View allAll Photos Tagged civilengineeringwork
We have civil engineering works taking place off Dysart Beach. This offshore barge was only there for about a week, but looked quite fetching in the early morning sunshine and I fancied its silhouette looked like a long-necked diplocodus or brontosaurus dinosaur? I hope to catch-up with you soon after the early morning airport trip!
Made Explore #426 on 27 August 2009.
* Extended stills (87) video in 5 sections at Woodburn Junction, Woodburn Bridge, Nunnery Bank, Beighton Station, Beighton Junction & back at Woodburn Junction, 113Mby, it is 7mins 20secs long, so video will have to be down-loaded to watch the full extent. To obtain the full version, right click the link at lower right of the video, and select 'Save Link As' to save the file to the desktop.
** It has just come to my notice (10/12/23) that the Download option below and to the right of the media _does not_ allow you to download the full version, only the 3 minutes available here. So, I am going to try and 'fix' this for all videos lasting more than 3 minutes, this is the link to obtain the full version shown here-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/Video/Lincoln_Line_Rail_Possessi...
* Music in the background is Dreamstate Logic Ambient-Earthbound
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJXksJxXjk4
The video shown here covers 5 locations- Woodburn Junction, Woodburn Bridge, Nunnery Bank, Beighton Station, Beighton Junction and Woodburn Junction again, over the period this week 13th to 16th March and today, Friday 19th March, I have re-visited Woodburn Junction & Bridge and, more importantly, to view the demolishing of Woodhouse Junction Signalbox. This will then mark the end of the changes in this area and N.R. are now in the testing and completion phase; the lines are back in operation from early next Monday morning, the Spring Equinox, March 22nd.
There will be pictures of Woodburn Junction & Bridge and a demolition video from the Woodhouse Junction box area, as Part 6, to finish off this series, early next week.
The workings in the area extended from late Friday 12th March and the last one left on Wednesday 17th March on these days came and went with 18 freight trains carrying various materials coming into the Network Rail possession, which latterly ran from here at Nunnery Bank and all the way through Woodburn, Darnall, Woodhouse, Beighton Station Crossing and along to Beighton Junction. It commenced at 08:00 on Saturday 6th March at Beighton Station crossing and until 08:00 next Monday, the 22 March at this location but the complete line block now including the locations here, came in last Saturday, 13th March, again until Monday 22nd. A lot of works and resulting changes, have taken place, though it now seems the heavy freights with new materials, ballast, track panels, switch panels, signalling etc, and old materials removed, is now about complete. As far as I can make out, the workings which came into and subsequently left the site, starting late last Friday, 12th March, were, upto the time of the last pictures which will be shown here, 16th March, are-
Friday 12th March
-------------------
GBRf
23:53 6X40 66787 Belmont Down Yard via Rotherham Central, Meadowhall & Chesterfield to Woodburn Junction
Freightliner
00:04 6Y30 66547+66597 Toton North Yard to Woodburn Junction
00:04 6Y31 66523 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction
Saturday 13th March
---------------------
Freightliner
08:45 6Y32 66533 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction (loco name: 'Hanjin Express/Senator Express')
10:20 6Y30 66547 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (with 66597 'Viridor')
12:24 6Y33 66516 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction
15:19 6Y31 66597 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (loco name: 'Viridor')
Sunday 14th March
-------------------
GBRf
08:54 6X41 66731 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction (loco name: 'Capt Tom Moore(A True British Inspiration)' 'Thank You NHS' livery)
D.B. Shenker(for GBRf)
09:10 6Z40 66078+66134 Doncaster Up Decoy to Nunnery Main Line Junction (emergency move due to replacement for broken down SB Rail crane)
Freightliner
11:20 6Y32 66523 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard
16:25 6Y33 66516+66533 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (66533 loco name: 'Hanjin Express/Senator Express')
GBRf
20:43 6G42 66717 Belmont Down Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction (loco name: 'Good Old Boy')
Tuesday 16th March
--------------------
Freightliner
07:12 6G42 66516 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard
Colas Rail
09:09 6C83 70802 Belmont Down Yard to Sheffield, runs round then on to Nunnery Main Line Junction (with 20 full Autoballasters)
GBRf
12:31 6Y20 66717 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton Up Sidings (loco name: 'Good Old Boy')
Freightliner
16:08 6Y21 66523 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (the one parked under the Darnall Flyover)
Colas Rail
16:21 6C84 70810 Belmont Down Yard to Sheffield, runs round then on to Nunnery Main Line Junction
Volker Rail
21:52 6J31 Track Machine Chesterfield Down Sidings to Nunnery Main Line Junction
Colas
23:11 6C83 70802/810? Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton Up Sidings (with 20 empty Autoballasters)
Wednesday 17th March
----------------------
Colas
02:53 ???? 70810? Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard
Volker Rail
13:37 6J31 Track Machine Nunnery Main Line Junction to Chesterfield Down Sidings (THE LAST ONE OUT)
(This table was modified and added too slightly compared to the one shown in the last video)
Highlights of this video in chronological order-
1. Beighton & Woodhouse Station, March 13th. The views look across the level crossing with the box on the wast side Woodhouse Junction is to the north and Beighton Junction, with the 'Old Road' is away to the south. The station was opened in June 1840 and subsequently had two rebuilds, the 3rd station closing on 1st November 1954; the box survived, until this week! It was 'manned' 24 hours a day by all accounts but saw very little traffic during a 24 hour period. By the time I got to Woodhouse Station, all the action of the 1st week's operation on the 7th March, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/51029375533/
was over and the almost all the associated equipment had been removed. Looking south towards Woodhouse Junction, with the box there still in tact at this stage, a fox calmly walks across the traction-less tracks behind the down line Signal, WH27, caring not what events are happening just away south... WH51, was still in place and lit at hits time, but not more, it has been removed during the last few days; signal control now having been moved to the York R.O.C. Also visible in these shots, a bracket arm with two semaphores, this too has now gone, a multi-aspect signal having now replaced it. Between the semaphores and the Woodhouse Box, the new order in signalling can be seen, a large post controlling the exit from the two sidings now remaining; today, this signal was glowing red.
