5 September (Part 1) - Six weekends without a train service
The
two weeks since the last weekend line closure through Abbey Wood has seen a lot
of separate Crossrail activities going on all aimed at getting North Kent line trains on
to the new station platform by February next year.
Abbey Wood will not see another weekend passenger train for six whole weeks. The
place may look quite different afterwards.
It’s not often that I see anything Crossrail related worth complaining about but
removing all the street lights from Gayton Road - replaced by wall lights on the
northern footpath - and then erecting barriers which force pedestrian along
another route (Photo 1 alongside) makes the trip (pun intended) somewhat hazardous after dark.
There is not only no lighting but Bexley council has allowed the area shown to
be broken up by protruding tree roots. Fortunately things should be back to
normal by the end of the month.
At the end of Gayton Road Network rail seems to have got the measure of the
local vandalism problems by enclosing their box of electrical bits and pieces
with a block wall topped out with metal spikes. An identical box of tricks in
Crayford has no such protection.
As shown below work on clearing the utility conduits from where the station
foundations will shortly go continues as does the platform which is now being
topped out, and at the western end of the station piling for a second station
footbridge has just begun.
The spots on large photographs are raindrops. Difficult to avoid over the past week or two.
