HS2 West London

[mark99]

Looks like it's starting construction across the Colne Valley. Across the GU near Harefield Marina.

[mark99]

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2021/03/22/hs2-starts-work-on-its-north-west-london-viaduct/

[Tim Lewis]

And a short distance away tunnelling will soon start!

 

 

 

 

The viaduct crosses the lakes/canal in the distance, M25 in foreground

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Tim Lewis

[Guest]

Meanwhile........people are settling in to the concept of working from home, zoom, teams etc.....

 

Im with Swampy....still.

 

[john6767]

They are very successfully destroying large parts of Warwickshire as well.  It is quite difficult to get to Napton from the north as many of the roads are closed.

 

Time will tell if the commuters from Birmingham/Solihull to London return, and what you would expect as and additional price will be worth the 20 mins saved.

[davidg]

I'm sitting eating my breakfast in Napton and am about to drive north to work (Brinklow); there are no roads closed which prevent this, nor have there been due to HS2.

 

There is one major road closure at the moment, the A425 the other side of Southam heading west to Leamington, which HS2 have just announced they wish to extend from 9 months to 20 months (and the original plan was to provide a temporary diversion so no closure would have taken place) which is a PITA if you are heading in that direction.

 

Rumours of the north being cut off from Napton are greatly exaggerated.?

[roland elsdon]

On the other hand from the east you can’t go south because of the Charwelton barrage, and then you can’t go to Banbury on the  chipping warden road, because of the chipping warden hs2 interchange.

Of course the world is generally cut off from Napton anyway when it drizzles because of the East Midlands border control, otherwise known as the staverton slump. 
I had the great pleasure of dodging round that one earlier this year on my bike, observing a drowned Aston and crushed up wang wover, who had ignored the deep water at Beechings revenge.

 

Middle England .

[Victor Vectis]

I hate, loathe and detest HS2 and all that is going with it.

 

The desecration of Euston Square, the loss of the Bree Louise pub, the violation of the Oxford Summit........it goes on and on.

 

(Writes an old and very grumpy railway enthusiast)

[Athy]

27 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

I hate, loathe and detest HS2 and all that is going with it.

 

The desecration of Euston Square, the loss of the Bree Louise pub, the violation of the Oxford Summit........it goes on and on.

 

 

I hadn't heard of the Bree Louise, but have read its interesting (and sad) story on the internet just now.

 

I wonder if the couple did get another pub to run.

[NB Alnwick]

1 hour ago, Victor Vectis said:

I hate, loathe and detest HS2 and all that is going with it.

 

The desecration of Euston Square, the loss of the Bree Louise pub, the violation of the Oxford Summit........it goes on and on.

 

(Writes an old and very grumpy railway enthusiast)

 

Ernest Marples and his anti-railway cohorts were the real villains. The savage decimation of our railway network in the 1960s left few choices - in the 21st Century we need a high speed railway network which could so easily have been achieved through the development of existing routes if alternative policies could have been adopted. The rapidly changing transport requirements of the 1960s clearly indicated a reduction in active route mileage but - had the UK adopted a policy of retaining unused railway strategic routes in reserve (as some countries did in continental Europe) rather than ripping them out and destroying infrastructure (to fill the pockets of scrap merchants and property developers), it would have been possible to shape a better railway when the need arose. The route of the former Great Central Railway with new junctions to the West Coast main Line at Willesden and Rugby could have provided a perfect high speed railway and, with appropriate widening to quadruple tracks, would also have provided much needed freight capacity.

Edited March 23, 2021 by NB Alnwick

[Athy]

I wondered how long it would be until someone mentioned the Great Central line. Mental picture of 'Butler Henderson' hauling commuter trains from Brum into the new London terminus.

 

The trains, as suggested above, would of course be half-empty because so many more people are working from home nowadays and will probably continue to do do.

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

10 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Meanwhile........people are settling in to the concept of working from home, zoom, teams etc.....

 

Im with Swampy....still.

And here they are still digging trenches across the country full of water for horse drawn boats when it obvious that every thing will be moved on iron rails pulled by steaming monsters.  Does the world ever change.

[LEO]

10 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

And a short distance away tunnelling will soon start!

 

 

 

 

The viaduct crosses the lakes/canal in the distance, M25 in foreground

 

 

I live near the other end of the tunnel, lots of work there and a very active Anti HS2 fans on the A413 just outside Wendover on the A413 - a veritable 'pallet city'.

[Victor Vectis]

29 minutes ago, Athy said:

< snip >

The trains, as suggested above, would of course be half-empty because so many more people are working from home nowadays and will probably continue to do do.

 

I can't help thinking that if the pandemic had happened a few years ago the idea of HS2 would have been knocked on ther head, pdq.

23 minutes ago, LEO said:

I live near the other end of the tunnel, lots of work there and a very active Anti HS2 fans on the A413 just outside Wendover on the A413 - a veritable 'pallet city'.

 

They're pizzzin' into the wind but good luck to 'em anyway.

