13 July (Part 2) - Crossrail. A Sunday postscript
I try to write this blog so that it may be understood by people who do not live locally but it would appear that
this mornings Crossrail progress report was
inadequate in that respect. As the weather improved I decided that a walk to Plumstead station with a return on
the Railway Replacement Bus Service to Erith to take in
Manor Road might be a nice idea and grab a few more photos along the way.
A leisurely stroll from Lesnes Abbey to Plumstead station, stopping to take pictures and meandering from one side of the
track to the other took 58 minutes. The return trip on a bus took 50 minutes. I got fed up with waiting for the Railway
Service and eventually took a 180 to Abbey Wood Station so I never did get to Erith. The railway bus went past
just as I turned into my own road opposite the abbey.
The hole in the track at Abbey Wood has been filled in as can be seen in the first four pictures below.
One of today’s questions was why does the track kink to the north as it
approaches the Church Manorway footbridge? From observation I believe it is
because the available spare land lay to the south of the line from Abbey Wood
until half way to Plumstead where the situation reverses. Photo 7 shows some of
that unoccupied land. The new footbridge (Photos 5 and 6) defines where the four tracks must eventually go.
The
three weekends of activity with a crane appears to have come to an end (Photo 7)
resulting in, well, nothing visible. Whatever was being lowered into the ground
has disappeared. Maybe something interesting will rise from an underground vault.
As far as I know there is no public vantage point from which the tunnel portal may be viewed
but it emerges from the ground to the south (right) of the old railway building in the centre of Photo 8.
At Abbey Wood the road cleaner washes mud from the road between the old station car park
where materials to fill the hole in the track were stored and the scene of much
activity nearby. The house next to the one about to be demolished is for sale if anyone is interested.