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It's the middle of January 2012 and we
can see that little has changed at the tip. The old loading ramp has
been covered over though. |
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Straight on we can see that the
embankment has been covered over and looks to be in good condition but
there have been some minor falls elsewhere. Nothing much though.
There is a lot of stuff still to move and of course just over two
months left before the tax takes effect! |
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Closer still we can see that where the
embankment has been covered with cloth it looks to have weathered
well. |
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Now at the other end it all looks nice
but still a lot of waste to move elsewhere. |
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The rocks that are seen in old pictures
of the area are clearly defined. Perhaps someone could compare and get
an idea of the depth still needed to be removed. |
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A couple of pictures showing the remains
of a snowfall in early February. |
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The mountain of capping looks as though
it might serve as a temporary ski slope! It will soon be moved south
to Horsted Keynes where much of the clay will go to make a long needed
turning triangle as well as the approaches to the new bridge on the
Ardingly extension. Seems your correspondent will soon be
photographing ground works on a different part of the railway! |
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A sunny early March day, in fact the 8th
day, and looking south from Imberhorne bridge little has changed over
the winter. |
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When we look the other way however we can
see that a fairly large blob of clay has fallen back into the cutting.
Nothing too difficult and I am sure that a digger can make short work
of the problem but this does show that the cutting will need
stabilising as soon as possible.
I was able to take a look from one of my vantage points and there
have been several falls along the line. |
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A slightly wider shot of the same area.
As usual it is impossible to give scale to this area but the amount of
fallen clay must equate to several wagons full. there are further
falls out or sight round the bend. |
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On 19th March 2012 work recommenced
(probably for the last time) to complete the re-contouring of the tip.
It is intended to raise the level to give a clearance of 6 metres at
Imberhorne bridge. I have no idea how much slope this will make.
Apparently heavy machinery is to be delivered later in the week which
will include a compactor as the main requirement is to make a new firm
base for the new line. |
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The new level is to start here and from
then on it's uphill all the way! A short video of the area today can
be seen here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnUqgB1tuTc |
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A day later and work has started in
earnest. In case you can't see the embankment beside the access gates
has been opened up, possibly for a drainage pipe? |
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And parked just beside Imberhorne bridge
we can see that the special ground compactor has arrived. I wonder how
they got it down there? No doubt we will be seeing a lot more of this
machine at work later! I put a measuring tape over the side of the
bridge and if there is to be 6 metres clearance to the centre
underside it looks like about a third of the currently exposed
structure will be reburied.
That would make the new line very roughly level with the cab of the
compactor on the left of this picture.
If you can't see from my pictures that is not a railway line behind
the far digger it's a pathway made by the machines themselves. The
railway track has now been removed right up to the end of the new
embankment that you can see going to ground behind the trees. This
make me think there is now going to be quite a rise in this area. It
will also make the journey through the cutting far less
claustrophobic. |
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22 March and work is well underway. They
are removing the clay piles at the side of the track and piling the
clay on top the track path to raise the level, and the height seems to
be more than I had previously thought in fact you can see the level
from the lorry height.. |
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Nearer Imberhorne bridge and my camera
they were at work laying the new levels. |
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A digger, lorry and that compactor at
work today. |
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The end of the line (for now). I have no
idea how far it is away but the starting point seems to have moved.
Here you can just about see the slope as the front is about a metre
higher than the back. |
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A general view of the work.
A 6 minute video taken today is now available here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di7LhJh7ONYl
. Sorry for the shaking but I was filming on extreme close up from
more than a quarter mile away! |
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Just a day later Friday 23rd and my last
visit for the week shows amazing progress. It's all foreshortened in
these pictures of course but
they must have progressed several tens of metres in the last 24 hours
alone.
It does indeed seem that the new line will be considerably higher than
before. |
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In fact the new level is way over the
height of this mile post which looked (although I am sure will not
actually) be about to be buried! No idea if the lines on the bank will
be reused or whether they will take the opportunity to relay the
entire section with new rail. |
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Here is 24 hours progress! Just look at
the height compared with say the dozer body. |
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And one more picture to give some scale.