2. Woodburn Junction, March 14th. As a prelude to the Woodburn Junction shots, the first picture in this section is a screen-grab taken from the Sheffield RailCam on March 13th, as material starts to be brought into the site in the form of Freightliner 66533, named, extensively, ''Hanjin Express/Senator Express', on the 6Y32, Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction, 1200 tonne ballast working. At the site on the following day, Saturday March 14th, the working is in top gear, having commenced a few days earlier, with yellow coloured 'plant' of various sorts around and the old rail having already been removed from the Tinsley to Deepcar branch line, over on the right. New sleepers, track and ballast have been laid and work is now proceeding on the main Lincoln Lines. Another Freightliner, this one 66516, loaded with ballast, has come along having arrived yesterday, March 13th, at 13:05, on the 6Y33 working from Toton North Yard. It is seen here having come along, 'wrong-line' but is now crossing over to the up line, this cross-over has now been removed and replaced with another, further west, behind the camera, to permit the East Midlands Railway to continue to use this area for Empty Coaching Stock reversals and to allow moves onto and off the Deepcar branch from the main lines. It transpired that a VSTP working had been put in the time-table to permit a replacement SB Rail crane to be brought in as the one on the site had broken down; it can be seen in the next shot, parked up just beyond the Darnall Flyover in the distance. The junction off the Tinsley line, seen in the picture with 4 'orange-suits' sat on the ballast shows a brand new set of very impressive looking point and associated control gear. An old track panel has been discarded beyond them not sure why it hasn't been cleared away with other stuff and it was still there today, Friday, 19th.
3. Woodburn Bridge, March 14th, looking east along the work-site next to the Woodburn Junction signal cabin which, it appears, is to be retained for the present. The Stocksbridge/Deepcar branch line is on the far left, the up line is missing and the down line has the rake of JNA wagons, full of ballast, brought along by Freightliner 66516, seen earlier. A tele shot from the Woodburn Bridge shows the old section of footbridge in the distance with Freightliner 66516 parked on the cross-over to the up line and beyond that bridge, in the distance, the old Darnall Flyover which took locos off the up line to cross over the formation and into the large Darnall Engine Shed, off on the right in the further distance. 'Siemens AG Ltd', 'S&B Rail', 'R.P. Webb' and 'Mculloch' are some of the contractors in the area, and everyone likes yellow, for 'hi-viz' purposes of course, just like the attire the track-workers are wearing.. can't miss any of it really! A shot between the two decks of the Woodburn Road Bridge follows, the left deck carries Woodburn Road and the right deck the Sheffield Supertram. Between the two decks is a small space and the shot here shows the Deepcar Branch in the foreground with the main Lincoln down line beyond with one of the JNA wagons visible. At this stage the cross over from the main lines to the Deepcar Branch hadn't been put in place but as will be seen, by the 16th March, it was there, the installation needing completion.
