Hitchin East Junction

What a difference in the weather today. Blue skies but very cold and windy. The Cambridge branch was closed with a 27 hour engineer's possession. I took a few photos of the points and some new track panels being lowered in. Previously 200 metres of track had been replaced in preparation for the new junction. Today a ninety metre section of the down line was removed and the existing ballast scraped back, The rail mounted crane apparently weighed 130 tonnes. Similar work on the future Hitchin North junction will be carried out in one go during a 54 hour possession over Christmas. Work on the branch is more difficult than on the ECML because of the need to move First Capital Connect rolling stock in and out of the sidings at Letchworth.

 On approaching the junction, you can see the crane and five ballast wagons.  Two more trains were out of sight in the cutting on the other side of the Stotfold Road.

 A closer shot shows a track panel being attached to the crane.  After this is installed, the crane moves forward on the track it has just laid ready to install the next one.

 The panel is lifted.

 Moving round to the highest point of the adjacent field, a shot from a different angle.

Zooming in you can see the panel hanging from the yellow and black lifting beam.

Even closer shot.

Crane collects another panel.  Work will continue until around 4.00am tomorrow.

Site visit report 24th November

No pictures today but instead some interesting information from my visit to the site this afternoon.  Hochtief and Network Rail held an open day from 11.00am to 3.00pm with minibus tours around the site.  Unfortunately the weather was foul and the windows of the minibuses were steamed up and rain covered.  Because of this no worthwhile photos could be taken.  However the staff were very welcoming and pleased to answer any questions.  There were several time lapse videos covering the main work sites.  These graphically demonstrated the incredible pace of work.  As one of the Network Rail guys remarked, there was nothing there only ten months ago. These are some of the more interesting facts:

• New junction between the new line and the Cambridge line goes in tomorrow morning between 9.00am and 10.30am and will be known as Hitchin East junction.  A 90m section of track will be cut out and the prepared points and track panels lifted in.
• New junction between the ECML and the new line will go in in December and will be known as Hitchin North Junction.  The existing junction will still be called Cambridge junction whilst just south of there the various connections are known as Hitchin South Junction.
• A track laying machine will visit in February and lay all the track and concrete sleepers in around a week.
• Overhead work will be completed in March.
• The line will go into public service in June, 31 weeks from now.  Drivers will be trained by simulator and walk throughs as it will not be feasible to do driver training on the new line.
• Line speed will be 50mph due the steep gradient and tight curves.
• The line will be ballasted throughout including the viaduct to keep the noise down.  The viaduct has a concrete trough running throughout to facilitate this and to manage the run off.
• Maximum number of people working on site at any one time was 150, now around 60.
• Temporary quarry will be removed and hill reinstated to farmland next May.  Around half a million tonnes of chalk was removed although not all was useable.  Unused chalk will be used for reinstatement.  The reason for the delay is the weather now would not allow machinery to operate.
• Drainage on the east side all goes to soakaways adjacent to the embankment.  A large hole is dug and filled with something similar to milk crates.  It is capped and a drain pipe put in. 

I was surprised at how many people visited the site.  Minibus tours ran every 15 minutes throughout.  Weather permitting, I will try and get some pictures in the morning.

17th and 18th November

Two visits this week, one to the west side and one to the Icknield Way.   It was very dull and overcast
on Saturday but another glorious (if a bit cold) Sunday. Bus replacement service was in operation again so I expected work on the new junction would be continuing.  The concrete edging work was almost complete on the viaduct.  Quite a lot of construction workers were in evidence on the last sections to be installed.  Two cranes were working and while I was there a gantry of some sort was lowered into place.  The higher ground has now been cleared of of plant and equipment and the site huts have gone.  There is an air of winding down on that side of the construction site.

First picture shows the edging work going on on the last two sections to be installed.  And no, if you were wondering, that construction worker wasn't being lowered in by crane.  It is just an optical illusion!