Apologies for the pictures which had to be photographed directly into
the sun so required some intervention to make them clearer. At this
rate they will be working under the bridge by the middle of next week!
I'd imagine that a great deal of compacting will be needed before the
ballast can be laid.
There's a new video taken today on YouTube here
watch-v=SVpQvx0FQuI .
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A beautiful Monday lunchtime 26th. March,
and progress can only be described as astonishing! They have already
reached the bridge with the first layer of soil and are rapidly
building up the slope. You probably can't see but there is a level
marker in the middle of one of the tracks at the side so that will
presumably be where they stop but apparently they are often placed
above the final level..A general view of the action. The
excellent dry weather has obviously helped. |
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This is the compactor hard at work
running up and down, down and up all day. Every so often the add an
extra layer of earth and gradually build up the slope. A new video
taken today is available here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewFNSbGaFoY |
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Revealed on Imberhorne bridge. |
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Wednesday morning 28th March, and the level of the work
is increasing all the time. Although the change is not as dramatic as
before the progress is visible. |
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And one more picture showing the work
further down the line. |
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And while we are here a look under the
bridge where some work has started with...... a ditch being dug presumably to
release some ground water? |
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The trench from side on.
Due to the possible fuel situation I shall visit
next later in the week. However if something important needs picturing
please let me know..
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End of the second week and if you compare
this picture to the ones above you can see progress. But how much
deeper are they going? |
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Well if you look here you will see a
board that might tell you, or it might not as apparently they are
placed above the intended final level. |
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The board is just visible in the centre
of this more general view. |
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Looking the other side of Imberhorne
bridge we can see that the level has risen considerably. Again take a
look at my earlier pictures. BT were working on the bridge and the
men said that they had no idea that they were above the Bluebell
Railway (hint)! They even stopped the single file traffic for a minute
so that I could take this quick snap. |
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Welcome new viewers and yes anything
written here are my thoughts entirely both good and bad; I say it as I
see it. I have been wrong, but sometimes hit the nail on the head!
Enjoy the pictures anyway - they are totally unretouched so show what
I see. Tuesday 3rd April and to be honest work appears on the
surface to have slowed down. It's probably an illusion but after the
amazing progress of the last few day I suppose I expect to see a steam
loco every time I look over the bridge abutments!
Looking at the extreme range of my lens
probably half a mile distant we just about see work progressing. the
man is standing beside the accommodation crossing and they are working
at double that distance half way towards (but not yet round) the bend. |
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Much nearer the camera a drain is being
installed near the slope down from Imberhorne bridge. A hole was also
being dug in the centre of the track area, whether the two are
connected I have no idea! |
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The embankment on the south eastern side
has now been tidied up, perhaps for eventual grassing over. It would
make a splendid bluebell copse under the trees. I took a video and
it's now available here. Sorry about the quality it looks fine at my
end but after video editing, compressing for upload and YouTube get at
it it ends up a bit fuzzy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svo7P46tOi8 |
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A bitterly cold Maundy Thursday and work
continues at the extreme end of the site. I had sort of hoped that
some rails might be laid over Easter but this seems unlikely as they
seem to be putting in some sot of drain near the accommodation
crossing. |
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Just slightly further away. If you were
going to visit the site this weekend then there really seems that (on
the surface) little has changed since last week. |
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To complete the pictures for this week
what you would see peering over the bridge on Thursday afternoon. |
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It's the 11th April 2012 and Easter has
passed. To my uneducated eyes work in the area to the south of
Imberhorne bridge looks finished and ready for the track laying gang. |
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Another view round the bend and further
down the track. |
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Looking on a long lens we can see that
the work at the accommodation bridge has been finished. |
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Viewed from the other side we can see
where all the tree work has been done and very neat and tidy it look
too! The greenery partly blocking the view in the foreground is going to become a pain as
spring turns into summer. |
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I took a video camera but there was no
movement at all to record! Not sure what they are waiting for but the
continuous heavy showers can only make the ground worse rather than
better. |
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We have not looked north for some time so
a couple of views also taken on 11th April again show little change. |
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But the rain has settled on the solid
clay ground. |
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It's the end of Easter week Friday 13th
April and nothing at all seems to have happened this week. Hopefully
only temporary as the work in the last few weeks has been amazing. |
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So it's to the northern end and all that
is visible are some rusty rails and a little more ground cover than
last year. |
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The other way, south of the northern
bridge shows rather a mess waiting the final clearance. |
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And finally a general view of the
northern Imberhorne cutting area. |
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Monday 16th April 2012.