4. Nunnery Bank, March 14th. What a mess it all was, plant everywhere, mud, it was wet and a lot of the fence had been removed and was strewn around the place. The first shot shows, above the parked Ford hatchback car, an old LMSR bracket signal post can be seen, long disused of course, but never removed, it is barely visible here, but can be seen in a later shot at Nunnery, on March 16th. The bracket signal is also featured in this picture of a class 37 test train, led by 37419, as long ago as January, 2014, seen coming up the Nunnery Bank, with explanatory map beneath the picture, showing what the area used to look like in the early 1900s, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch1/49525243126/
Moving on from that, the next shots show 'the arrival of the cavalry'. This is in the form of a red DBS pair of 66s, in top-and-tail fashion, hauling a replacement 'SB Rail', 'Kirow Rail Crane', number, 'KFA FS97415' and at present the set was parked up on the bank awaiting instructions. This is the VSTP working, 6Z40, from Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction with an SG Rail Crane to replace the broke down one, now parked away east along the line, the other side of the old Darnall Flyover. As 'Baz' approaches, trying to keep dry in one of the shots, I was informing him that the N.R. guy who was controlling events here asked if we would like the DBS set brough forwards so we could get better shots, now, I am sure this is what was going to happen anyway, but still.. well, what could I say. The events here with DBS class 66s, 66078 leading and 66134 at the rear, were what formed the basis of the video which was shown earlier and is a complete, 'proper', sequence of the DBS move along the line when it was stopped, the crane brakes put on and a sleeper set across the rails behind the rear loco; looked as if it might be there for a bit!
To the right of the two locos, on the 'correct line' a long rake of yellow track panel carriers with, at the front, GBRf 66731, named, 'Captain Tom Moore (A True British Inspiration)' and with the 'Thank You NHS' livery, applied a while ago. The track panels had come in that morning with 66731 on 6X41 and, as the signaller at York rightly knows, 'Tom Moore' has been an inspiration over the past months, sadly he died just recently, during the on-going Covid crisis. So with this in mind, another screen grab follows showing the state of the the signalling at the north end of Sheffield Station and in particular that of S0123, on one of the Down Slow lines, indicating 'GONE' and below it, controlling the exit from platform 2, Signal S0127, with 6X41, the track panel move from Toton with 66731. 'Tom Moore' in charge. 'GONE', set on the signal aspect above it meaning I suppose, 'Gone but not forgotten'; the shot here reflecting what was an out-of-gauge freight, the 'X', which came through the station earlier on at 09:04. A few minutes after the first shots were taken of the red DBS pair, the guy on the ground, called the set slowly forward so we could have a look at the SB Rail replacement Crane, KFA FS97415, apparently this was supposed to be a GBRf move, but looks like no locos were available and so DBS provided the traction, 66078 and 66134. in the next shots the 'Crane Train' pulls up to a halt and the accommodating guy on the phone can be seen next to one of the many 'Sunbelt Rentals' high-output portable LED lamp standards. 'Baz with Bobble hat' appears again getting one of the last shots before we leave as the weather deteriorates and the 2 red DBS locos look to be grounded for a while, though not to the liking of personnel on the ground as they are extra hire-ins replacing the GBRf locos which weren't available and had to be sent back to Toton as quickly as possible...
5. Woodburn Bridge, March 16th, looking east along the work-site next to the Woodburn Junction signal cabin which, it appears, is to be retained for the present. The Stocksbridge/Deepcar branch line is on the left and now the main line at centre is in place, unlike the earlier shot on March 14th when this was just being relaid. The new formation of the junction and the lack of connection to the Deepcar Branch, is now clear to see. The Deepcar Branch connection is now behind the camera under the Woodburn Road bridge and the double-track junctions at either end have been removed with the Tinsley line connecting as before but now with a single cross-over onto the down line. A view of what the formation used to look like can be seen here, the RHTT with class 37s in charge passes through the area on October 1st, last year, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50410651113/
and
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/50594058761/
So instead of moves coming off the branch line and onto the main line, right in front of the camera as seen in the above shots, it will now take place behind the camera and under the bridge. Freightliner 66523, has come forward to the Woodburn footbridge with a rake of yellow JNA and MLA wagons full of what looks like old ballast, so it may be parked up waiting a passage out of the area back to Toton. It was time-tabled that afternoon as the 6Y21, Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard but got cancelled at 15:39. It however left at 16:16 that afternoon on what was a very VSTP diagram with origin, remarkable, as Chinley, on the Manchester side of the Pennines, to Toton! It did however carry out the 6Y21 diagram from here, weird or what! I suspect therefore that the load is spent ballast being taken back to Toton to be recycled. As can be seen in these shots, there is much work proceeding all over the show from Nunnery along the branch and along the main lines, its a large job and today marked the last day when traction came into the possession with materials. The last shot in this section shows the new crossover from/to the Deepcar branch line, now, inconveniently placed, for photographs, underneath the Woodburn and Supertram bridge and new ballast still has to be off-loaded onto all three tracks.
