Judging by the pulleys I spotted at Huyton station yesterday, I think the installation of the missing autotransformer wire on the up side must be imminent. Of course, that doesn't mean the autotransformer system is imminent, I notice the autotransformer wires over most of the rest of Wavertree to Earlestown are all strapped to earth for safety purposes.
I also paid a quick visit to Manchester Victoria yesterday and was impressed
by the progress on the electrification, it looks like the five day blockade will be enough time to finish it.
Contact wire and catenary seems to present the full length of four platforms, albeit on temporary fixings in some places.
The main reason for my trip was to take some pictures of the tunnels at Farnworth before the main work begins there in May. I had foolishly failed to get any shots of the tunnel mouths when I took my "before" pictures of Farnworth Station a couple of years ago.
Staff were on the station installing signalling for the temporary single line working, the crossover at Kearsley is already in place, as is the one at Moses Gate I believe
And here are the tunnels themselves.
Very simply, the plan is to reline and strengthen the small tunnel and then use single line working through that while the larger tunnel is bored out to make it big enough for two electrified tracks. At the end of the work the smaller tunnel will be redundant.
