Bluebell Northern Extension - so what's occurring then?

The Bluebell website text has been amended to remove the previous reference to whatever it said about permanent way and drainage, perhaps wisely so! Taking std tank's point, maybe I did assume "permanent way" meant "track", and on balance I stand by that. I would say permanent way is rails and sleepers.
However, no point discussing a play on words, and best we leave the Bluebell engineering team to get on with it. I suspect they will still need favourable weather to acheive the "breakthrough" and instal ballast and drainage, thus giving a walkable surface. The Met Office 30 day forecast is mixed, but with the best of any dry weather in the South-East. Fingers crossed the Bluebell can keep the work going.

On a technical point, does anyone know if the steep cutting sides being formed will need to be netted and sprayed with the stuff that allows grass to grow: "hydraseed" or similar? I appreciate one side of the cutting at least in part is the original rock, but the other is being reformed with the clay and then waste on top.

 

Looking at Philpot website today after another update. Will there be an issue with drainage once the extension is completed? Looking at the photos of the cutting I would think netting and some type of spiking/pinning to stop land slips from happening in the future.

 

Tom mentioned in an earlier post (432) that he recalled that the sides are to be stabilised with geotex membrane whilst the natural vegetation takes hold. Given the drains that are being installed and the slope of the trackbed both north and south I wouldn't expect there to be any serious issue with drainage. It's just down to maintenance in the long term. It looks muddy and wet at the moment (so did my road to work on Monday) but (unlike my road to work) it isn't finished yet!

Steve B

 

Two updates, one about funding and one about general progress. The funding one is more exciting so I'll give that first!

Tom

 

Did anyone else see the update on ITV Meridian News last week. They said the opening of the extension is still not known and could happen towards the summer. They also said the total cost will be around 3M once the extension is completed.

 

As I understand it, the current plan is still to open in March; however, the adverse weather this summer and autumn has obviously pushed the schedule to its limit. So I think contingency plans are being considered to open in June, and a final "March or June" decision will be taken probably next month. The date is weather-dependent, but also (of course!) cash-dependent.

As for the £3million figure, I suspect that is probably how much has been / will be spent from the start of digging out the cutting in late 2009 - i.e. the total for the dig, building EG station, signalling, viaduct repairs, remodelling at KC and about a mile of track. To that you can add everything that was spent before that date in purchasing the land, legal fees, laying the first mile of track out of KC etc. I've heard a figure some way north of £10m for the whole northern extension from HK but that obviously includes building 6 miles of track; a viaduct; a tunnel; buying and restoring Kingscote; building New Coombe Bridge and all the land purchases as well as all the most recent work at Imberhorne and East Grinstead etc etc.

Tom

 

Today sees the launch of DDD125 - the Bluebell Railway's new Double Donations Dash.

Between 20th October and 2nd November 2012 donations made for the Bluebell Railway's Northern Extension Project will again be matched pound for pound by major supporters of the Railway.

If you are eligible for Gift Aid as well, this will turn a £10 donation into £22.50 for the Project.

As part of Funding for the Finish, this is our last fundraising push of 2012, and we need it to be a success to complete the Extension, with a target date for opening of Spring 2013.

The target is to raise £125,000, through online donations and donations made by cheque, to release the £125,000 offered as match funding. Any money raised beyond the £125,000 will be used for the Extension project, but will not attract match funding.

For larger donations, to cut costs for the Railway, it is best to send the donation by cheque using the Gift Aid form, available to download in PDF (Acrobat) format.

Alternatively, donating online through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the Railway and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it's the most efficient way to donate smaller sums - we raise more, whilst saving everyone time and effort.

Tom

 

The following update came out in the Bluebell newsletter. Most exciting point is that, if the weather allows, tracklaying from the north end of the tip should start next week!

Tom

 

A quick update:

1) The Double Donation Dash has reached £28,625 (which will be doubled, and to which gift aid can be added to most of it). The appeal was timed for when Bluebell News was due to be published, but a production delay means that won't hit doormats until the end of this week, so the current figure is only really tapping into people who have electronic means of communication - it is likely a fair proportion of the membership may only get to hear of the appeal at the weekend.

2) Preparations for track laying continue towards Imberhorne Lane Bridge, with matting and a layer of ballast down. The ballast came by rail about two years ago, and had been stored near the viaduct since that date.

3) A hole in the ground for the foundations and sump of the EG water tower has been dug, so hopefully soon some visible progress there. AFAIK it will be a traditional style building externally.

4) The railway has acquired a redundant Mk 1 BSK (ex departmental generator coach). This will be stripped internally and mounted on a disconnected bit of track at EG by the loco head shunt to act as an interim shop/cafe. Very long term there is an aspiration to build a proper terminus station, but pending any moves on potential East Grinstead town development, knowledge of how our traffic develops, the requirements from Network Rail etc, it is unclear what form that might take or how much extra space might be available. Hence the BSK as interim facilities for the first few years.

Tom

 

One day on and the Double Donation Dash has progressed to £40,145 - about one third of the target.

Also exciting photos (from John Sandys, not me) showing that the terram matting and first layer of ballast has progressed under the Hill Place Farm bridge (the northern bridge) and a long way into the cutting. This is the prelude to finally laying rails!