[Nightwatch]

3 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

 

I can't help thinking that if the pandemic had happened a few years ago the idea of HS2 would have been knocked on ther head, pdq.

 

They're pizzzin' into the wind but good luck to 'em anyway.

I agree with both your comments.

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

 

I can't help thinking that if the pandemic had happened a few years ago the idea of HS2 would have been knocked on ther head, pdq.

 

 

It wasn't too late when the Bug started. Alas it probably is now.

[Tim Lewis]

1 hour ago, LEO said:

I live near the other end of the tunnel, lots of work there and a very active Anti HS2 fans on the A413 just outside Wendover on the A413 - a veritable 'pallet city'.

 

I saw an article recently about preservatives in the wood of the  pallets at a HS2 protest camp contaminating the local watercourse, not sure how serious it was !

 

[john6767]

3 hours ago, davidg said:

I'm sitting eating my breakfast in Napton and am about to drive north to work (Brinklow); there are no roads closed which prevent this, nor have there been due to HS2.

 

There is one major road closure at the moment, the A425 the other side of Southam heading west to Leamington, which HS2 have just announced they wish to extend from 9 months to 20 months (and the original plan was to provide a temporary diversion so no closure would have taken place) which is a PITA if you are heading in that direction.

 

Rumours of the north being cut off from Napton are greatly exaggerated.?

Try going to Warwick.  The roads from Southam in that direction are closed.  Before lockdown I had to go down the M42 to junction 12 at Gayton and get to Southam that way.  The other way was to go via Long Itchington, but that is slower, at lest it feels slower.  Perhaps they have opened stuff up during lockdown, but I thought they were shut for some time.

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

I hate, loathe and detest HS2 and all that is going with it.

 

The desecration of Euston Square, the loss of the Bree Louise pub, the violation of the Oxford Summit........it goes on and on.

 

(Writes an old and very grumpy railway enthusiast)

 

When I worked in that area I used to drink in there occasionally. However it was then known as tne Jolly Gardeners.

[Victor Vectis]

The landlord said in that youtube clip "It used to be called the Jolly Gardeners but there was nothing jolly about it and there were no gardens nearby"

 

The Bree Louise and the Euston Tap are/were my preferred stops for (much needed) refreshment when crossing that there London on my way up to Lapworth and the boat.

[Tim Lewis]

14 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

The landlord said in that youtube clip "It used to be called the Jolly Gardeners but there was nothing jolly about it and there were no gardens nearby"

 

The Bree Louise and the Euston Tap are/were my preferred stops for (much needed) refreshment when crossing that there London on my way up to Lapworth and the boat.

 

Have visited both many times, never liked the Tap unless outside as It far too small for the amount of people that use it. Beer at the Louise used to be a bit hit and miss with so many beers on at a time but can't remember having a bad pint there towards the end. There is not shortage of good beer around Euston, the Somers Town Coffee House being my latest 'find'

 

[Heartland]

"

 

•  

Posted 6 hours ago

"I hate, loathe and detest HS2 and all that is going with it."

 

I wonder if people had the same opinion when the London & Birmingham Railway was constructed, In those days there was no Euston station and the fastest mode of conveyance was the stage coach.

 

As work progresses with HS 2, it is important to reflect on the changes the railways made to the canal network, where canal carriers were reduced in number, but were still there in reduced numbers but helping to move new trade and adapting to changing needs, which I suppose HS 2 is all about. 

 

 

 

[Pluto]

20 minutes ago, Heartland said:

I wonder if people had the same opinion when the London & Birmingham Railway was constructed, In those days there was no Euston station and the fastest mode of conveyance was the stage coach.

 

As work progresses with HS 2, it is important to reflect on the changes the railways made to the canal network, where canal carriers were reduced in number, but were still there in reduced numbers but helping to move new trade and adapting to changing needs, which I suppose HS 2 is all about. 

Canals in the north of England were well able to compete with railways and often maintained their existing traffic, with railways taking new traffics. That would have been insufficient for them to succeed financially, so it was fortunate for them that they discovered unexpected passenger traffic. Some canals were leased by railways, but often at a sufficiently high price to allow shareholders to continue to receive some return. It was the post First World War economic decline which did for the more successful northern waterways, not railway competition.

 

In a world severely affected by environmental problems and global warming, we should be looking to reduce our reliance on transport, not encourage its greater use.

[Midnight]

Lock-downs have taught us one thing about HS2 - it's already obsolete! Not only do we no longer need to get to London 20 minutes faster we don't need to go at all. And aren't some major government and corporate offices moving out of London anyway? 
Time to scrap it and put the money into maintaining the existing canal system.

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Lock-downs have taught us one thing about HS2 - it's already obsolete! Not only do we no longer need to get to London 20 minutes faster we don't need to go at all. And aren't some major government and corporate offices moving out of London anyway? 
Time to scrap it and put the money into maintaining the existing canal system.

 

Sadly whilst I agree I do think it's too late now, at least for the first phase. I am probably biased but the money would be much better spent on improving existing rail services oop North. We are finally getting rid of Pacers though which is a good thing.