As we reported last week, contractors have been back on the Blackpool Tramway extension along Talbot Road to a new terminus for Blackpool North Railway Station for additional work and in this pictorial we take a look at Talbot Square to see up close what has been happening.
Whilst we have previously thought the majority of works surrounding the tracks had been completed recent weeks have seen some of the previously laid concrete ripped up to allow further attention around the points both within Talbot Square and up at the old Wilko’s site.
Looking towards the Prom we can see three small squares where the concrete has been ripped up to allow further attention.
And here we look the other way with the Promenade end of the line seen closest to the camera. (Both Photographs by Tony Armitage, 11th February 2022)
All this costs money. What has gone wrong this time?
My guess is that this work is probably associated with installation of signalling/points control equipment. It is not unusual for some of the concrete embedding material to be removed once the final design of the control systems is known allowing accurate placement of individual components. In some systems steel reinforcement may have to be removed to be replaced by fibre reinforcement to ensure the control elements work correctly. The final accurate equipment positions are often not known when the track si surfaced.