How It Works, the HS2 Launching Girder 'Dominique' as it builds the Colne Valley Viaduct.

This is my video of 'how it works' a step by step, guide about the Launching Girder called 'Dominique' that is crossing the Colne Valley to build the viaduct for the HS2 railway line in Hillingdon near Denham and Harefield, London.
If you're interested in the Colne Valley and are on Facebook you can join our group here.
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Links to other interesting content on HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct.
• Assembling HS2's giant...
Peter The Rock. Dominique slots the new segment into its new home.
• Dominique slots the ne...
SIMONC Drone Timelapse.
• HS2 COLNE VALLEY VIADU...
cuemaster HS2 Drone fly by Colne Valley Viaduct.
• HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct
HS2 Celebrates start of construction on UKs longest railway viaduct.
• HS2 celebrates start o...
www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/v...

[@tonyl.4841]

Great video, very informative & learned a lot from it, thank you.

[@SIMONC256]

amazing, thanks for doing this, has cleared up a lot of guess work... and i love the haynes manual, 👍👍👍

[@StephenWalker42]

Thank you SIMONC, I hope I haven't ruined the Mystique of Dominique..😊
The Hayes workshop manual was fun to do..👍👍👍...

[@StephenWalker42]

Also if you click 'more' after the title, then in the description, click 'more' again you can see some links to interesting content....

[@DaveFiggley]

Wow ! Thank you Stephen for this excellent and informative post. You have certainly shed light on most, if not all, of the 'mysterious' functioning of Dominique. M. Giroux was obviously a very clever chap.
I second SIMONE256's comment about the Haynes manual. My only other thought at this time is that the still of the girder operating in Hong Kong is quite scary.
Nice work 👍

[@StephenWalker42]

Thanks Dave, yes that pier doesn't look strong enough to take a strong wind as they have in Hong Kong, you must have been scary for Dominique to be put through that...😊

[@PetertheRock.]

Thanks Steve, and well explained! I'm surprised to hear my descriptions of the yellow cage as naming it correctly! I am also surprised the tolerance is only 3mm, and wonder what allowances if any are made for very hot or cold weather affecting the length of the cables, and indeed how any water ingress is kept out! These factors are a common source of a bridge's 'decay' over several decades.

[@StephenWalker42]

Thanks Peter for the comment, interesting questions, as we live in the UK the engineers don't have to worry about hot and cold weather, we just call it rubbish, weather and will result in minimum expansion and contraction...

[@StephenWalker42]

I think the glue is part of the sticky problem of keeping the joint water tight, it forms a bond between the team of glue boys,white boiler suited heroes, Bostik Bob, BlueTack Ben, Loctite Larry and Gorilla Glue George....

[@simoncroft9792]

Great explanation and footage Stephen. Im surprised there isnt an official video for this. IMHO the project would not have had such political problems if they had spent a fraction more of the budget on PR

[@PetertheRock.]

Hi again Steve! Given the speed of the trains, there will be an outward centrifugal force when they negotiate a curve, such as the one over the Colne Valley. I doubt this is negligible, and wonder if any allowance is being made for that (e.g. camber? ). Cheers!

[@StephenWalker42]

Hi Peter, thanks for the comments, I do know that the breaking force of the trains if they have to reduce speed has to be resisted by the viaduct, so the two pairs either side of the canal, 20 and 19 are designed to do that....

[@CRIMSONANT1]

What a complete & utter waste of billions of pounds.
Within a decade of opening (in about 50 years time given the current rate of progress), this concrete monstrosity will be nothing more than a glorified cycle path.
HS2 is an environmental disaster of epic proportions & Britain's biggest infrastructure mistake in half a century.

[@SWRural-fk2ub]

@@CRIMSONANT1 Some evidence to support your contention would have been handy. The hyperbolic '50 years time' in particular could have been usefully justified.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

​@@SWRural-fk2ub.. what was originally planned as a "green, high speed" railway to link the South with the North & beyond has now been reduced to nothing more than a shuttle service between west London & Birmingham .. fact.
Look at Euston station .. put "on hold" for two years & will only be completed if private investment can be found & even if that happens, won't become operational until at least 2041.
The blatant corruption within HS2 Ltd that's recently been exposed has revealed that the public & the government have been lied to since day one of this disastrous white elephant.
Senior executives shredded documents & used totally misleading projections to ensure billions of pounds kept flowing into the project.
Whistleblowers claim they were told by bosses to lie about the project’s cost & were sacked after speaking out.
They say the government wasn't informed of the real cost of HS2 all while voting on laws that approved its construction.
Arguments that the WCML is "full to capacity" rely on a discredited, out of date forecasting model which overestimates long distance passenger growth & isn't used for anything anymore except to justify the monstrous vanity project that is HS2.
Network Rail's "New Lines Programme Capacity Analysis" shows that WCML capacity is kept artificially low by private operators wanting to maximise profits.
A DfT analysis shows that in peak hours leaving Euston, WCML trains were loaded at just 52.2%.
Then there's the environment .. are you aware that HS2 Ltd have already incurred numerous fines for multiple breaches of environmental issues?
Thousands of trees planted along the route in Warwickshire where the vast majority perished because of a lack of aftercare.
The pollution of streams, rivers & other waterways with toxic chemicals.
The bulldozing of mile upon mile of hedgerows containing nesting birds when they specifically promised to wait until the nesting season was over.. the list goes on.
This disaster of a railway should NEVER have been given the go-ahead as it's been nothing but a cash cow since day one & continues to be so.