6. Nunnery Bank, March 16th. Well, it 'Good Old Boy' time, the name of the GBRf loco which is about to leave the area with a rake of, this time, a mixture of yellow MLA and JNA wagons, the former look remarkably similar to the JNA variety to me.. The area is a little drier than it was just 2 days ago and there looks to have been some removal of 'plant'. The third shot in this sequence at Nunnery, once again shows the view towards Sheffield down the Nunnery Bank to the Nunnery Main Line Junction, the latter being the destination for all the Civil Engineering trains which came into the Possession which extended from here, all the way along the lines to Beighton Junction, south of Beighton Station Crossing. The scene in the view shows once again, the old LMSR bracket signal post, long disused of course, but never removed. The trackbed which took moves, past the Nunnery Single Line Junction signalbox, from Midland Station and into the LMSR carriage sidings behind the camera; the box was to the left, atop the Bernard Road bank, on the left. It is also featured in this picture of a class 37 test train, led by 37419, as long ago as January, 2014, seen coming up the Nunnery Bank, with explanatory map beneath the picture, showing what the area used to look like in the early 1900s, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch1/49525243126/
Further, a picture of this area with the signal and an ECS propelling move with 4F, 0-6-0, 43900 in charge, on 4th of October 1958, is featured in Steven Batty's, 'Rail Centres' book, 'No. 11 on Sheffield', p.41. The trackbed over the bridge and the bracket signal post look exactly the same, after 53 years! Today, GBRf 66717, 'Good Old Boy', is about to depart on the 6Y20, Nunnery Main Line Junction via Sheffield to Toton Up Sidings and is in dramatic contrast to the 4F, 43900, seen in this area in 1958...
7. Woodburn Junction, March 16th. Its almost at the point where the new ballast is ready to drop on the lines and Freightliner 66523 has now reversed back along the down line and is parked up under the Darnall Flyover, just 20 minutes after being photographed next to the Woodburn footbridge. The limit of the new work can be seen in the foreground and the 'orange-jackets' are about to do some work to interface the old and new track-work. In the distance in the 3rd shot, under the Woodburn Road bridge, the front of a Colas class 70 can be seen just right of centre, this is 70802 which come in at 09:09 that morning on the 6C83, Belmont Down Yard via a run-around at Sheffield Midland then to Nunnery Main Line Junction. It has a rake of 20 full 'Autoballasters', timing load 1800 tonnes, and is the first of two such workings these, presumably, are the means by which the new ballast will be dropped straight onto the 3 sections of new line. The second of the two workings, 6C84, with Colas class 70, 70810, came in at 16:19 with the same type of 'Autoballasters' and another 1800 tonnes of new material, this one crossing over to do the drop on the Deepcar Branch line. The two empty workings left the area at 19:06, 243 minutes early though it was held in Heeley Loop by the looks of things for about 3 hours! and the second, 100 mins early at 01:07 the following morning, both going back to Toton. The last shot in this section, shows what is termed a 'Fast Clipper' on the up Lincoln Line with, behind it, the operator with console in hand controlling the operation of the device. Its a 'Rosenqvist/Speedy CD400SP Fast Clipper' unit and goes along the rails putting in the clips which hold the rail-head to the concrete sleepers... Much of the work now appears to have a machine perfected for the arduous tasks, all in all, speeding the rail replacement operation up very significantly; something which in the past would have all been undertaken manually by a large crowd of 'gangers'. The ballast drops of the Colas 'Autoballasters' meaning that around 800 tonnes of the material can all be dropped on one section of line, in one go; all of which I guess, is why this work possession has 'only' been for two weeks..
8. Beighton & Woodhouse Station, March 16th. The final stop on this day, was back to the Beighton area to see what the place looked like now the box had been demolished. It, like its counterpart further south at Woodhouse, took a matter of a few hours and here, you now wouldn't know that there had once been a signal box here at all. Beighton Station was opened in June 1840 and subsequently had two rebuilds, the 3rd station closing on 1st November 1954. The box survived, until this week and had been 'manned' 24 hours a day by all accounts but saw very little traffic during a 24 hour period, various ECS moves by the EMR, freight traffic to and from Barrow Hill, the odd stone trains and diversions which not infrequent for one reason or another. Now, after this Spring Equinox weekend, control will pass to a Panel in the York R.O.C., the same for Woodhouse Box which was demolished yesterday, March 19th. The scene looks to be dominated by the track personnel and there was little left of the infra-structure to reasonably photograph, of course a train passing through would have helped but that was 6 days away when the line block was lifted for the Monday morning service to re-start on the 22nd. And finally, a quick jaunt southwards along the line to the Beighton Junction area and a look back, to see what was to be seen.. The Beighton BX33 signal which is still evident on the track diagram has already been changed, ts seen glowing red here of course and is now identified as WN8131; which looks like a Woodburn designation. Its a single head, multi-colour type, like the ones now installed in the Woodhouse Station/Junction area and well, they don't look all that interesting compared to the two-head multi-aspect type elsewhere.. And, finally a freight... not planned but had a look and noticed the lunchtime 'rails train' was on-track and heading this way and would pass in around 15 minutes. Looking from the newly re-furbished GCR footbridge, with new, open, '#' type wire fencing along the sides and with NO apertures cut to poke the camera lens through, though, I can see that changing, is the the Advanced Metal Recycling works skip compound in the foreground, the area once being the ex-Thomas Ward steam engine scrapyard. Passing south along the 'Old Road', in similar 'livery' to the blue skips, is GBRf class 66, 66786 on the 6X01, Scunthorpe Trent T.C. to Eastleigh East Yard working and this marks the end of the last 5 days ventures to chronicle the work on-going until this coming weekend on the GCR's old formation out of Sheffield and as far as Woodhouse Junction.