Tom

 

I was taking a look at Johns photos on the link below.
South from Hill Place Bridge | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Couple of questions.
You have a side ditch at the edge of the formation West Slope, then a drain at the proposed edge of track will there be another side ditch at the bottom of the East Slope? Or is it currently buried?
Has the new works incorporated a crossfall to the formation?
Which way is it falling?
I assume from East side to west, just that this would mean additional depth of ballast to cope with the crossfall and cant.
Which would have been reduced if the drain was on the East side.
Why 2 layers of Terram with a separate black membrane inbetween?
Is it a special one off material not normally catered for?
Track drainage used to specify pea gravel surrounding the pipe and covering it by 150mm Is normal ballast ok instead?

I am not being critical just asking for clarification on points as I see them.
Excellent job though, I wish you all the best in getting it finished before the winter sets in.

 

Bluebell Railway ‏@bluebellnews

"The diggers [sic] getting stuck in again today on the extension! http://fb.me/yWL8wETf"

NEP Video Update, Friday, 26/10/12 - YouTube

Patrick

 

Bryan

P/Way isn't really my bag, so I asked one of the NEP volunteers and this is what he replied - please note this is his personal take, not the official Bluebell position:

"It must look a bit odd, but existing conditions have dictated a particular course of action. You may have seen a pipe running down the south face of the occupation (northern) bridge. We had to put that in very early on because water was discharging (cascading) from the field and council waste depot above the cutting. It's natural course was down once we started excavating - what happened in pre-dump BR days nobody can remember ! The ditch is a continuation of that pipe, but kept open for easy clearing. It goes north to a culvert just by the loading cabin. With the recent rain it has shown that the ditch alone would not be able to cope, so drains are being laid along the length of the formation as well - including cross drains at each catch pit (which you can see in John Sandys' latest pics). On the eastern side the only run off is from the cutting walls north of the occupation bridge, but we could dig a ditch later if needed as there is plenty of room. I'm not sure what is happening in the middle of the cutting, although the ditch transfers to the east side and I imagine the track drain will continue all the way to the Imberhorne Bridge and beyond - draining south from there.

There are a number of complex curves for the track in the cutting, which is why I think the ditch changes sides - slight cant to the west, drains to the east. The new 'summit' is roughly in the middle of the cutting so as well as saving money on shipping out rubbish, it might help to keep the bottom dry at the narrow point where the swimming pool is now !

Not sure why we don't use pea gravel anymore, but by just using ballast around the pipes we can dig them out easily if they get silted up and there should only be residual dirt / dust from the ballast anyway and they are above the clay. The bottom layer of terram is to stop the weeds, the polythene is to stop the water going through so that underneath stays dry and the top layer of terram is to reduce damage to the polythene when the ballast is compacted or tamped later.

We used this method on Freshfield bank and it seems to be working. I suppose more expensive to start with, but vastly reducing maintainence in the long run. Pity L & EGR didn't think about it over 100 years ago, but then they didn't have plastic !"

To which I can only add, my great-grandfather did help build the Lewes and East Grinstead Railway, and the efforts being gone into today put that labour into perspective!

Hope that helps,

Tom

 

I was wondering about the TERRAM because there are a variety of types available that do form a "Sandwich" of fabrics and plastics that may have been easier to roll out in one movement.

 

Ah, who knows if it was availability or familiarity or price - I'm not going to second guess the reasons for that type of decision!

Tom

 

Current DDD figure is £57,952 towards the target of £125k. Bluebell News hit the doormats today, so hopefully next week should see the momentum kept up. Remember, every £10 donated is worth £22.50 to the railway if the donor can reclaim gift aid.

To give an idea of what still needs to be completed, Chris White gave the following list of tasks still to complete: (nb) this list was written before Bluebell News went to press, so may be a bit out of date by now.

Construction tasks
(*) Complete construction of the trackbed through the cutting, about 100m remains but this is very weather-dependent
(*) Install drainage and cable ducts through the cutting.
(*) Make good embankment surfaces through the cutting
(*) Join up railheads between 16MP and 16 1/2 MP
(*) Install remaining S&T cables and equipment cases
(*) Test and commission signalling system
(*) Carry out minor repairs to accommodation bridge (I take this to mean Hill Place Farm bridge, i.e. the northern bridge at the cutting)
(*) Complete repairs to the underside of the viaduct south arch
(*) Provide temporary customer facilities at EG
(*) Provide IT and telecoms services at EG
(*) Provide intra-station walkway at EG
(*) Install signage throughout

Post construction tasks
(*) Undertake safety verification of the completed works including any snagging thrown up during the inspection process
(*) Obtain approval and issue of operating licence from the ORR
(*) Complete the train planning and timetabling activity
(*) Update and brief staff in the rulebook, operating procedures and safety management system
(*) Undertake test runs and crew training

Which if nothing else, shows just how complex building and opening a new railway is!

Tom

 

Tom: As ever thanks for the updates. The narrow part of the cutting has quite steep slopes to the sides. One side presumably is the original so should be stable, but do you happen to know how the "made up" side is to be treated to ensure stability? Things like netting soil-nailed on and then sprayed with one of these modern preparations that seals the rubbish in, stabilises the area and allows grass to grow?

 

One of the interesting things now is that the Triangle appears to be no longer happening due to the cutting using too much excess clay capping and an insufficient amount of clay is left to construct a Triangle so the future plan now is too install a turntable.

Would this have to be built from scratch or is there one on the market that the line is looking at and where would it be installed?

 

I don't know about any tables being available per se but I reckon if you go to Poland or the Czech Republic you'll be able to find a nice big one.

 

I seem to remember a few years ago seeing parts of a turntable stored in the field which is now the car park at Horsted Keynes the parts were there for a few years then they disappeared does anybody else remember this!