The area in front was completely cleared of vegetation last winter.  This is where the new settlement ponds will be constructed.  However the power of nature is such that it has completely grown over again.

 Leaves have all gone so you can compare this shot to the original artist's impression on the Network Rail website to see if they got it right.

 Here is the gantry being installed.  Not an overhead gantry because it is too low and too far out.  Has climbing footholds on the outside.

 Looking back towards the scrapyard.

 

 Here you can see the cleared higher ground.  It is hard to see but wire mesh has been added to the railings over the mainline.  Presumably this is because dropping something there could be potentially more serious.

 This shows the viaduct sweeping round over the main line.  The appearance is softened by the completion of the concrete edging.  This was taken from the Icknield Way at the Letchworth end.

 And zooming in from the same spot.

 Looking from the entrance to the temporary quarry, work is continuing all along this section.

 Here a dumper truck is going up the temporary ramp onto the embankment.

 Work continues on the overheads on the road bridge.  You can also see the recently installed permanent access staircase up to the junction.  Notice how it is offset into four separate sections presumably for health and safety reasons.  This will be for ongoing maintenance access.

 Finally a mini work site has sprung up half way along the embankment.  From what I could see this looks like drainage work as there appeared to be large sections of concrete pipe stored on the ground. Sorry that these shots are a bit far away from the work but you can't get very close from this side without trespassing.

First track laid.

On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, I took the footpath beside the Cambridge branch out to the point where the new line meets the old. I knew there was an engineers' possession of the line today as the dreaded bus replacement service was in operation and I hoped to see some progress. I wasn't disappointed as I could see a lot of orange clad workers as I approached. There was a Network Rail permanent way train waiting, engine running, on the up line just at the point where the line enters the cutting. I could see another on the up line with a couple of diggers unloading ballast adjacent to the new junction. It appears that they were installing the points and the first section of track. The first train had been loaded with used ballast mixed with soil and presumably they were replacing this with fresh ballast. I could see sleepers and lengths of rail on top of the new embankment.  I subsequently learned that the new points have not been installed but are laid waiting for the next closure.  Apparently this was preliminary work which included removing an overhead gantry that was in the way and connecting up one of the new gantries.  I am grateful to the passenger on a passing train that provided this information.

Here is the point where the two lines converge. 

Moving closer you can see the works train is being unloaded.  Note how deep the ballast is in the apex of the two lines.  Lengths of rail can be seen on the new embankment.  There are several lighting gantries on site so I am guessing they started pretty early probably after the last train ran.

Looking from the highest point across the farm bridge.  Couldn't quite make out what was on the last part of the train, possibly concrete sleepers.  You can count six lighting gantries from this angle.

Here is a shot of the other train further up towards Hitchin

The temporary ramp up onto the embankment next to the farm access bridge has gone and the soil capping put in place.  Grass is starting to appear now albeit quite sparsely as you can see to the right of the bridge.

Turning to the left you can see the embankment snaking round onto the viaduct.  The gradient just before the viaduct is apparent from this angle.  The ballast didn't appear to have been extended since my last visit.

Another drainage culvert under the line at one of the low points of the adjacent field taking water through to the other side.

Here you can see the drainage ditch and beetle bank under construction.  There is a culvert under the farm track.

As I made my way back, the other train moved off and passed me while I walked along the top of the cutting.  It made a terrible squealing and clanking noise.  It sounded as if one of the wagons had got a square wheel.  When I reached the end it had stopped and the driver was on the lineside phone presumably seeking permission to proceed.  Here is the loco still in its EWS livery.

The driver and his assistant.  When the train moved off again the assistant walked ahead of it.  We will soon have a new junction and possibly two if similar work was being carried out at the other end of the line.  I didn't have time to check today.  The existing junction is known as Cambridge Junction so I am guessing they will have to identify all three junctions individually.  Maybe Cambridge South for the existing one and Cambridge North and East for the new ones or possibly West and East.  On the other hand I might be completely wrong!  I