Re-signalling of the charming Wherry Lines in Norfolk was due to be completed about now, but this £67m project has joined Crossrail and Great Western electrification in falling hopelessly behind schedule.
New signals along the 46 miles of route linking Norwich with Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft have been installed, but remain shrouded in black bin liners, with one insider telling me that the new equipment may not now be commissioned until March 2020. Continue reading “A Wherry big delay”
Paying an Easter Saturday (20 April 2019) visit to Moreton-in-Marsh there had been a fair bit of change since my last visit almost two years ago, when the rolling stock featured in photos accompanying my August 2017 blog included Class 166 and 180 units as well as the now fast-disappearing HSTs.
Today virtually all Cotswold Line services are in the hands of Hitachi Class 80x units, with the final scheduled HST working now less than a month away and a due to be the 18.22 Paddington to Hereford service on Saturday, 18 May. Continue reading “A new look at Moreton-in-Marsh”
After the recent completion of re-signalling at Pitlochry and Aviemore, another of Scotland’s wonderful manual signalling outposts will disappear this summer, when completion of Phase One of a £170 million programme to upgrade the Aberdeen to Inverness route will see the loss of semaphores at Inverurie.
Together with the historic signal box at nearby Dyce (sadly demolished in August 2019), Inverurie box will be closing as part of a project that should have seen a re-doubling of the 17 route miles to Aberdeen by December, introduction of half-hourly Aberdeen to Inverurie services, and provision for a planned new station at Kintore. Continue reading “All change at Inverurie”
There are very few places to watch the flow of freight traffic along one of London’s forgotten arteries – the four-mile long Dudding Hill Line from Acton to Cricklewood – but pick of the bunch must be the bridge on Craven Park just north of Harlesden station.
Looking north from here, before leaves appear on all the line-side trees, there are two semaphores in view – Neasden Junction’s down (southbound) section signal nearest the bridge, with its up outer home signal also in view as the line bears round to the right, a signal that can’t be seen when there are leaves on the trees. Continue reading “Day Return to Dudding Hill”
Completion this month of what is known as Highland Main Line Upgrade Phase Two will see the disappearance of semaphore signalling at two locations along the magnificent route from Perth to Inverness.
This £20m project, aimed at delivering an hourly service and a ten minute reduction in journey times from December, will see the disappearance of mechanical signalling at Pitlochry, along with platform extensions to handle the new Inter7City HST sets. Continue reading “Highland semaphore farewell”
For a chance to savour Britain’s finest collection of lower quadrant semaphore signals, and a number of other unique historic features, it is well worth spending a few hours on and around Worcester’s two stations, Shrub Hill and Foregate Street.
The triangular layout north of these two stations is controlled by signal boxes at Shrub Hill and Tunnel Junction at the far tip of this triangle, while signals west of Foregate Street and its up platform 1 starter are controlled by a third box, Henwick, standing out of sight on the opposite side of the River Severn. Continue reading “Favourite photo-spots: Worcester”
Freight services made a re-appearance on the Portsmouth Direct Line on Saturday (2 February), when engineering work in the Southampton area led to a handful of car-carrying services to and from Southampton Docks being diverted along the route through Haslemere and Guildford.
Anyone who had spent one hour 50 minutes on a bus travelling the ten or so miles from Cribbs Causeway shopping centre to Temple Meads station, as I did this week, would realise how serious Bristol’s traffic congestion has become.
Whilst my choice of a 73 bus, rather than the shiny new m1 metrobus and its route via the M32 motorway, inevitably slowed my journey, it still took around half an hour longer than scheduled and underlines the need for some radical action. Continue reading “Metrobus yes, but where’s the metro train?”
Investment in upgrading the important Valleys Line services radiating north from Cardiff has been on the political agenda for some considerable time, with ambitious plans announced for partial electrification and/or conversion to light rail.
Yet while all the bold talk continues, the saga of delayed electrification to Cardiff and cancellation onwards to Swansea is a warning not to take anything for granted, and a mainstay of Valleys Line operations today remains the reviled Pacer (Class 142/3) units. Continue reading “How green was my valley”
Along with those at Pembrey and Ferryside, featured in my previous post, another South Wales signal box potentially being replaced during Network Rail’s Control Period 6 (2019-24) is Tondu, sole passing place on the eight-mile branch from Bridgend to Maesteg.
The former Tondu Middle box is another Great Western Railway Type 3 design and dates from 1884 although, unlike Ferryside, has been subject to some subsequent alterations.
It stands immediately north of the station and controls a passing loop (currently out of use), as well as access to a seldom-used diversionary route to Margam and a remaining stub of the closed Blaengarw branch. Continue reading “A trip to Tondu”
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