Thanks for that.
I thought also than a train could leave the new Platform 1 at Parkway heading towards Temple Meads at the same time as train could leave Platform 2 heading towards Cardiff. That is not what the map indicates.
They already can, and do.
My trusty Ian Allan 'Gradient Profiles' sees a short dip, less than a quarter of a mile, at 1:132 just north of Stapleton Road and then a steady 1:75 climb for just over two miles to a tad north of the former Horfield station.
That would be very helpful in steam days, as that's where they used to attach a banker.
I take it the last one shows the driver following Rule 55?
If I am reading the photos correctly (thanks for those) the one line laid already is the down South Wales /relief and in the middle where there is plastic underlay shewing through, that will be the up relief. I write 'up' and 'down' realising that there was a time when it would have been the other way around possibly (prior to the Badminton route being built). What is it now? It will be 'down' from the Patchway junction, I imagine.
My understanding is that the electrification from Parkway into Temple Meads is deferred to the next control period, because the Filton Bank works need to be finished first. And from this, "Filton Bank Works" includes all provisions that will then permit electrification work to proceed without further asset modification.
I am sure those closer to this project will soon correct me, if indeed I have misunderstood.....
Thank you very much -except, er, 'ELRs'?
Thanks very much, yes, now I know what it means, I found one or two threads with examples: Here's one -
I presume the professionals like you will have a gazetteer for these, as they don't exactly speak for themselves, do they?
A question, for anyone who might be in the know, is the 'kink' evident in pictures 4 and 5 a result of the track being skewed towards the centre of the formation at some point or would it always have been like that? If the former, are there any plans to ease the severity of the curve when the new lines are open, if the latter then WTF?!
It looks as though there used to be a station here - you can see remains of a platform to the right. So, it probably always had that kink to accommodate the platforms. The kink is not very severe anyway - these are telephoto shots that grossly exaggerate what's really there. There does not appear to be any effect on line speed, so why change it?
A station wouldn't, in itself, explain the kink since they would've just built the station a dozen yards to the left. Even without the station, some amount of curve would be needed in order to clear the bridge so I'm still wondering if it was built that way.
Yes it would, there would have been a platform where the open space is between the two pairs of tracks......... And the line continues to curve out after the bridge as the platform would be wider than the bridge pillar.
Or, as Wikipedia says: "The line was built by the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway. It was four-tracked until 1984 when it was reduced to double track, with the running lines slewed over to increase line speeds."
The former station of Horfield - opened in 1927 and closed in 1964. See Bristol Railway archive: http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/Horfield
Thanks. That link provides the answer "The station was rebuilt when the line up Filton Bank was quadrupled in the 1930s" - so there was likely some slewing involved but when tracks were added, rather than when they were removed.
I missed that bit! Anyway, quadrupled to Narroways in 1891 and then onwards, including Horfield, in the early 30's - agree that was when the slewing took place.