At 13:37 on Wednesday March 17th, the last working out of the possession was 6J31, a Volker Rail On-Track Machine, from Nunnery Main Line Junction to the Chesterfield Down Sidings. From that time, the area was left to the resident N.R. Personell and Contractors to finish off, as mentioned above; finishing off and extensive testing now appears to be going on. More pictures will follow taken yesterday morning, from Woodburn and Woodhouse, with the demolition of the box at the latter, early next week. By Monday, the 22nd March, all the works will/should have been completed on the Sunday evening and by that stage, all signalling control along this line from Woodburn Junction's area will be in the authority of the York Railway Operating Centre, outside York Station. This relatively extensive Civil Engineering work along this line marks a change in both the available semaphore signalling in the area and the interest residing in the railway infra-structure; the engineering work having simplified the rail layout at Woodburn and Woodhouse Junctions and with the two old boxes which will be gone by this weekend.
This has been a long job too, all in, it will have taken 20 hours to put all this together, a lot of the time spent on sorting out the workings which came and went, getting the video shots into a consistent sequence and, repeatedly, it turned out, correcting the text labels in the video which I had made several mistakes with, when typing them in. The last one I noticed as I was typing these very words, had the GBRf as 66731, 'Capt Tom Moore' on the Eastleigh working, not 66786...
** This is a 4min 24sec video so has to be downloaded to see the full version, as only 3 minutes are shown in the Flickr interface. To obtain the full version, right click the link at lower right of the video, and select 'Save Link As' to save the file to the desktop.
** It has just come to my notice (10/12/23) that the Download option below and to the right of the media _does not_ allow you to download the full version, only the 3 minutes available here. So, I am going to try and 'fix' this for all videos lasting more than 3 minutes, this is the link to obtain the full version shown here-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/Video/Lincoln_Line_20210314_1153...
This is a phone video taken during the 3-part location set in the Woodburn area on March 14th and subsequent to the ones taken the previous weekend at the Woodhouse and Beighton Station areas, see the stills video of that here-
www.flickr.com/photos/vinc2020/51029375533/
After visiting Beighton and Woodhouse Station again on Saturday, 13th March, the pictures of which are to appear in the extended stills video to follow this one, another visit was paid to the Woodburn area on Sunday 14th March, taking in Woodburn Junction first, then moving a short distance west to Woodburn Road bridge and finally here, in this video, to the Nunnery Bank area outside Sheffield. So, this is a bit out of sequence with the one which follows but as it is already to 'go' as it were, I considered this worth up-loading first while the other, longer and more involved stills video is in preparation. The workings on these days came and went with 18 freight trains carrying various materials coming into the Network Rail possession, which latterly ran from here at Nunnery Bank and all the way through Woodburn, Darnall, Woodhouse, Beighton Station Crossing and along to Beighton Junction. It commenced at 08:00 on Saturday 6th March at Beighton Station crossing and until 08:00 next Monday, the 22 March at this location but the complete line block now including the locations here, came in last Saturday, 13th March, again until Monday 22nd. A lot of works and resulting changes, have taken place, though it now seems the heavy freights with new materials, ballast, track panels, switch panels, signalling etc, and old materials removed, is now about complete. As far as I can make out, the workings which came into and subsequently left the site, starting late last Friday, 12th March, were, upto the time of the last pictures which will be shown here, 16th March, are-
Friday 12th March
-------------------
GBRf
23:53 66787 6X40 Belmont Down Yard via Rotherham Central, Meadowhall & Chesterfield to Woodburn Junction
Freightliner
00:04 6Y30 66547+66597 Toton North Yard to Woodburn Junction
00:04 6Y31 66523 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction
Saturday 13th March
---------------------
Freightliner
08:45 6Y32 66533 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction (loco name: 'Hanjin Express/Senator Express')
10:20 6Y30 66547 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (with 66597 'Viridor')
12:24 6Y33 66516 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction
15:19 6Y31 66597 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (loco name: 'Viridor')
Sunday 13th March
-------------------
GBRf
08:54 6X41 66731 Toton North Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction (loco name: 'Capt Tom Moore(A True British Inspiration)' 'Thank You NHS' livery)
D.B. Shenker(for GBRf)
09:10 6Z40 66078+66134 Doncaster Up Decoy to Nunnery Main Line Junction (emergency move due to replacement for broken down SB Rail crane)
Freightliner
