Ordsall Chord

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dont forget that tickets from any location subject to disruptions on the chord works can use the Metrolink free of charge from Victoria to gain access to Piccadilly and the airport. I think that is the way id personally chose.

How many of the Metrolink routes leaving from Manchester Victoria station actually travel direct to Manchester Piccadilly station?

There are also "the free to use by all" Metroshuttle buses that recently have had their routes better co-ordinated which connect Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly railway stations.

 

[Chrisyd]

Tweet and pictures from the Northern Programme Twitter feed of Water Street bridge works

https://mobile.twitter.com/NetworkRailNP/status/811135461943111680

Work started late last night on removing Water Street bridge. It will be replaced by a new one later tonight #ordsallchord #ChristmasWorks

 

[HowardGWR]

Tweet and pictures from the Northern Programme Twitter feed of Water Street bridge works

https://mobile.twitter.com/NetworkRailNP/status/811135461943111680



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Much appreciated. Just as a query, is there any way an Ipad user can suppress the ridiculous Tapatalk advert? I find them most irritating.

 

[najaB]

Just as a query, is there any way an Ipad user can suppress the ridiculous Tapatalk advert? I find them most irritating.

It's an option in the settings on Android so I suspect it's there for iOS as well.

 

[snowball]

The old Water Street bridge is now gone:

https://twitter.com/networkrailnp

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I see from Modern Railways January (p17) that the Middlewood Viaduct will be widened and tracks from Ordsall Lane rerouted via the disused platforms at Salford Central, at Easter 2017.
This will accommodate the northern end of the new Ordsall Chord, with commissioning of the Chord itself due in October.
The new bridge over the Irwell should go up at the end of February.

 

[snowball]

Replacement Water Street bridge going in:

https://flic.kr/p/QsYHKM

https://flic.kr/p/PeqQJV

Thanks to "purple_cat" on Skyscrapercity.

 

[childwallblues]

I see from Modern Railways January (p17) that the Middlewood Viaduct will be widened and tracks from Ordsall Lane rerouted via the disused platforms at Salford Central, at Easter 2017.
This will accommodate the northern end of the new Ordsall Chord, with commissioning of the Chord itself due in October.
The new bridge over the Irwell should go up at the end of February.

Do I assume that the Liverpool services are to be rerouted through Salford Central?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Do I assume that the Liverpool services are to be rerouted through Salford Central?

Yes I would presume so, though I haven't seen a track diagram.
The Chord route will take over the current tracks.
The platforms won't be useable though, until the rebuild gets the go-ahead.

 

[hibtastic]

It's weird not having huge crowds on platforms 13 and 14 at Piccadilly at the moment! It's a bit quieter for sure, that is until the unnecessarily blaring loud announcements about alternative services from Victoria and how busy the xmas markets are are broadcast!

 

[snowball]

Yes I would presume so, though I haven't seen a track diagram.
The Chord route will take over the current tracks.
The platforms won't be useable though, until the rebuild gets the go-ahead.

A diagram has been linked on here in the past, possibly in the Liverpool-Manchester thread. The two existing platform tracks continue to serve the Bolton and Atherton lines, and the three tracks newly (re-)equipped with platforms are for Chat Moss and the Chord, though I'm not sure how the four functions are to be distributed among the three tracks. I think in normal use it will be one track towards Victoria and two away from Victoria, though I think they'll all be reversible. The tracks in the diagram were not labelled. It came from the documentation that was part of the application for powers to build the Chord.

 

[snowball]

More pictures of the replacement Water Street bridge:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0WZ4AeWEAAJ_lk.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0WZ4AgXEAARwzh.jpg

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I was wondering if the new steelwork going up is in some kind of undercoat, and will be painted before completion.
But having looked at the original artist's impression, it seems not.
So these are the finished colours, in a relatively dark brown hue.
I can't decide if this is "right" or not.
We've rather got used to brightly-painted Victorian railway structures, with all the embellishments picked out in contrasting colours.

 

[rebmcr]

I was wondering if the new steelwork going up is in some kind of undercoat, and will be painted before completion.
But having looked at the original artist's impression, it seems not.
So these are the finished colours, in a relatively dark brown hue.
I can't decide if this is "right" or not.
We've rather got used to brightly-painted Victorian railway structures, with all the embellishments picked out in contrasting colours.

