Appalling lack of line side maintenance

[Marx]

....Having been abroad for many years , on my return and for the first time in years, I travelled to Northumberland by the ECML from KX... The overgrown vegetation and grubby views from the carriage on the first part of the journey from KX was a shock to see....the graffiti scrawled on just about every inch of the brickwork was unbelievable...Question...Is it the private train companies responsibility for trackside upkeep and security....?
I would also like to know how these vandals can so easily access railway property to cause criminal damage and endanger lives,,,!

Seething
Morpeth

[2512silverfox]

Welcome back to GB in 2018! You will find everywhere is the same.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Country Australia, is so much nicer.

manna

[Pyewipe Junction]

One thing I always notice is the amount of weeds that are allowed to grow in between (and, in some cases, on) the tracks.

[Mickey]

I believe it is the responsibility of Network Rail for the clearance of line side vegetation although I don't know if the job is nowadays contracted out or not?. Also there are several weed killing trains running about the country.

Also back in the early 2000s when I was a signalman on the North London line there was at that time a dedicated 'Anti-graffiti gang' that went around a fairly large area of the southeast and the east Anglia area cleaning this stuff off brickwork, bridges, structures, signs & buildings anyway one day while talking to the ganger he told me that I would be surprised at where him and his gang had to travel to to clean this stuff up and he went on to say that him and his gang had to travel to Abbots Ripton on the ECML one day which according to him was in 'the middle of nowhere' with fields all around for miles because some "graffiti artist" had spray painted a bridge and even the nearby Milepost as well.

I knew where Abbots Ripton was from way back as it happened a few miles north of Huntingdon.

[52D]

Micky any student of the ECML should know where Abbots Ripon is due to the accident.

[Marx]

Re lineside maintenance..Agreed Micky, and everyone else.... and Manna, I have just returned from South West Victoria...great countryside in the Bush...fresh unpolluted air...I was in Adelaide too...guess I could have visited for a chin wag about KX ...cheers all...

[Mickey]

To right 52D regarding Abbots Ripton.

I was in the box one night about 10 years ago when I heard the 'crunch of the ballast' outside so I went to the box window and threw it wide open just in time to see some urchin just about to spray paint the front of the box anyway I obviously surprised him and looking down on him from the open window I said "Do you want something mate?" where upon his reaction was to suddenly take off and run back up the line not to be seen again!!.

[52D]

Isnt there a few ghost stories about Abbots Ripon. Micky

[Mickey]

There could well be 52D because it was a bit of a lonely sort of place Abbots Ripton and it was surrounded by open farm land although the railway and signal box was in a bit of a cutting from memory. The railway cutting started about Stukeley and continued pass Abbots Ripton northwards before the railway cutting fell away on the run towards Wood Walton & Connington but I haven't really been down that part of the main line on a fairly regular bases since about 1975 except for a return trip to York back in 1989.

[StevieG]

There are certainly a ghost story or two of not far away, about the level crossing at the former Connington North box.
One possibly relevant thing about the weeds. More recently at least one or two of the really vociferous and effective weed-killing agents used 20, 30 or more years ago are no longer permitted on more general environment protection grounds.
Though there may now be alternative treatment solutions available that are legal and just as good, for all I know.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Back in the day (early 70's) the area around Abbots Ripton, was very open, you could see for miles, and the banks and cuttings had hardly a bush, let alone a tree, I saw a picture the other day, and was gobsmacked, there are trees everywhere, at a 125mph, it would look like a green picket fence.

manna.

Marx, before you come over next time give us a call, we'll see if we can meet.

[Marx]

Wii do manna for sure..

[Mickey]

About 3-4 years ago there was bit of a drive on by Network Rail to clear away a lot of the line side vegetation from around the country with a number of vegetation clearing gangs being sent out to various locations to clear it away and tidy up the railway embankments anyway one of these gangs that numbered about 7 or 8 men spent a whole week cutting back line side vegetation in my area and they made a pretty good job of it although suffice to say 3 or 4 years on it's back to what it was like before it was all cut back. Funny I don't remember any problems with line side vegetation back in the 1960s & 1970s, I believe I first started to notice it towards the end of the 1980s.

I observed on passing Kings Cross station several days ago on a bus going along York Way that there was a 4-5ft tall 'weed' growing in between the points work at the 'throat' just before Gasworks tunnel you wouldn't have seen that even back in the 1970s.

[harvester]

No trouble up to the end of steam Mickey , more general pollution plus the steam engines regularly set the cuttings and embankments on fire !