11:20 6Y32 66523 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard
16:25 6Y33 66516+66533 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (66533 loco name: 'Hanjin Express/Senator Express')
GBRf
20:43 6G42 66717 Belmont Down Yard to Nunnery Main Line Junction (loco name: 'Good Old Boy')
Tuesday 16th March
--------------------
Freightliner
07:12 6G42 66516 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard
Colas Rail
09:09 6C83 70802 Belmont Down Yard to Sheffield, runs round then on to Nunnery Main Line Junction (with 20 full Autoballasters)
GBRf
12:31 6Y20 66717 Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton Up Sidings (loco name: 'Good Old Boy')
Colas Rail
16:21 6C84 70810 Belmont Down Yard to Sheffield, runs round then on to Nunnery Main Line Junction
Volker Rail
21:52 6J31 Track Machine Chesterfield Down Sidings to Nunnery Main Line Junction
Freightliner/Colas
23:11 6C83 70802/810? Nunnery Main Line Junction to Toton North Yard (with 20 empty Autoballasters)
So, what a week and a half this has been with. I have to admit, my not appreciating the magnitude of the works which were going to take place along the Lincoln Line from Nunnery through Woodburn Junction, the main site, on to Woodhouse Station, Woodhouse Junction and Beighton Station. The semaphore signalboxes at Beighton Station and Woodhouse Station being removed on Sunday 14th March and, to follow, Thursday 18th March. By Monday, the 22nd March, all the works will/should have been completed on the Sunday evening and by that stage, all signalling control along this line from Woodburn Junction's area will be in the authority of the York Railway Operating Centre, outside York Station. This relatively extensive Civil Engineering work along this line marks a change in both the available semaphore signalling in the area and the interest residing in the railway infra-structure; the engineering work having simplified the rail layout at Woodburn and Woodhouse Junctions and with the two old boxes now gone by this stage. In this video, red liveried DBS Cargo, class 66, 66078 with 66134 at the back, are in top-and-tail formation, bringing into the possession site at Nunnery, a large 'Swietelsky & Babcock Rail Ltd.' crane, number KFA FS97415, to replace the one already in the area, parked up under the Darnall Flyover. It had apparently broken down much earlier on and was shunted out of the way and a VSTP working put in place to bring another unit from Doncaster to the possession site, so this is the 6Z40, Doncaster Up Decoy via reversal on platform 3 at Sheffield and then back here to Nunnery, to arrive at 11:20, about half an hour before I arrived. The very accommodating NR guy seen in the video, suggested he might bring the locos forward, closer to the camera so we, 'BonsoirBaz' was present as well, could get some better shots; think he was probably going to do this anyway, but thanks once more... if he happens to read this.. Always good to have encouragement rather than being told to 'clear off', the latter not having happened at all during the photography here, at Woodburn or Beighton Station, where its easier to get 'into the business' as there's a level crossing, the contractors have all been helpful and communicative in terms of answering questions etc..
Above the parked Ford hatchback car, an old LMSR bracket signal post can be seen, long disused of course, but never removed, it is barely visible in the video but is easy to see in the up-and-coming stills video, to follow in the next few days. It is also featured in this picture of a class 37 test train, led by 37419, as long ago as January, 2014, seen coming up the Nunnery Bank, with explanatory map beneath the picture, showing what the area used to look like in the early 1900s, see-
We currently have a new storm-water overflow pipe being laid off Dysart Beach. Here you can see a colourful shot of the offshore barge helping to position the 150 metre long pipe-line. This photo was published in our local weekly newspaper along with a short article on the work that I contributed.
Made Explore #274 on 03 Sep 09.
* Another stills (49) video in 2 sections, this time, on 19th March at Woodburn Junction & Bridge, Woodhouse Junction & Station, then on the 23rd March at Woodburn Bridge, Woodhouse Junction & Beighton Station. It is 64Mby, and 4mins 15secs long, so video will have to be down-loaded to watch the full extent. To obtain the full version, right click the link at lower right of the video, and select 'Save Link As' to save the file to the desktop.
** It has just come to my notice (10/12/23) that the Download option below and to the right of the media _does not_ allow you to download the full version, only the 3 minutes available here. So, I am going to try and 'fix' this for all videos lasting more than 3 minutes, this is the link to obtain the full version shown here-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/Video/Lincoln_Line_Rail_Possessi...
* Music in the background is, once again, Dreamstate Logic Ambient, this time Echoes-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=14m2S6VO9tA
There is also a traction video to follow which shows a GBRf stone train, taken from Woodburn Road bridge, on the Bardon empties return from Tinsley Yard south, back to the Bardon quarries.
