A month ago I was on site (when this happened ). I thought I'd show why work on the railway isn't always innovation & jazz you see in presentations. It's also huge amount of effort to make sure trains run, work is carried out & things get better (1/9) https://twitter.com/NoelDolphin/status/1330957206511104008?s=20

On Thameside electrification renewals there’s finite budget work in. Budget to renew less than 100 out of 2,300 structures. We need to work hard to optimise & only renew absolute worst. I did a video earlier this year, on some of the initial works (2/9)

This is structure AT/10/45, from 1959. Civils surveys classified it as poor/very poor needing renewal. However, putting in a new structure at this location would be complex, plus structure is lightly loaded. Could it be saved & money be better spent on another structure? (3/9)

Why is renewal difficult? Ground is poor, existing structures on gravity pads – taking up space. Also a lot of gas pipes around the structure. They are even wrapped around the gravity foundation. (4/9).

This was the plan – get to site. Review the structure with civil engineers and overhead line engineers. Also whilst there try to find out the practicality of installing a new structure if we can’t save). This second bit – involved mapping on site the gas mains routes. (5/9)

Safety first – after the briefs and checking-in. Getting isolation forms, then visual check it is earthed. Final check is live line testing. The we are off. (6/9)

To avoid working at heights – the inspection was via a pole. Both with a GoPro for a video, but also with a remote controlled camera. With me as lugging the pole and our civil engineer working the remote control camera on the end. (7/9)

Here is the beauty – it is poor, but the structure is oversized. Look at the structure behind. Once this held wires for the cross-over, but has been moved. So now it is lightly loaded for it’s size. (8/9).

Where are we now? Well the structure is saved, just the equipment is renewed. Means we can renew an even worse structure somewhere else. From the initial assessments, surveys, designs to accessing possessions, writing it up, doing calcs has taken over 6 months. (9/10)

That is it – thought I would post before logging off work for Xmas. Cheers for sticking with it.