please empty your brain below
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That post was very interesting,DG. Glad to find out that they are still using the railway to shift the heavy stuff about.
You're right, that does look like a little yellow hut up on top of the big hill. Perhaps it's a micro workmens' cafe? š
Jo W | 03.05.20 - 7:42 a.m. | #
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Thereās definitely a certain beauty to this alpine scene! The sort of unglamorous infrastructure a city needs, but that everyone rather forgets about. Wonder what the catchment area is for a batching plant - I know thereās another very busy one in Nine Elms (also convenient for rail, though not sure if they use it) and plans in for a smaller one close to the O2.
David | Homepage | 03.05.20 - 7:50 a.m. | #
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I guess the size of the catchment area of a batching plant depends on how much building work is going on in the area. For a certain stadium built recently in North London a temporary batching plant was constructed nearby. Local gravel was used in the mix plus the remains of the old stadium, to boost the eco-credentials of the scheme.
Bob L-S | 03.05.20 - 8:10 a.m. | #
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Sorry DG, it's not Bude, but Burngullow, where the sand waste from the China clay production originates. This is in the extensive China clay area to the north of St Austell.
Bude is, indeed, well known for its sand, but is no longer rail connected. Put it down to auto-correction !
dg writes: Updated thanks.
Petras409 | 03.05.20 - 8:24 a.m. | #
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You can't please everyone, but the monster truck drivers on the mountains seem to have fun.
Organ-Grinder | Homepage | 03.05.20 - 8:33 a.m. | #
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āfrothing fruitloopsā - almost choked on my toast!
Toni | 03.05.20 - 9:32 a.m. | #
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I managed to visit the old Bow depot on a rail charter a few years ago. Also been on a rail charter (twice) to the old Thornton Fields carriage sidings now buried under the Olympic Park. Definitely more interesting than the Archers.
Southern Man | 03.05.20 - 9:32 a.m. | #
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A part of London I have walked past while on the Greenway and never knew what all that industrial stuff was. Interesting post today DG. On my last visit in on the Lee before the lockdown I passed a building site just south of the North Circular with lorries taking away loads of rubble, maybe to the Bow East site. Spent some minutes chatting to a chap in a house boat bemoaning all the debris landing on top of his boat, maybe he has moved his boat a bit while locked-down in it. Thanks DG.
davews | 03.05.20 - 9:39 a.m. | #
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Thanks for this interesting update on the site DG. After decades travelling past the area on my train journeys to and from Liverpool Street, I find it fascinating to be reminded of the huge changes in the whole district. Seeing the clean Bryant and May factory reminds me how black and filthy it all once was.
The soil and aggregates hub is crucial for the expanding construction and building industries, but now I wonder whether there is going to be the need for expansion at this site if we enjoy an economic downturn that results in a drastic decrease in building new homes and infrastructure in the south east.
Herbof | 03.05.20 - 9:41 a.m. | #
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Thank you for "concrete mixers". I worked in that industry and it always annoys me when they are called cement mixers. I used to visit the two plants in that area as part of my last job.
The proposal for the new plant reminds me of the concrete plant at Purley - which is "disguised" as a signal box.
Mike Roberts | 03.05.20 - 9:45 a.m. | #
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The mystery yellow item may be a dust suppression cannon, e.g. this.
dg writes: Agreed, and updated thanks.
fred | 03.05.20 - 9:49 a.m. | #
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Here in Greenwich we don't seem to have any sidings. Must be somewhere else. Greenford?
dg writes: No.
Michael Vince | 03.05.20 - 10:41 a.m. | #
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That is possibly the finest opening sentence I've ever read. Ever. Anywhere.
Ewan | 03.05.20 - 10:54 a.m. | #
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Really interesting, I hadn't realised that this is the site of the old warm up track, as the current one is next to the stadium
Good to see that there still is some strategic planning going on, and sites set aside for such unglamorous but essential activities
Mikey C | 03.05.20 - 11:20 a.m. | #
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The site's locked today, but at least 40 lorries are parked inside, half branded Sivyer (red) and half branded Walsh (yellow).
diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.05.20 - 11:29 a.m. | #
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There you go, you wished for hills and the world provided!
R | 03.05.20 - 12:12 p.m. | #
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Looking a the satelite pictures there does not appear to be any provision for loading to and from the river. The Thames transports aggregates and waste by barge, but I wonder if there is any such traffic on the Lea or whether it is suitable.
kev | 03.05.20 - 12:28 p.m. | #
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I think that opening paragraph is the most DG thing ever. Still laughing.
Dan Wright | Homepage | 03.05.20 - 12:47 p.m. | #
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Thanks very much for the detailed info.
For what it's worth, and something to do on the train, every week since the Olympics I have photographed its development from a running track, to a tip for crossrail waste, to his current incarnation.
Thanks very much it was fascinating.
Alan Slater | 03.05.20 - 1:09 p.m. | #
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Michael Vince -There are rail sidings between Greenwich and Charlton at Angerstein Wharf.
Kev -During Olympic construction a lot of money was spent renovating the locks to enable freight to come in by barge. So far as I'm aware, no freight actually did get delivered that way.
DG -Thanks for this post. Much better than the Archers.
IslandDweller | 03.05.20 - 1:28 p.m. | #
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Phew! Something interesting & more in keeping with usual fare and not wandering off into Mills & Boon-like territory.
B | 03.05.20 - 5:03 p.m. | #
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Is should be given a time limited licence before being finally turned over to residential use. Probably of the same duration that marks the completion of the rest of the QEOP developments.
Andrew Jarman | 03.05.20 - 5:11 p.m. | #
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This land has been industrial for a long time. Given the carbon emissions saved with this project Iām massively in favour.
What do the new residents think their houses were built from?
Theo | 03.05.20 - 9:11 p.m. | #
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I donāt know, but maybe only odd people like me think about what their homes are made from or how the stuff was got from where it was extracted to where it was used. And how it formed in the first place. It all needs to be found and organised. If all goes haywire, e.g. in the aftermath of a global disaster, then we have no new homes, shops, hospitals...
Herbof | 03.05.20 - 11:51 p.m. | #
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I cycled past the gates on Saturday evening and wondered about the DB-branded signs warning of lorry movements, so thank you for the timely post.
Having initially balked at the thought of a concrete plant on the site I think their website has persuaded me that it's overall not a bad idea, though a lorry crossing a cycle superhighway every 3 minutes sounds like a recipe for accidents.
martin | 04.05.20 - 3:40 a.m. | #
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I love reading your blog avidly everyday.
The archers one though may have been the first in over a year that I didnāt want to read.
Aggregate piles though? NOW youāre talking.
Paul | 04.05.20 - 6:36 p.m. | #
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Until the late 1980s or early 90s there was a siding and run round loop which was all that remained of Devonshire Street Goods Depot (accessed from Bradwell Street, now occupied by flats), it was used by aggregates trains hauled by class 56s - the only freight at that time to run through platforms 5 and 8 at Stratford on their way to and from the depot, I'm not sure how the trains were unloaded, but they were pretty much guaranteed at least Mon-Fri, the other regular working for trainspotters was the evening appearance of the 08 hauling a fixed rake of one block of those freightliner flats and a guards van, doing a clockwise loop through platforms 11 and 12 then back via the connection to the NLL.
Still Anon | 04.05.20 - 6:52 p.m. | #
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Thanks DG - I've been passing this a few times a week (probably more when the world returns to normal as it's a commute option). I'd wonder what it was and why it wasn't being turned to housing.
Philip Whitehouse | Homepage | 07.10.20 - 11:20 p.m. | #
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