Friday 19th March
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1. Woodburn Junction & Bridge. Showing the state of the new installation, the lightness of the new ballast is causing problems with the colour balance of shots here, the dirty stuff was better. At this time, the 19th, there were only 3 days of work left and the all the heavy stuff had left the area, with only Siemens & N.R. personnel left doing the testing phase of the new installation. Passing over Woodburn Bridge in the background of the 1st shot, a Sheffield Supertram, 120, in the old 'blue and cream livery' an echo of bygone days when all the trams used to look the same.. I have taken the time to 'neuter' the brightness of the new ballast as it looked somewhat like 'Icing Sugar' and affected the tones in the pictures.. needs to undergo some weathering to make things easy to shoot here. The single head/2-colour W0214 glows bright red in the background, all movements along here been stopped until Monday morning, 22nd March. The track formation is now complete and the re-modelling can be seen, the cross-over for the Deepcar Branch is still on the other side of Woodburn Road but now there is only 1 track and, similarly, the double track junction with the main lines from the Lower Don Valley Line in the foreground, have also now been made single track. It all looks much simpler and easier to maintain and therefore, less interesting! although the new points hardware in blue, cream and yellow livery, looks interesting on the Tinsley line. Woodburn Junction signal cabin survives, but only for the short-term...
2. Woodhouse Junction, 'Then & Now'. The 'Now' part shows a selection of shots of what, by the time I arrived, was only the bottom half of the box, though the lever frame was still in place, just about, the top part had been consigned to history and the skip. As can be seen, the lever frame was in place though damaged but within a few minutes, that was duly ripped out, 'before my very eyes', pulled apart and piled on top of the other scrap metal next to the large yellow, 'wood skip'. This didn't take long using the 'CAT' machine and some odd bits of acetylene cutting to separate the more difficult parts. The local housing development across the tracks must have had a grandstand view of the proceedings from their upper floor windows and there was another house within a few metres of the box position, with 2 women looking out of the upstairs window at what was unfolding.. The pictures from outside the compound weren't easy to take due to various obstructions, but I think the gist of the matter is plain to see. It doesn't look as if anything was spared, the services, water and electricity having been cut off, the place was just ripped apart and dumped in the skip and onto a pile of scrap metal. The old, red-brick building next to the box survived and is visible in these pictures as is the new colour light exit signal, WN8124, for exit from the Reception siding and its run-around.
As a bit of a tribute to the box and area, a hark back in the 'Then' part of this section of the video, shows a Freightliner class 70, 70006, running around its consist of around 25, HIA coal hoppers, starting out at the upper part of the reception sidings near Woodhouse station, it then makes its way along to the other end of the wagons. The line the Freightliner is moving along has now been removed, the one to its right is now termed the 'Recep', Reception Siding, on the track diagram, and the one to its left, now termed 'RR', Run-Round, and are the two siding lines which have survived. Woodhouse Junction Box is in the left background of the 1st of the 4 shots, taken on 27th June, 2012; happy days. The succeeding 3 shots show the view from the signalbox area looking north. I managed to 'clone out' the metal telegraph pole from the 3rd shot which I always thought was rather irksome to have in the picture and the original ones shown here, had the pole in the shots. It wasn't easy to remove it as the thing crosses the wagons which are difficult to deal with. Anyway, this is Freightliner, class 70, 70006, on the 6J70, from West Burton Power Station, then here for a reversal from E/W, to N/S in the Woodhouse Sidings and then finally on to one of the sidings at Barrow Hill.
3. Woodhouse House Station, new signalling. The signal, WN8124, seen in the shots at the Woodhouse Box location, can now be seen in the distance in the 1st shots in this section. Glowering red at the end of the 'Recep' & 'RR' lines, far right and the one to its left respectively, the signal has a 'theatre' indicator on top. This is presumably to be used to indicate which line beyond the signal, the Lincoln Line curving left to the east or the Beighton Junction line, curving round to the right. The state of the Box at this time is clear to see and the old, World War II, 'blast wall' surrounding the front and 2 sides, is yet to be demolished. This was built during the last war to prevent bomb damage to the box which, at that time; signalled a very important, complex and busy freight area. At the station, Signal WN8116, has now been uncovered and is also glowing red, its single, 2-colour head sat below a couple of 'feather' indicators for the way ahead, left for the Lincoln Line or right, for the line through Beighton Junction and onto the 'Old Road'. I am not aware of such a signal design anywhere in this area and this arrangement replaces the the old WH051 signal, about a half mile south along the line which had just one feather, for the right-hand line to Beighton Junction; that signal has now been removed and nothing remains of it or the signal across from it for down-line moves to Woodhouse Station and Sheffield. In front of the signal, a rather 'robust' looking telephone post for the driver's use as and when required and over on the right, one of the workers is doing some final tidying up in the station to remove not unneeded equipment, before someone does!