As exclusively predicted by this site work has today recommenced on
the tip proper after the winter lay off. They are attacking the huge
"mountain" of earth at the southern extremity of the site and appear
(and I know it's early days, but appear) to be putting the clay into
the cutting itself!
This may of course be a temporary measure prior to disposal
elsewhere. Sure though that things are moving along.
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As you can see I am using a totally
different vantage point courtesy of a local land owner who has now
given me permission to reproduce pictures taken from here. It's even
out of the wind! |
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The clay is being loaded onto a lorry and
transported down the slope onto... |
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... the tip itself where a second machine
is levelling it all out. But what happens next? Time will tell and it
has been very sensibly suggested they may be building a temporary
bridge to get the clay spoil over to the other side of the track. A video which quite honestly shows far more of what is
happening is now available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La1EsKcRA_E . |
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Just one day later on Tuesday 17th. we
can see that it was a bridge all the time and by lunchtime works had
started filling up the eastern side of the cutting. |
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The new bridge in action, which required
a considerable quantity of clay to be put back into the cutting. It
does mean that it will need removing once the job is finished. |
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The first digger across the bridge
smoothes the ground as it goes. |
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Which is dumped right at the end of the
cutting onto some tyres. |
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The digger then goes all over the ground
pushing it all together. A video is now available on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGSsDP_hmU |
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A small crowd had gathered to watch
proceedings, some of whom were local residents. They expressed relief
that the huge pile of clay that had been placed outside their homes
was now being removed. Seems they had received no official
notification of what was going on and seeing the cutting being
apparently refilled yesterday had wondered if the whole project was
being abandoned! I hope that I managed to reassure them that it was
in fact progressing towards completion, but I am not of course privy
to any private information! |
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Some tyres await the next load of clay
which will cover them over for ever more, and have apparently been put
there to help stabilise the area. No doubt some deep rooted rye grass
will help complete the job.
The area will look really nice once finished and will no doubt
attract photographers being the only public bridge over the entire
railway. In that respect I earnestly recommend wearing some sort of
reflective jacket as I was nearly hit by a lorry mirror this morning. |
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An extremely wet (what hose pipe ban?)
Wednesday the 18th. April and just to give an idea of scale we can see
the start of the "mountain" of clay that is presently being removed
behind the car - the mountain actually goes higher but I could not fit
it into the picture. Then the roof of one of the nearest houses
(there are 4 together) can be seen with the very nearest house to the
railway and the beginning of Imberhorne bridge
shown in the insert. You can see the same green square bush with the
dustbins under in both pictures.
Hope this gives an idea of geography and how close the nearest
house is to the railway cutting (it's garden is right on the edge); the car is leaving the new
Council depot / garden centre. |
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Just down the road on the left of the
above picture a very wet cutting with two diggers lying at rest in a
lot of mud. I now understand that the 1 in 60 incline will continue
right under Imberhorne bridge and into the tip itself. I presume this height
adjustment will require work at the northern end as well but the
siding was always going to need removal anyway. |
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Closer view shows more tyres awaiting interment under
more wet clay. The tyres somehow combine with the clay to hold it all
in place. |
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This is actually impressive on the ground
as they only started yesterday and have already removed probably a
quarter of the "mountain". I took several pictures of the area but
without anything to give scale it is hard to show the sizes. Perhaps
this old picture (insert) from last year showing a large lorry in the
foreground and taken from the other end of the site gives some idea of
the size of the clay heaps. The one on the right is the one presently
being attacked. I know I tend to call them spoil heaps and
Richard tells me off for this but everything being moved at
present is clay. I have though been told that a largish quantity of
waste is to start being moved to elsewhere on the site soon. Given
that it is so wet I believe the men may well give up early today so I
next intend to visit on Friday.
