Latest developments 25th March

Sorry so late updating this week.  Had trouble uploading the photos.  Work is moving on apace by the scrapyard in Cadwell Lane.  Work has started again between the River Hix underbridge and the scrapyard bridge.  Quite a lot of hardcore has been laid and  some plant can be seen here.  Tree root removal has been carried out as the second photo shows more clearly.  I was in Cadwell Lane a couple of times during the week and there was a constant stream of lorries carrying hardcore entering the site via the gas works.  This means the haul road is complete all the way from Stotfold Road.

Moving behind the scrapyard, a new larger water tanker has appeared and one of the smaller bowsers has gone.

A new machine has also arrived, the purpose of which I am not sure about.  It has steel reinforcing rods coming out of each corner so maybe it is for the viaduct pier foundations.

This shot looks north from the same spot.

Moving along and looking back towards the scrapyard.  The level has been built up again since my last visit.

A fairly deep hole has been dug out right into the embankment.

I then moved up onto the old Bedford embankment as it moved away from the main line.  The level between the embankments has been raised considerably with hardcore.

Looking back down to the lower section, a fresh area of concrete has been poured

 The new gantries have been wired in and the original staunchions this side have been removed.

A fairly deep square hole has been dug adjacent to the new gantries.  The next photo holds a clue to what it is possibly.  Pier 15 of the viaduct?

Water pipes extend all the way from the water tanker to the upper level of the site so they must using quite of lot of water.

Had a quick look around the other side of the mainline.  The settlement beds have been levelled and hardcored and the other water bowser is now located here.  Also another large water tanker has appeared on the haul road.

Other than that not much change over towards the main work site

Update March 11th

First visit for two weeks due to bad weather last weekend. Weather was glorious today, so different from the snow of a few weeks ago. First thing I noticed was the installation of a couple of water bowsers and a portable pump. The ground level where they are situated has been built up considerably as the first two photos show. I am not sure if they are filling the bowsers from the numerous springs and streams that are present on the site or they are bringing water in.

Previously the ground level was about where the pump is situated

Looking back towards the scrapyard from the former Bedford line embankment.  There is a new circular are to the middle right that has been excavated and levelled since my last visit.

Circular area is middle left and the new access road runs up to the top right and continues right across to the main line.

New overhead gantries have been erected but not wired up.  This is to allow space for the viaduct to pass over the main line.  They are in pairs, each one covering two tracks.  The large gantries that cover all four tracks will be removed.  You can also see the end of the haul road.

Across the other side of the line, quite a bit of plant is in evidence, presumably constructing an extension of the haul road through the former gas works sidings.  This eventually will link up both work sites via the underbridge at the scrapyard.  All lorry movements must come via the A507 and Wilbury Hills Road.  Signs have already gone up around the area forbidding access for rail construction traffic

I continued along the Bedford line embankment past the spoil heaps.  There is just room to pass along the new fence.  This shot looks back towards the scrapyard.

 This looks across the rear of the heaps to the main line.

And finally looking the other way towards Ickleford.  The Icknield Way and Gerry's Hole are just through the trees in the background.

 A closer shot of the water bowsers.

The last shot looks towards what appears to be a new dry ski slope but is the spoil heap.  This has grown considerably as demonstrated by the large truck parked at the foot which appears quite small.  Despite all this activity, this is still preliminary work as there is no evidence of any actual railway line construction yet.

Photos from 26th February

Not a lot of change this week. The two cranes have moved to the other side of the main line and are now located by the scrap yard. I can see now that one is a drilling machine doing some test drilling I am guessing.

Walked out along side the existing Cambridge branch and took this shot looking north towards the route of the new line.  The haul road runs alongside the orange fence in the middle of the picture.  This will eventually be an embankment.  You can just make out the access gate shown in last week's report centre left.

A new fence blocking this public footpath has been erected since my last visit.  No signs explaining why!  Picture taken over the fence towards the new office block.  The new line crosses the field in the foreground prior to joining the existing embankment.  I visited the site compound on another matter this week and the office block is actually a quite substantial two story affair.  The access from the road still hasn't been completed and there are temporary traffic lights in operation.

Here we can see the relocated drilling machine and crane.  I didn't go any further this week as there didn't appear to be much change.

Surface of the site seemed to have been further levelled and rolled.  The new concrete seen last week had been covered with hardcore.
On my way there I saw that the hole in the bridge had still not been repaired.  Maybe they were struggling to find some imperial blue bricks!  They should take advice from my friends at Broadway Station who seem to expert at locating and cleaning up blue bricks.  They are doing an amazing job re-constructing the station and platforms all with volunteer labour and the generous donations of local people and visitors.  You can follow their progress here at the Steaming to Broadway Blog.
http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.com/

19th February

This week I noticed a fair bit of activity between the old Midland goods yard and the scrap yard in Cadwell lane.  Further tree clearance along the old Bedford line embankment had been carried out albeit only on the former trackbed rather than the embankment slopes.  This was presumably for access from the goods yard end.  Also more redundant track maintenance machines were removed by road from the goods yard latterly a Fastline Permanent Way Depot until the failure of the parent company Jarvis.  However at lunchtime on Thursday, disaster struck when a digger somehow managed to collide with the parapet wall of the Grove Road underbridge.   Brickwork was hanging over the road which resulted in three way temporary traffic lights and rush hour chaos.  The damaged brickwork has now been removed and a temporary site fence erected.  It was fortunate that no one was injured as a result.  My first photo shows the hole in the wall.

