Bicester Town Station

Since my last visit, work on the new Bicester Town station has moved on quite a bit.  All traces of the old station have gone as have some adjacent industrial units.  Through access to Bicester Village has been closed off and the bus replacement service no longer leaves from Station Approach.  It apparently leaves from Pingle Drive outside the Village shopping mall.  This would appear to defeat the object of a rail replacement bus service if it does not leave from the same location as the train. The fact that you cannot walk easily to Pingle Drive from Station Approach any longer must be very annoying to those used to catching the bus from the station site.
However the new station is taking shape and new hoardings on London Road proclaim that you will be able to catch a new fast train service to Central London from this summer.  This would appear to be a tad optimistic or we can look forward to a longer summer this year!

 Here is the hoarding along the work site on the south side of the line.

A closer look.

Looking east from the level crossing you can see more evidence of the cabling work and a recently cast concrete base which I am guessing will soon see the installation of a control cabinet.

Looking the other way from the level crossing, the new station is taking shape.  The north side is the site of recently demolished station

 This shows the new westbound platform.  The new platforms appear to be slightly staggered with the westbound nearer the level crossing.

 The next three photos show the extensive station work site.  Left to right from the London Road end.

 Here are a couple of closer shots of the station building and car park.

I then moved round to the business park of the south side of the line and took a few shots of the work.

 This was taken from London Road.  The new platform is quite a bit higher than the adjacent car park.

 Here is the station building from the other side.

 Here the lift towers awaiting the connecting footbridge look quite imposing.

 One of the lift towers with some of the footbridge support.

Finally on my last visit I took a shot of the bridge over the A41 just north of Aylesbury Parkway station and commented on its neglected state.  Shortly after it was replaced with a new bridge seen here.  However the replacement appears to be only single track which could be shortsighted once services commence to Milton Keynes and Bedford.  Passive provision for double track would have allowed capacity to be expanded if the service became more popular than expected.

Bicester Round Up 6th July 2015

After a few months when I wasn't able to visit the area, I finally had an opportunity to check on the latest developments in Bicester.  When I was last there, lorries were still dropping material on the new embankment. Now it looks as if  the construction and track laying phase has been completed and cabling and ducting work is underway.

 The first picture looks towards the new junction with the Chiltern mainline

 Moving to the left, two construction workers are returning to the work compound.  The dark line is ducting for cabling.  New fencing and tidying up of the site is evident.

 Moving further down the chord, more signalling cabinets can be seen.  Fencing work still ongoing at this point.

 This is more of an overall shot of the chord from the closed public footpath.  Gives a better idea of the gradient.

 Almost down to the level of the Varsity line, a pair of road rail machines are stationary on the chord.
The new footbridge can be partly seen on the left.

Here is a better look at it.  Not DDA compliant like the Tubbs Lane crossing which is much more complex.  Sadly not re-opened yet which would allow some better photo opportunities of the chord.

 Here a Chiltern service heads north past the road rail machines and the footbridge.

 At the end of Gavray Drive, I took a few shots of the junction.  Security fencing didn't help unfortunately.  Looking east.  Nearest line is one of the chord pair.  The other starts just to the left of the green cabinet.

 The green cabinet plus a grey one are recent additions.

 Looking west, more evidence of the cabling and ducting works.  House that were previously hidden behind trees now have new fencing.

 Looking down from Tubbs Lane footbridge, evidence of recent cable work at yet more cabinets.

 Looking towards the new junction and the Chiltern line bridge. Double track now extends under the bridge.  Will try to have a look at the other side from the  public footpath at some stage..

 Moving to the far side of the footbridge brings into shot the green cabinet and part of the other footbridge.

 Sadly as so often happens, graffiti has appeared in several places since my last visit.

 What was obviously temporary lighting has been replaced by permanent lighting with steel conduit.

 Looking towards London Road, the track looks pretty much the same as last time, but ducting and drainage work has been carried out on the left.

The temporary pump and pipework has gone and evidence of a new culvert can be seen adjacent to the bridge.  Next post will be on the progress of the new Bicester Town station.

