The Crossrail Portal At Pudding Mill Lane
You can get a good view of the portal, where Crossrail trains from and to the East enter and leave the tunnel under London, from Pudding Mill Lane station and the DLR line that passes through it.
I think in years to come, this will be the station, where parents take their children to see the Crossrail trains.
Crossrail And The Flying Scotsman
I went to Royal Oak today to takr pictures of the Crossrail portal and the Flying Scotsman.
Note.
- Sir Kenneth Grange is an engine named after the HST designer to celebrate forty years service of the trains. There’s more in this article in Rail Magazine.
- The Flying Scotsman went in backwards to Paddington first.
- Crossrail will have reversing sidings to the west of the bridge, with an extension to Westbourne Park bus garage built over the top.
- The Crossrail portal at Royal Oak is probably the one with the best view of the tunnel entrance.
Due to my difficult position, the pictures of the train were rather bad.
West Ealing Station – 4th May 2016
I took these pictures today, as I went past the bay platform at West Ealing station.
The details of what will happen here have not emerged yet.
I think it is pretty certain that the following will or could happen.
- Responsibility for the Greenford Branch will pass to TfL and/or London Overground
- The Greenford Branch will be served by a shuttle from the bay platform at West Ealing station.
- The Greenford Branch will lose its direct service to Paddington.
- The frequency on the branch will increase from two to four trains per house.
- It is unlikely, that the branch will be electrified.
- Although electrifying the bay platform would seem to be easy, if you look at the pictures.
The line will need to be run by either diesel multiple units or some form of IPEMU, that could be charged in the bay platform at West Ealing station.
As the journey between Greenford and West Ealing takes ten minutes, so two trains would be needed for a four trains per hour service.
The Victorian Methods Worked
In Victorian Construction Methods, I noted how the Crossrail contractors, were throwing men and traditional methods into getting Hayes and Harlington station ready for the start of a Hayes Shuttle on the 16th of May.
These pictures, which I took today, would appear that they have made substantial progress.
Intriguingly, when I looked at the time-table a few days ago, I think it changed on the 16th of May. Now only one service has been moved backward by two minutes.
It would appear that perhaps Great Western Railway haven’t finalised the time-table yet. Perhaps they haven’t obtained the required trains yet!
The Acton Dive-Under From The Noel Road Bridge
In From Ladbroke Grove To Ealing Broadway, I showed various pictures of the Acton Dive-Under from a train.
In the post, I used this Google Map of the Acton Dive-Under which was probably captured a few months ago.
The Acton Dive-Under
I took these pictures of the Dive-Under from the Noel Road bridge.
I got to the bridge by getting a 440 bus from North Action station. Afterwards, I walked to West Action station to get a tube to Ealing Broadway station.
Victorian Construction Methods
Brunel would have recognised the philosophy behind all the construction going on to complete the platforms and trackwork at Hayes and Harlington station, possibly in time for the timetable change on May 16th.
As you can see the contractor is using as many bodies as they can!
I remarked on this to a guy with a clipboard and he smiled widely. He certainly looked like he was enjoying his day in the sun!
If the Great Western Railway cn beg, borrow or steal some electric trains for the sixteen of May, I don’t give up hope of seeing an electric shuttle between Paddingdon and Hayes and ~Harlington stations.
After all the Great Western Electrification needs a victory and the industrious orange army seemed to be doing their best! Let’s hope it’s not all in vain!
The Oracle is still giving the current timetable and hasn’t been changed yet!
From Ladbroke Grove To Ealing Broadway
I took a train to West Drayton this morning and on the way, I took these pictures of the Crossrail works . The map from carto.metro.free.fr, shows the line between Ladbroke Grove and Ealing Broadway station.
Labroke Grove To Ealing Broadway
These are the pictures I took on the same stretch of line.
The pictures show various features of the line.
- The route by which empty trains move between Paddington station and the depots at Old Oak Common.
- The depots at Old Oak Common.
- Where the Acton-Northolt Line leaves the Great Western Railway.
- The Acton Yard
- The now almost-complete Acton Dive-Under.
This Google Map of the Acton Dive-Under was probably captured a few months ago.
The Acton Dive-Under
Note the buttresses and how the other lines cross over between them.
The best information I can find on the structure of the Acton Dive-Under is this article from IanVisits. Ian sums up the Acton Dive-Under like this.
When it is all finished, that small but complex bit of work, a single line of track in a cutting will do more to cut delays on the mainline into Paddington that could ever be appreciated by its simple size and design.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the knowledge learned in this project, put to good effect in other places on the UK rail network.
Incidentally, it looks like the project cost around twenty million.
Work On The Platforms At Hayes And Harlington Station
I took these pictures of the extended Platforms 4 and 5 at Hayes and Harlington station on Wednesday.
Obviously, there would appear to be some work needed before the services to Hayes can start, as I wrote about in Hayes Shuttles To Start.
From Bromley-by-Bow To Mile End Park
This Google map shows the c2c railway line from where it passes through Bromley-by-Bow station in the East to where it crosses Mile End Park in the West
From Bromley-by-Bow To Mile End Park
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the railway lines around the triangular junction towards the top of the map and to the East of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
Lines Around Eleanor Street
The map certainly shows, there has been a lot of building of railways in the area. This Wikpedia entry for the former Bow station gives some of the history.
These pictures show the route taken from a c2c train going towards London.
Note.
- The Crossrail ventilation and evacuation shaft at Eleanor Street is at the point of the triangle, where the Underground lines go Northwards and the c2c lines go Southward.
- The travellers site is in the middle of the triangular junction.
- The single-track chord for Stratford, links the c2c lines into Fenchurch Street to the Great Eastern Main Line.
- This chord is clearly visible on the map of the Lines around Eleanor Street.
- Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, which is worth a visit and I wrote about in Around Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
- The Crossrail ventilation and evacuation shaft at Mile End Park, which is in the South East corner of the Park by the railway.
In The Ventilation Shafts For Crossrail, there is more details on the shafts and some pictures from April 2015.
Crossrail’s Giant Pimple
If you travel North from Canary Wharf on a 277 bus towards Hackney and Highbury and Islington station, as you go under the railway bridge that carries the c2c trains between Fenchurch Street and West Ham stations, you’ll see a Cerossrail building site on your left.
It looks like a small hill or just a giant pimple in the corner of Mile End Park.
Note that the last three pictures were taken from a c2c train passing over the railway bridge.
It’s actually the vent and evacuation shaft for Crossrail and it has been arranged, so it can be used as a view point for the nearby football pitches.
The Anonymous Widower 