stalybridge + the Philip's Park line + Guide Bridge-Stalybridge electrifications are going ahead along with the NW Scheme and have not been 'paused', confirming what some people have posted on this thread.

It is hard to see what use Guide Bridge-Stalybridge will have unless and until the Standedge line is wired!

I can't see what use it would have either, but assuming Standedge will get wired eventually it does mean that they only have to disrupt Stalybridge once for electrification instead of twice.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I can't see what use it would have either, but assuming Standedge will get wired eventually it does mean that they only have to disrupt Stalybridge once for electrification instead of twice.

And that is the positive thought I am going to keep in my mind.

 

[snowball]

Deleted

 

[55z]

Lots of use for Stalybridge to Manchester VICtoria
1. Liverpool to Man Vic & Stalybridge stoppers.
2. More important is that the electric feed from the National Grid for Manchester Vic area is at Hartshead which is just east of Stalybridge Tunnel i.e. where the National Grid is located at the old power station and easy connection to railway scheme.

 

[furnessvale]

I can't see what use it would have either, but assuming Standedge will get wired eventually it does mean that they only have to disrupt Stalybridge once for electrification instead of twice.

Surely the answer to that problem is the old method of wiring branches off the electrified main for, say 100m, so that any subsequent add-ons are simply plain line.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The latest 'Rail' magazine (although they have got things wrong before) claims that Man Vic-Stalybridge + the Philip's Park line + Guide Bridge-Stalybridge electrifications are going ahead along with the NW Scheme and have not been 'paused', confirming what some people have posted on this thread.

It is hard to see what use Guide Bridge-Stalybridge will have unless and until the Standedge line is wired!

I've seen that piece as well, but it directly contradicts what is in the current CP5 plan (March update).
The plan quite clearly says Guide Bridge is linked with the TP electrification and has a 2018 completion date (this was before that project was paused).
The June update to the plan has not yet been published.

One other link which is supposed to be included with Victoria-Stalybridge is the ECS route between Ashburys and Miles Platting.
Vic-Stalybridge also needs resignalling at Ashton Moss (still semaphores).

 

[GRALISTAIR]

And surely the little spur to Newton Heath depot has to be a no-brainer add-on?

 

[snowball]

Lots of use for Stalybridge to Manchester VICtoria
1. Liverpool to Man Vic & Stalybridge stoppers.
2. More important is that the electric feed from the National Grid for Manchester Vic area is at Hartshead which is just east of Stalybridge Tunnel i.e. where the National Grid is located at the old power station and easy connection to railway scheme.

I posted something like that (see "Deleted" above) but then I noticed that ianhr was referring to Guide Bridge to Stalybridge when he said he couldn't see much use for it.

 

[Viscount702]

By the time Vic- Stalybridge is wired which looks more likely now to be by May/Dec 2017 the Liverpool stoppers will be going to Piccadilly and the Airport and not Vic. That being so the Stalybridge terminators will be the electrics off the Bolton line and not Chatmoss. Mind you we don't know what the Northern bidders are proposing. To be frank I don't think anybody really knows what will happen because of all the delays on wiring the full extent of which we don't yet know and what order they will be completed. I would like to see Lostock to Wigan brought forward because it is self contained.

 

[WatcherZero]

And surely the little spur to Newton Heath depot has to be a no-brainer add-on?

Surely would only be a no brainer if Newton Heath was to be electrified though? And even post all electrification there will probably still be enough diesel stock to require a diesel dedicated North Western depot. There would also be the cost and disruption of electrifying an active depot to factor in as well.

So then whoever wins the Northern franchise would likely look to one additional electric heavy maintenance depot or two to three electric stabling depots capable of light maintenance and cleaning.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I would like to see Lostock to Wigan brought forward because it is self contained.

A great suggestion.

 

[dewsnapsliding]

I posted something like that (see "Deleted" above) but then I noticed that ianhr was referring to Guide Bridge to Stalybridge when he said he couldn't see much use for it.

I understand that new wiring etc requires new structures, but a significant part of the line has all the old gantrys and ohl structures still in place.

See King Street, on Google street view and you can see some of them.

http://goo.gl/maps/H5MCy

 

[ironstone11]

I understand that new wiring etc requires new structures, but a significant part of the line has all the old gantrys and ohl structures still in place.

See King Street, on Google street view and you can see some of them.

http://goo.gl/maps/H5MCy

It has been noticed on other lines, that they tend not to use old OLE structures, particularly as these will be at least 60 years old.

 

[dewsnapsliding]

It has been noticed on other lines, that they tend not to use old OLE structures, particularly as these will be at least 60 years old.

I understand that, but are they the same 60 year old structures holding the ohl between Hadfield and Ardwick?

 

[158756]

Just on North West Tonight that Blackpool-Preston is to be delayed due to the withdrawal of Balfour Beatty.

