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News and Comment July 2015

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12 July (Part 1) - Crossrail on track

Crossrail Crossrail I know some people don’t like Crossrail pictures appearing here but there is nothing much else ready today. Below are pictures of the prepared track bed from its nearest point to Lesnes Abbey, westward through to Abbey Wood station and reflecting varying ground conditions.

The watery soup just below the surface in the vicinity of the station has seen extensive piling with thick concrete on top but further east things are much more stable and it is likely that the usual 600mm of stone on top of compacted ‘type 2’ will be sufficient. This is what one of the structural engineers told me but experience has shown that such comments are not always reliable - or maybe minds get changed.

The ground behind Fendyke Road has been heavily contaminated by domestic refuse, bedsteads, old tyres and sanitary ware etc. over the years. It has been scraped out and sieved into a heap of top soil and large skips have been filled with rubbish for Erith, the large local construction plant company, to take away.

Photo 2 below was taken through the grill of the Lesnes Abbey (Green Chain) footbridge. Before that was installed there was a regular night time firework display as the local yobs threw metal scrap on to the electrified line below.

Crossrail Crossrail Crossrail Crossrail

The carriage sidings which will soon be connected to the North Kent line at Plumstead have proved difficult to photograph thanks to Crossrail’s obsession with fences and the most effective way might be to hop over and take a walk along the track. On the assumption that Network Rail might object to that a different technique has been adopted and for the railway geeks the results are hidden away here. Southeastern’s grubby train windows are not as effective as fences.

More Crossrail related blogs.

 

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