Claydon Junction to Bicester

To complete the survey of the line from Bletchley to Bicester, these a selection of pictures of the various road crossings.  First bridge west of Calvert is the overbridge on the Charndon to Twyford road.  This is quite a substantial three arch bridge as seen below taken from the adjacent public footpath.  This is not so apparent when travelling along the road.

 Looking back towards Calvert, the trackbed is quite clear here.  Another small yellow sign like the one after the next bridge can be seen to the right.  Both have the number 13 on them.

If you zoom in a bit you can see that the track switches sides just before the bridge.

Looking towards Bicester from the same bridge.

If you zoom in here, you can just make out the blue bridleway bridge in the distance.  There are numerous footpath, bridleway and farm crossings along the line.  These are subject to public meetings to decide their future.  The one above is fortunate enough to be on an over bridge so won't be affected. 

Next bridge is at the site of the former Marsh Gibbon and Poundon station, another that won't be re-opening.  This view looks north.  Not the usual arched bridge style.

 Looking south with the former station entrance on the left.

 Some bridge plates appear to have been recently added.  It states that this Bridge OXD 34 but I am slightly confused by the Thornhill at Bicester North.  This line passes through Bicester Town.

Next road bridge is at Bicester Road Marsh Gibbon.  Bit of a mixture of blue brick and Cotswold stone style blocks with a steel girder and concrete deck.  This looks south.

 The opposite view north.

This bridge has also had recently added bridge plates.  This one also claims to be OXD 34 but the location makes more sense.

 Next is the Launton Level Crossing.  Will this be replaced by a bridge?  Once this becomes a busy passenger line, I would imagine that Network Rail would be keen to close it.

Looking towards Bicester, this was the site of the former Launton station although there is little evidence of it now.

 Looking east towards Bletchley.

Finally this is the road overbridge at the other end of Launton Village.  This is single lane traffic light controlled.  This looks towards Bicester from the Launton side.  It has had some recent work to increase the height of the parapet walls.  There is a full pavement on one side but on the other side, the parapet leans inwards somewhat disconcertingly as I found out when I took a picture of the line.

 This looks across the Charbridge Lane level crossing.  In the distance you can just make out the edge of the Bicester chord work site.

Zooming in reveals that this is a driver operated level crossing.  At the very least this will have to be upgraded to automatic operation.

Looking the other way towards the former Launton station.

Finally zooming in here you can see the track switches to the other side of the formation.  This is better than my previous attempt to show this.  In the next post I hope to cover the Bicester to Oxford section to see how the upgrade is going. 

Bicester update 29th November 2014

I apologize  for the lack of recent updates.  No opportunity to visit the area unfortunately.  However I was passing nearby and got a few pictures of the work at Gavray Drive.  Work seems to have stepped up a gear now with lorries entering and leaving the site at short intervals.  The new foot bridge taking the public footpath over the new chord has been installed.  The new foot bridge will be great for photographing later on.  You would wonder why these embankment works were not carried out during the summer months with the benefit of the better weather.

Here is the aforementioned foot bridge.  Same colours as the Tubbs Lane crossing but much simpler in design.

I could not gain access to the footpath that will cross the bridge when it opens.  It was flooded at the entrance and my footwear did not allow me to  get through.  Here we can see one of the lorries returning after dropping its load.

Another lorry drops its load.  It appears that the chord is a lot longer and more gradual than I first imagined.

 Moving around to the right, you can see the white geo textile matting as the chord rises tro meet the Chiltern line.

 Same area taken from a different angle.  The flooding that prevented access to the field can be seen in the foreground.  The following two pictures are grab shots so the quality is not great.

 Heading south from Bicester on the A41, the Chiltern line crosses the road on this bridge.  Very well maintained and signage in good condition.  However the same cannot be said of the former Great Central main line bridge just to the north of Aylesbury Vale Parkway station.

 It has a very neglected look to it with rusting steelwork and faded signage.  Although it has been a freight only line since the closure of the Great Central, it is surely false economy to neglect it in this way.  However it appears that work is now being carried out with scaffolding erected to the left and quite a bit of activity on the embankment.  This could be the start of preliminary works to upgrade the line to passenger carrying standard.