Please look back then, and remember all the old pictures are still
available via the link
www.philpot.me/bluebellindex.html . |
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The end of the week Friday 20th April
afternoon and it is obvious that the workmen have given up for today
because of the extreme wet and mud. It's rather lucky that there is no
real deadline now as there would be if there was more waste to go
north. For that I think the Bluebell can count itself very lucky
and thank the
rain gods! There is absolutely no visible change from my earlier
pictures in the cutting area itself. |
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Monday 30th April, and despite a forecast
of "a month's rain in one night" for tomorrow evening work has
resumed.
This is water that has flowed down from the centre of the cutting
towards Imberhorne bridge. It would normally continue down the slope
towards Kingscote but they are at present recontouring the area |
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Looking over the bridge to the south
nothing has moved. It's worth mentioning that the sun and wind
together are very drying and roads that were impassable seem to clear
very quickly at this time of year. You can see that nearer the camera
out from under the trees the ground is drying and is a lighter colour. |
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However looking the other way shows work
has already restarted. The diggers have started moving rubbish which
is being buried on the cutting side. This saves a crossing of the
cutting itself. I hope to photograph the other end of the work on
Wednesday when I have quite literally brought some waders as the clay
track at that end is impossibly and impassably muddy!!. ;-). |
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After delivery it is smoothed out.
A video taken on the 30th April which shows
the wet and the job much better is here:
http://youtu.be/5pQXMidmwSs (The dot in the middle of youtu.be IS
correct !!!) |
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A day later and an unexpectedly sunny 1st of May and work continues at the northern end
where a mixture of clay and rubbish are being taken down by lorry to the
southern end
of the site. The tip area itself does not seen as wet as one might
expect. The "swimming pool" in the centre has been drained and the
is sun quite warm so dries up quickly. As you can see the blanket that protected
the area over winter has worked very well, but no grass growth yet. |
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It's Tuesday lunchtime and the three man crew
cross the lunar landscape to take refreshments. I don't know why but
this reminds me of the Dr.Who location that they keep using for alien
planets!
A YouTube video is available at:
http://youtu.be/Q_OJDFhDBYg (Once
again the youtu.be domain IS correct!) |
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It's Thursday the 3rd of May and too wet
for the machinery to work. Progress of the last couple of days can be
clearly seen however with the darker fill easily seen against the
background. Yes they moved all that in a couple of days! When you
look closely however you can see a new addition to the view. At first
I though they were arrows giving directions, but my camera zoom lens
shows differently! |
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This is intriguing. When you look closely
you can see that the signs are in fact 10 metre measuring boards. I
was a bit shaky on my feet today so not able to venture to the
northern end to see how long the cutting actually is! I wonder who
printed all these signs out? |
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The 8th May and work progresses despite the appallingly wet weather.
When you think that just three men do all this the progress is
encouraging. The usual two diggers and a lorry work to remove rubbish, clay and
other detritus from the line of the railway and transport it the short
way to build up the eastern side of the cutting.
I do not know how
deep will be the new cutting but it is possible that the area in the
front will be the final base. Or not of course! A 15 minute video with descriptive commentary taken today is now available on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHN949MuErQ |
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It is all beginning to make sense to your observer, this is what I
think is happening. First they are working as quickly as possible to
make a pathway through the cutting. The spoil, as mentioned above, is
being moved to the side.
Then I think they will lay a temporary line through the cutting
which will enable a hired in train to get to the south without the
costs of road transport.
Next the temporary line can be used to start to move what's not
needed and in particular the clay heaps, shown below, to the south and
Horsted Keynes.
Finally tidy it all up and leave a proper permanent way.
Easy! That's my guess anyway! |
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Saturated, that's the only
word to describe the area on Friday 11th May. There seems no way that
rails could be laid in this mess so let's hope for a dry spell very
soon! |
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The north side of Imberhorne
bridge is also waterlogged at present. There's a new video with
commentary taking a quick look round the extension this morning at...
http://youtu.be/K8GGoIx5IEw |
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