Is this just a short delay of a few weeks or are we talking months/years here? (In addition to the delay from 2016 to 2017 already announced)

 

[snowball]

Just on North West Tonight that Blackpool-Preston is to be delayed due to the withdrawal of Balfour Beatty.

Is this just a short delay of a few weeks or are we talking months/years here?

I don't think it's likely to be years, but we may have to wait till the autumn to find out more exactly, when the government is due to make a statement.

 

[Chrism20]

Just on North West Tonight that Blackpool-Preston is to be delayed due to the withdrawal of Balfour Beatty.

Is this just a short delay of a few weeks or are we talking months/years here? (In addition to the delay from 2016 to 2017 already announced)

It was also on the front page of the Blackpool Gazette this afternoon

A major upgrade of the rail line between Blackpool and Preston has been derailed.

Crippled by delays and growing concerns over the cost, Balfour Beatty has revealed it will not continue with the electrification of the lines between Blackpool and Preston.

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/n...to-preston-electrification-derailed-1-7417215

 

[Geeves]

Well I entered a prize draw at work to go to the tunnel of joy and I won. So expect some close up photos of the tunnel and Fillie to be appearing next week! We are actually going inside the tunnel so be interesting to see how far they have got!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It was also on the front page of the Blackpool Gazette this afternoon
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/n...to-preston-electrification-derailed-1-7417215

This is just about the only fresh item of interest:

“We will be retaining Balfour Beatty’s design services, and a new contractor will be appointed shortly. A full transition plan is in place to ensure that this work continues

I think it's possible BB has moved its resources to the Thames Valley on the more favourable Crossrail contract.
Delay to Blackpool wiring might not necessarily delay the resignalling/route upgrade though, as this would use different resources.

 

[Chrism20]

This is just about the only fresh item of interest:

Yeah there wasn't much there that we didn't already know tbh.

Hopefully a new contractor is appointed soon and they can crack on with things. At least the dreaded "Pause" hasn't been mentioned which is good.

 

[quantinghome]

It's unusual for a contractor to walk away from a job. When it does happen it's a sign of a project in trouble. This could be part of a more general withdrawal by Balfour Beatty from the rail market. From NCE:

Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn has described Network Rail as a “difficult” client and revealed the contractor could stop working with the body.

Quinn was speaking to investors as Balfour Beatty posted a £146M loss in its UK construction business for the six months to 26 June 2015.

He set out a range of measures the contractor was taking to turn its fortunes around, saying the losses were from contracts signed before he arrived in January.

Quinn said Network rail was “very, very difficult to work with” and that it was “very, very difficult to make a return” on its projects.

“We are looking at withdrawing from contracts that we have historically made losses on,” he added. “There is no point being a busy fool.”

Quinn said later: “Over the last five years, our engagement with Network Rail has lost us money. We have to find a way to make a return or we won’t operate in those markets.”

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn has described Network Rail as a “difficult” client and revealed the contractor could stop working with the body.”

Words fail me, they really do.

 

[snowball]

Well I entered a prize draw at work to go to the tunnel of joy and I won. So expect some close up photos of the tunnel and Fillie to be appearing next week! We are actually going inside the tunnel so be interesting to see how far they have got!

Congratulations!

Try to get a chance to count the number of rings of concrete lining segments, then we can estimate the progress if they don't give you a figure for it.

 

[Greybeard33]

I've seen that piece as well, but it directly contradicts what is in the current CP5 plan (March update).
The plan quite clearly says Guide Bridge is linked with the TP electrification and has a 2018 completion date (this was before that project was paused).
The June update to the plan has not yet been published.

Previously extensively debated on the Transpennine Electrification thread - see http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2242389#post2242389 and subsequent. The CP5 Enhancements Delivery Plan (March update) is ambiguous - it also describes both Victoria-Stalybridge and Guide Bridge-Stalybridge as parts of Phase 5 of the NW Electrification Programme. Network Rail's LNW Network Specification https://www.networkrail.co.uk/Network-Specification-2015-London-North-Western.pdf lists both Victoria-Stalybridge and Guide Bridge-Stalybridge as parts of the "North Trans-Pennine Electrification: West" scheme. But it states:

The project is being delivered as part of the North West
Electrification programme due to synergies with timescales and
power supplies.

If these lines are contractually included in the NW programme, might it not make commercial sense for NR to proceed with them rather than renegotiate/cancel the contracts and re-tender them later? And the "synergies with ... power supplies" implies that the Stalybridge grid feeder station is needed to strengthen the NW power supplies post Blackpool-Manchester electrification, even without TP electrification.

I understand that, but are they the same 60 year old structures holding the ohl between Hadfield and Ardwick?

Indeed - and the original 80 year old structures between Old Trafford and Altrincham are also still in use today for the Metrolink OHLE. A bit rusty in places, but they built to last in those days!