This material is known as Weathering Steel and is very maintenance-friendly, due to the oxide layer (rust) actually having a protective effect on the underneath.

 

[peterfgf]

This material is known as Weathering Steel and is very maintenance-friendly, due to the oxide layer (rust) actually having a protective effect on the underneath.

I think the trade name is Corten. It being used quite widely, for example, in shipping containers.
Peterfgf

 

[HowardGWR]

I think the trade name is Corten. It being used quite widely, for example, in shipping containers.
Peterfgf

Just having boned up on Wikipedia, one hopes the bridge is already 'weathered'. Otherwise, the nice clean concrete abutments will get all stained.

 

[snowball]

The trade name Corten seems to be used more when the material is used for buildings, whereas the term weathering steel seems to be used more when it's used for bridges. Other bridges for which it has been used in and around Manchester include:

Metrolink airport line over River Mersey

M56 junction 7 replacement bridge

M56 Thorley Lane replacement bridge

Trinity Way over River Irwell (the one near New Bridge Street)

 

[Chrisyd]

The nearby Peoples History Museum also has this materiel (or something very similar) on the outside of the extension. With that the panels started out shiny and changed the first time there was some heavy rain.

 

[PDG1949]

More excellent bridge progress pics on this

https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/ordsallchord

and on SSC

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The nearby Peoples History Museum also has this materiel (or something very similar) on the outside of the extension. With that the panels started out shiny and changed the first time there was some heavy rain.

There is a building very near to the Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station with a "rust finish". Has the same type of Corten steel been used in its construction?

 

[furnessvale]

There is a building very near to the Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station with a "rust finish". Has the same type of Corten steel been used in its construction?

I don't know the building in question, but if it has an overall rusty appearance, with no signs of having been painted, it is highly likely.

Corten is very useful in locations where repainting can be an expensive process due to access or height problems, eg railway bridges.

 

[snowball]

And of course the substation that is to be decapitated if Piccadilly platforms 15-16 go ahead.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4...4!1s7ZCu5KtQzv6aEjAEWgBvnA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[furnessvale]

And of course the substation that is to be decapitated if Piccadilly platforms 15-16 go ahead.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4...4!1s7ZCu5KtQzv6aEjAEWgBvnA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

So that's what it is!

I always thought it was the left overs from a local scrap yard!

 

[Hophead]

Will the Chord be equipped with OHLE from the outset? I don't believe that there would be a day-to-day need for electrification for some years yet but provision now would add flexibility to the local railway and mean that there would be no need to return and install it later.

 

[snowball]

Will the Chord be equipped with OHLE from the outset? I don't believe that there would be a day-to-day need for electrification for some years yet but provision now would add flexibility to the local railway and mean that there would be no need to return and install it later.

I'm sure it will. It's only a few hundred yards of new track. The pictures all show it with wires.

 

[The Planner]

There is a building very near to the Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station with a "rust finish". Has the same type of Corten steel been used in its construction?

Weathering steel is often a requirement from NR now.

 

[Geeves]

Its definitely getting wired and this along with the route from Ashburys to Philips Park will at least form a useful loop initially for moving empty electric stock around especially when the works start at Oxford Road and Piccadilly.

You only need to look at the route a 350 must currently take with no access via Oxford Rd to get to Victoria you have to go via Crewe and Newton Le Willows :roll:

 

[childwallblues]

Its definitely getting wired and this along with the route from Ashburys to Philips Park will at least form a useful loop initially for moving empty electric stock around especially when the works start at Oxford Road and Piccadilly.

You only need to look at the route a 350 must currently take with no access via Oxford Rd to get to Victoria you have to go via Crewe and Newton Le Willows :roll:

Would not it have been cheaper to hire in a loco to haul them?

 

[Class 170101]

Would not it have been cheaper to hire in a loco to haul them?

No it would be cheaper to train a few drivers to run the Class 350s via that route under their own power

 

[edwin_m]

Unless it's been deleted the Stalybridge electrification will include Philips Park to Ashburys, which provides an alternative route between Victoria and Ashburys depot (although by that time the TPE trains may be based somewhere else anyway).