13 July (Part 1) - 2018 will be a long time coming
A third consecutive weekend without trains through Abbey Wood and anyone hoping to see
dramatic Crossrail changes would be disappointed. The scene involving a crane (Photos 1, 2
and 3) between the Eynsham Drive and Church Manorway bridges is virtually indistinguishable from
last weekend
and the weekend before.
During the past week the new Church Manorway footbridge has made noticeable
progress (Photo 4) and some mysterious concrete piles have been driven into the
ground just to the west of the Bostall Manorway footbridge. (Photos 5 and 6). The redundant centre
track has been removed.
The
main reason for no trains beyond Plumstead is just to the east of Abbey Wood
station, almost under the Harrow Manorway flyover where a large trench has been
dug beneath the tracks most likely for drainage pipes but possibly for carrying cable.
Photo 8 taken after the rain had cleared away yesterday afternoon shows one
or more pipes already in situ (click to enlarge) and Photo 9 taken at 8 a.m. this morning, raining
again, shows more pipes ready for installation.
Photo 10 illustrates the loss of parking spaces near the station as permitted by
one of Mike
Frizoni’s Traffic Orders last month.
The next trainless weekend will be 10th/11th August.
There will be a Crossrail exhibition on the Community Hall, Knee Hill, between 3
and 7 p.m. next Wednesday. In my experience they are good at answering questions
about the effect on people’s houses but ask a question about track layouts or
mysterious concrete columns and they haven’t got a clue.