The sun was out, my wife is visiting her daughter, so today I took a trip from Lime St along the Wigan Branch and out to Earlestown and back.
1. Wiring in the Old/New interleaving at Wavertree is still as confusing from the train as from the two overbridges. I couldn't see anything at all to suggest Tuebrook Sidings are to be electrified.
2. I counted 22 masts and 9 mastless bases between the limit of wiring east of Broad Green (which is some distance west of Roby Junction) and Bridge Road bridge, Roby. Four of the mastless bases are the very large, cast in shuttering type described and photographed before. I counted each portal complete with crossbar as 2 masts.
3. I counted 15 masts and 10 mastless bases between Bridge Road bridge and the west end of Huyton Station (inclusive.) I may have missed some on the north side as the guard checked my ticket with admirable promptness after leaving Huyton. Two of the mastless bases were of the whopping cast type.
4. I counted 7 masts and 8 mastless bases (all cyliindrical) from Huyton station to Huyton Junction.
5. I couldn't see any gaps or scrapes, so I reckon there's a fighting chance all bases are in place between Broad Green and Huyton Junction inclusive. Allowing for errors in the above it looks like we're past the half way mark in the Roby Junction to Huyton Junction stretch, in terms of metalwork; no wires in sight yet, of course.
6. I could only see four mastless bases between Huyton Junction and Prescot, two on the east side of the tracks between Huyton Junction and the M57 and two on the bridge itself.
7. For some time a full set of wires have been up from a distance south of Prescot to north of Eccleston Park, with a goodly but incomplete number through the canyon to the juction for Ravenhead sidings. I reckon this latter incomplete set is now complete, including the canyon and Scholes Tunnel.
8. There are no wires on the east side of the tracks from the Ravenhead siding to the northern end of Carr Mill Viaduct. There are no wires on the west side of the tracks from the a few hundred yards north of the Ravenhead siding to the northern end of Carr Mill Viaduct. This has been so for months, but the heartening difference is that I could only see one mastless base over that whole stretch. This offender is on the east side about two thirds of the way between Gerards Bridge Junction and Laffak Road. It has metalwork lying next to it ready to erect, so maybe soon.... St Helens Central appears to have a full set of masts with arms, but no dangly bits. The unusual square base tucked in on the west side by the bridge just south of the station has a mast, as do the other stragglers north of the station, except for the one recalcitrant stated above.
9. The shuttering on top of Pier 1 at Carr Mill Viaduct looks as impressive from above as it does from below.
10. The one-on-each-side wiring over the M6 bridge described and photographed recently extends south to the northern limit of full wiring from Carr Mill, which has been a short distance north of Garswood for some time. This means there is at least one wire in the air on both sides of the tracks from Carr Mill Viaduct to Ince Moss Junction.
11. I am well flummoxed by the M6 bridge, however, as the western portal appeared to have been removed. I hope someone is going to tell me I've been seeing things (or not seeing things, more like.)
12. All masts on the branch north of Carr Mill are in place (except for my M6 brainstorm) but there are four mastless bases on the west of the WCML immediately north of Springs Branch Junction, which I surmise must be to do with 'our' electrification. More puzzling is the complete lack of the sort of convoluted interleaving we see at Wavertree and Earlestown east. Either the join at Springs Branch is a lot easier than those two or there's a lot to do.
13. All work on Bryn station seems to be complete. There was no evidence of Orangemen or their clobber at all. I am a bit surprised that with all the rebuilding that took place the ramps weren't made wheelchair/pushchair friendly. To my lay eyes there seems to be plenty of room on both sides to wind paths gently down, as at Huyton.
14. In all, a lot of consolidation and gap plugging has gone on on the Wigan Branch.
15. On Chat Moss east of Huyton Junction the only changes I could see was more metalwork up at Earlestown, including a portal immediately east of Junction Lane bridge and, I hardly dare say it, the lone mastless base at Huyton Quarry appears to have had a mast plonked on top, but then I've said that before....
16. A couple of weeks ago I reported that I thought all eight 'bites' had been taken out of Sankey Viaduct's parapets. I was wrong, the most easterly pair (Column 10) haven't been bitten off yet, maybe they will be tonight.....
I took a few photos. I'll add some and the updated spreadsheet this evening.