Phyllis has left the building...
Finally some definite word on what's happening with Crossrail, a bulletin received today:
Temporary closure of Hampden Street footbridge
Hampden Street footbridge (also known as the Westbourne footbridge) that spans the Great Western Railway will be closed again to allow “Ada”, the second tunnel boring machine (TBM), to pass underneath. The first TBM “Phyllis” passed under the bridge on 13/14 March and is currently burrowing underground towards Paddington.
Once Phyllis is completely underground there will be space to move Ada into the portal area at Royal Oak and this will happen on the weekend of 9/10 June 2012.
Ada will be placed on a low-loader and rails, and moved very slowly 400m up to the portal, ready to be launched. The size of the TBM requires the northern section of the Hampden Street footbridge to be raised by 3m, on hydraulic jacks supported by steel trestles, as shown overleaf when Phyllis passed under the footbridge.
The footbridge mentioned is the one where I've taken most of my photos of this project.
The full flyer, which includes a picture I haven't seen before showing Phyllis going under the raised bridge, can be downloaded here:
http://www.crossrail.co.uk/assets/library/document/c/original/c300-xrl-z-xbu-m173-50009_temporary_closure_of_hampden_street_footbridge.pdf
What's odd is that they still don't seem to have connected up any of the conveyor belts etc. which are presumably needed to keep the TBMs supplied and take the soil away - think it is probably waiting until Ada is also en route and they can get the machinery in without blocking the access to the tunnels.
Temporary closure of Hampden Street footbridge
Hampden Street footbridge (also known as the Westbourne footbridge) that spans the Great Western Railway will be closed again to allow “Ada”, the second tunnel boring machine (TBM), to pass underneath. The first TBM “Phyllis” passed under the bridge on 13/14 March and is currently burrowing underground towards Paddington.
Once Phyllis is completely underground there will be space to move Ada into the portal area at Royal Oak and this will happen on the weekend of 9/10 June 2012.
Ada will be placed on a low-loader and rails, and moved very slowly 400m up to the portal, ready to be launched. The size of the TBM requires the northern section of the Hampden Street footbridge to be raised by 3m, on hydraulic jacks supported by steel trestles, as shown overleaf when Phyllis passed under the footbridge.
The footbridge mentioned is the one where I've taken most of my photos of this project.
The full flyer, which includes a picture I haven't seen before showing Phyllis going under the raised bridge, can be downloaded here:
http://www.crossrail.co.uk/assets/library/document/c/original/c300-xrl-z-xbu-m173-50009_temporary_closure_of_hampden_street_footbridge.pdf
What's odd is that they still don't seem to have connected up any of the conveyor belts etc. which are presumably needed to keep the TBMs supplied and take the soil away - think it is probably waiting until Ada is also en route and they can get the machinery in without blocking the access to the tunnels.