Bricket Wood Station – 25th June 2018
These pictures show Bricket Wood station on the Abbey Line.
It was a tidy clean station served by a very smart Class 319 train.
Wikipedia says the following about the future of the station.
Installation of Oyster card readers on the stations along the branch is a possibility, although there are other ticketing options too.
Restoration of the crossing loop is being considered by the local authorities and Network Rail, which would facilitate trains running every 30 minutes.
Both actions would appear to be sensible. In Could Modern Technology And Developments Improve the Abbey Line?, I discuss how by using trains with batteries and a loop without electrification, may be an alternative way to install a passing loop.
I suspect that the station is long enough for a six-car train.
£100m Rail Test Complex Plans For Neath Valley
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the first three paragraphs.
Plans for a £100m rail testing complex to work on next generation train technology have been revealed in south Wales.
It is at an early stage but it could be built on the site of a mothballed opencast mine in Neath Port Talbot.
The preferred option would be to site it at the mothballed opencast mine at Nant Helen near the border with Powys and at the coal washery site next door at Onllwyn, which is still operational.
This Google Map shows the massive open-cast mine near the village of Onllwyn.
Note the rail connection at the Northern side of the mine.
Onllwyn has a Wikipedia entry, which says this.
With over 200 years of coal mining behind it, the parish was once home to five pits that employed hundreds of men. Now all that remains is a coal washery and coal processing plant. On the route of the former Neath and Brecon Railway, a freight only routes exists to the coal washery from the South Wales Main Line at Neath.
So at least it’s swapping an old industry, with one that could have a very sparking future.
As I said in Talgo Explores Options For Building UK Test Track.
So perhaps we do need another convenient test track!
The site would be even more convenient, if the South Wales Main Line were to be electrified, through Neath to Swansea.
The Anonymous Widower 