Tuesday 23rd March
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4. Woodburn Bridge. This section features the 'new ballast', a 'Civity' and the Bardon. Thought it time to get some traction in the shots at the re-modelled Woodburn Junction. Glancing behind me as the wait continued for what seemed an unusually delayed return Bardon, a Sheffield Tram/Train unit, 399207, plies its way south and heads east for Meadowhall, not along GCR metals to Parkgate in this instance. Looking like it was around 11 minutes late and taking ages to come off the signal, W227, to head down to Broughton Lane and onto the main line, GBRf, 'Great Britain Rail freight', class 66, 66775/F231, 'H.M.S. Argyll' heads the 6M83, Tinsley Yard(GBRf) to Bardon Hill return Bardon Aggregates with a longish rake of HTA Coal, now stone, hoppers. The set appeared to be taking it steady coming off the Tinsley line and, as the video shoes, rumbles slowly under the Woodburn Road bridge, giving me time to count the 20 HTA wagons! The lack of shutter release sounds, thanks to the 'click' heal facility in 'Audition' and the 'Icing Sugar' appearance of the new ballast, is evident. A goodly rake of green 'Sunbelt Rentals', overhead LED lamp standards now sit beside the line, folded and awaiting collection.
5. Woodhouse Junction. Just 4 shots of the now quiet and denuded site at Woodhouse Junction with not much going on other than electrical work in one of the new brick building replacing the once resplendent and fortified Woodhouse Junction Signalbox. Signal WN8124, with overhead Theatre Indicator for the route ahead, now stands sentry over the exit from the Reception and Run-Round lines. There is now not much more to say, the box was 'razed to the ground' with little or nothing saved. Shortly in the silence, clattering along now the lines are back in service, a vintage, Northern Rail class 150, 150274, comes along from the east off the Lincoln Line on the 2P70, Lincoln Central to Sheffield service... Much new technology now abounds in the area and York R.O.C. has taken over control ... will be interesting to see the action when the Run-Round loop is used and the display shown on the Theatre Indicator, if that's what it is, for such infrequent use...
6. Beighton Station Crossing. And. finally. Not much happening here either, the track personnel are here also finishing off signalling cable work along the Rother Valley Viaduct. The installation put in place during this work is not permanent, but needs a more permanent installation along the bridge wall, as the cable ducting can not be put on the ground as its too close to the tracks; this is to take several weeks. The second shot in this series shows the new crossing layout, Signal Box gone and the last signaller present, now retired. It also shows the grey, lozenge shaped structure at the side of the lines and road at far right, which is apparently a laser ranger operating over the crossing. I haven't seen one of these before, though that doesn't mean much and I failed to ask why its needed thinks, after the work was complete , it would be taken away; but it now looks like a permanent fixture. In the distance is the A57 road between Manchester, Sheffield and the A1, and beyond that the Network Rail compound at Woodhouse Junction. As at Woodhouse, there is now no evidence there was ever a box here, the structure having also been 'razed to the ground'. The shot to the south shows the changes in the paraphernalia at the lineside and have to say, this is a more tidy and open area now and will probably make photography much easier than the old cluttered layout. The pedestrian bridge at the location of the old Holbrook signalbox can be seen in the distance and Beighton Junction is beyond. The ending shot, a long distance view to Woodhouse with the local area now looking like a remotely controlled installation which, I guess, is exactly what it is...
THE END!
** This is a 1min 10sec video so can be viewed in the Flickr interface. To obtain a copy, right click the link at lower right of the video, and select 'Save Link As' to save the file to the desktop.
Looking like it was around 11 minutes late and taking ages to come off the signal, W227, to head down to Broughton Lane and onto the main line, GBRf, 'Great Britain Rail freight', class 66, 66775/F231, 'H.M.S. Argyll' heads the 6M83, Tinsley Yard(GBRf) to Bardon Hill return Bardon Aggregates with a longish rake of HTA Coal, now stone, hoppers. The set appeared to be taking it steady coming off the Tinsley line and, as the video shows, rumbles slowly under the Woodburn Road bridge, giving me time to count the 20 HTA wagons! The lack of shutter release sounds, thanks to the 'click' heal facility in 'Audition' and the 'Icing Sugar' appearance of the new ballast, is evident. A goodly rake of green 'Sunbelt Rentals', overhead LED lamp standards now sit beside the line, folded and awaiting collection.
Photographs taken of Westoe Colliery before closure 1993, by Les Golding.
In March 1993, came the announcement that Westoe Colliery was to be closed and many of the working men there carried out their last shifts on 7th May 1993.
Westoe Colliery was situated south of the River Tyne, South Shields and was the last pit on the Tyne.
Ref: TWAS:35mm.c3.12
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