3 January - Crossrail at Abbey Wood is about half way there. In time anyway
On Christmas Eve the not very temporary traffic lights were removed from
Felixstowe Road. It’s still a bit of an obstacle course but it is two way again
for the first time since October 2014.
Whilst most of us have been lucky enough to do not a great deal over the past
two weeks the same has not been true for contractors working on Abbey Wood
station. They had Christmas Day and Boxing Day off but within the past two weeks
managed to dig some massive trenches around the recenty installed piles and fill
them with concrete despite the rain.
This week’s update includes 82 new pictures
- nearly 7MB - of the work and the loss of parking spaces caused by lorries.
Then
a whole load of ironmongery was welded into place and 340 cubic metres of
concrete was scheduled for delivery starting at 9 a.m. on 30th December. The
first 7·5 cubic metre load was delivered on time to the exact minute. The
time stamp on the photo confirms it. By the end of the day the track bed and associated wall had
been extended from the end of the new platform to the Harrow Manorway flyover.
The succession of ready mixed concrete carriers came from Silvertown so not the
sort of journey one would wish to undertake when the Blackwall Tunnel is busy.
On the same day the piling rigs returned and started work to the north of the station.
I really cannot see how the Felixstowe Road shops can survive when the northern station
entrance is closed next month or thereabouts and will stay that way for three years. There is already no car parking
available and soon there will be no one walking by.
Index
to Crossrail blogs and photo features.
P.S. Photos 1 and 2 taken through the muddy windows of the old Harrow Manorway bus shelter and
rescued in Photoshop. It affords the best view of the track bed but if someone could cut a three
inch hole in one of them, it would be appreciated.