Looking towards the site compound where a substantial block of site offices has been installed.  Path of the new embankment is quite clearly defined now that the fields either side have been ploughed.  New access gates have also been erected since my last visit.

Looking towards the main line from the end of Wilbury Way, two cranes have appeared in the sewage treatment works along with some assorted plant.  In the foreground a water pipe is in the process of being connected and runs across the field to the haul road.

Embankment removal seems to have finished roughly in line with the northern edge of the scrapyard.  In the foreground is a new area of concrete presumably covering the gas main.  Apologies for the shadow!  Sun was very low at that time of the afternoon.

Site toilets have moved again!

Looking back towards the bridge by the scrapyard

A pile of scrap formed of what I guess is the remains of the diverted gas main

Same cranes from the other side of the main line

Looking back towards the scrapyard.  The surface where the machines are is now levelled and hardcore laid.

Update 11th February

Braved the snowy conditions and a very cold day to visit the Cadwell Lane end of the site.  Although it was very cold, supposedly -10C during the night, it was actually quite pleasant walking in the bright sunshine on the crisp snow.  The removal of the former Bedford line embankment had continued and is about halfway to the bridge by the scrapyard.  There is more heavy plant on site to do this than at my last visit and yet the progress is relatively slow.  I am sure that the Victorian navvies that built this had very little in the way of mechanised assistance.   The first photo shows the extent of the removal work.  The site toilets have been moved up to the site container.  Behind is a passing East Coast express still in its old GNER livery heading towards London.

The scrapyard is immediately to my right.  The gas main trench has now been filled in.

Looking back towards the scrapyard from further north.  The new permanent security fence has reached this spot now.  Immediately in front is the filled in gas main trench.

More spoil has been deposited on the triangle, some of it actually on the pegged out line of the new viaduct.

Turning around and looking back along the line of the removed embankment

Finally a shot from Bury Mead Road looking across the redundant part of the Anglian Water treatment works.  Yet another GNER liveried East Coast service is heading north.  The locomotive is passing the scrapyard behind the tall trees to the left.  You can quite clearly see the lower Bedford embankment below the passing train.  The extreme right of the photo is where the new line will leave the main line and start its climb up to the viaduct.

Map of work site

Bad weather prevented me from visiting the site this weekend.  Six inches of snow didn't seem worth the risk!   I have created a Google map that shows the general work site area.  The pin pointers have location information and the photo pointers are locations where I have taken some of the pictures.  Despite spending some time I couldn't embed it so it opens in a new window.  Hope it helps give an overview of the various locations.  You can zoom in and see how it was before work started.  The Bedford branch is to the left of the main line embankment.  You can follow this back to the station and see how it accessed the former Midland Railway goods yard.  This would be the reason the line was double track all the way to Hitchin station so the Midland could access their own yard with needing to go onto Great Northern metals.  To the left of the goods yard you can see the row of cottages still known as Midland Cottages to this day, obviously built for Midland Railway workers.


Click here for a map of general work site area

29th January

Didn't have a lot of time this weekend to visit the site with the tax return deadline looming.  Tax is taxing no matter what they say!  I went via the Icknield Way and took the first shot from there looking towards the site compound. Not a lot of change as far I could see. 

This shot shows the haul road winding its way towards the existing Cambridge line with a train passing.  I was in Wilbury Way during the week and saw half a dozen lorries loaded with hardcore on this road.  Guess it will all have to be removed when the work is complete.

Turning the other way, the haul road passes through the new gates into the sewage treatment works towards the mainline and the gas works.

Moving back to the other side of the main line, I found out what the yellow pipe is for.  It is a gas main diversion that has to be done before the main work can start.  It is now in a trench.  This shows it passing over a drainage channel that emerges from under the embankment. 

This shows the other end where it meets the existing pipe that appears from under the embankments.  In an earlier picture of bridge two of the Bedford branch, the main that is being diverted can be seen passing over the River Hiz 

 A digger and dumper had been busy removing the Bedford embankment.  Sad to see this as it was only recently revealed but I guess this is progress.  The earth covering is actually quite thin as the revealed chalk shows.  It is a wonder such large trees grew and thrived there.   From the peg markings this will happen all the way back to the bridge.  The spoil from this is being stored on the triangle to the left as the bottom photo shows.

 A shot back towards the scrapyard from Bedford embankment (through the new permanent security fence)

Photo of the "landfilled" triangle with the spoil heap.  The ground is pretty well churned up now.