Great to see the greening-up of the completed earthworks - a big rebuff to the "gloom and doom" merchants who forgot (in their histrionics) that Mother Nature abhors a vacuum. Thanks for this informative survey of this stretch of the route.
@mikehindson-evans159 I was surprised to see that bit of greenery. It goes to show how quickly things can change. The views of people who think this mess will be around forever baffle me. We only have to look at the existing railway lines to see how they blend into the landscape. I'm sure those sites looked just as bad when being constructed.
@@KarlVaughan I believe that the principal reason HS2 construction works are so intrusive is down to the extensive environmental mitigation works that would have been unheard of when the early railways or even the motorway network were constructed. Give these a few years and they will be new woodlands, grasslands and wetlands but they look awful at present. Another reason is the extensive use of cuttings and screening earthworks to reduce visual and noise intrusion.
The A418 Oxford Road section is urban planning at its worst. Its lowered the road speed by 20mph and we now queue to leave Aylesbury in the morning. Great work HS2, you absolute weapons.
Thanks for another look at HS2. Went over the A418 Oxford Road yesterday and I couldn't see that anything had changed since your last visit. They met the deadline to get the new road open, I guess to avoid financial penalties, but it has now just been left.
Another excellent video I like the way you combine drone footage with that from your bike. Do you have a e-bike? Is the roundabout at the southern end of the diversion temporary? A little disappointing that they didn't take the opportunity to dual that section of the A41
@krayzkatman1990 Thanks for watching. Yes, I do have an e-bike which you can see on my cycling playlist. The roundabout is temporary and will be gone in due course. I don't know when but I hope to document that when it happens.
@PeterMatthews-y5g Thanks, I try to give as much information as possible because I know how confusing everything is from the air. I'll give the Missenden Valley section some thought.
It runs almost parallel with the disused Great Central Railway, here. Why on earth the old p/w couldn't be used. It was said to be the best engineered Railway to the north
@christopherbentley5216 The old GCR line was built for different trains that went a lot slower than the speeds that HS2 will run at. Also, there are lots of sections of the old GCR that have since been built over.
Pretty sure there are a lot of Public Footpaths that would cross the line between Waddesdon and Aylesbury,,,all the way up to Wendover and beyond. Seems to be very few footbridges along the route at the moment, though, so hopefully they will be built and all reinstated once the bulk of the track bed is aligned and ready for rails.
Always more happening than most people think. I suppose the easiest way to put it is a hole looks like a hole particularly when viewed from a distance or from high up, you have to be in it to know it's got deeper or wider.
@garthcox4307 There are a couple of signs leading to the second roundabout although they don't appear to be permanent. I don't understand why clearer ones have not been installed yet. It's been open for weeks.
Also,,,I would presume that, in the places where very little has changed, it could possibly be to the area needing test excavations due to old Roman sites, roads, or areas of historical interest. I can't see them just being allowed to plough through an area known to be a Bronze Age Camp or Pre-Roman Settlement without a proper archaeological study first.
That's a sure sign the contract has been mis managed. If it was known there were archaeological remains the archaologists would have carried out their work before the construction works began.
@AFCManUk All archaeological work finished around 3 years ago so they know what's there. If you look at my earliest videos of this section you will see the Roman cemetery discovered near Putlowes. Many weeks were spent carefully excavating it.
I suspect the reason this phase of HS2 seems to be lagging is due to the size of the site. Other sections run for a few miles whereas this section is approx 50 miles long. That might explain why a 4 way joint venture of Contractor's are building the work (Effage, Kier, Bam, Ferrovial). It is the only 4 way joint venture as all the other phases are being constructed by 3 Contractor's, in some places 2. When HS2 set the phasing they probably thought this section, although the longest, was also the most straightforward as it runs through mainly open countryside so is less technically demanding. But since the phasing was set the planning conditions were set out resulting in several tunnels and the bat protection tunnel.
Fantastic stuff Karl. Thank you 😊
Thank you for the update Karl. Thanks also for your explanations and captions.
Great to see the greening-up of the completed earthworks - a big rebuff to the "gloom and doom" merchants who forgot (in their histrionics) that Mother Nature abhors a vacuum. Thanks for this informative survey of this stretch of the route.
@mikehindson-evans159 I was surprised to see that bit of greenery. It goes to show how quickly things can change. The views of people who think this mess will be around forever baffle me. We only have to look at the existing railway lines to see how they blend into the landscape. I'm sure those sites looked just as bad when being constructed.
@@KarlVaughan I believe that the principal reason HS2 construction works are so intrusive is down to the extensive environmental mitigation works that would have been unheard of when the early railways or even the motorway network were constructed. Give these a few years and they will be new woodlands, grasslands and wetlands but they look awful at present. Another reason is the extensive use of cuttings and screening earthworks to reduce visual and noise intrusion.
The A418 Oxford Road section is urban planning at its worst. Its lowered the road speed by 20mph and we now queue to leave Aylesbury in the morning. Great work HS2, you absolute weapons.
Saw this video come up on my feed and clicked on it. Your voice over commentary sounds just like XboxAhoy! Great video
Thanks for another look at HS2. Went over the A418 Oxford Road yesterday and I couldn't see that anything had changed since your last visit. They met the deadline to get the new road open, I guess to avoid financial penalties, but it has now just been left.
Thanks enjoy a coffee and a cake!
Thanks for the tip!
Another excellent video I like the way you combine drone footage with that from your bike. Do you have a e-bike? Is the roundabout at the southern end of the diversion temporary? A little disappointing that they didn't take the opportunity to dual that section of the A41
@krayzkatman1990 Thanks for watching. Yes, I do have an e-bike which you can see on my cycling playlist. The roundabout is temporary and will be gone in due course. I don't know when but I hope to document that when it happens.
Could you revisit the Missenden to Wendover section? Your explanations are way better than the silence of the others!
@PeterMatthews-y5g Thanks, I try to give as much information as possible because I know how confusing everything is from the air. I'll give the Missenden Valley section some thought.
A lot of progress there and quite a lot of trackbed in evidence. Now. Thanks.
It runs almost parallel with the disused Great Central Railway, here. Why on earth the old p/w couldn't be used. It was said to be the best engineered Railway to the north
@christopherbentley5216 The old GCR line was built for different trains that went a lot slower than the speeds that HS2 will run at. Also, there are lots of sections of the old GCR that have since been built over.
Pretty sure there are a lot of Public Footpaths that would cross the line between Waddesdon and Aylesbury,,,all the way up to Wendover and beyond. Seems to be very few footbridges along the route at the moment, though, so hopefully they will be built and all reinstated once the bulk of the track bed is aligned and ready for rails.
@AFCManUk I think all of the footpaths and bridleways will get new overbridges. There are plenty of them in the plans.
Always more happening than most people think.
I suppose the easiest way to put it is a hole looks like a hole particularly when viewed from a distance or from high up, you have to be in it to know it's got deeper or wider.
@Polarbear1-b6j Yes, there is that and also the fact that I don't have access to the works schedule so I'm having to guess what's going on sometimes.
Road users don't know which way to go? I can't see any road signs, not having them in place at the outset smacks of incompetence.
@garthcox4307 There are a couple of signs leading to the second roundabout although they don't appear to be permanent. I don't understand why clearer ones have not been installed yet. It's been open for weeks.
Also,,,I would presume that, in the places where very little has changed, it could possibly be to the area needing test excavations due to old Roman sites, roads, or areas of historical interest.
I can't see them just being allowed to plough through an area known to be a Bronze Age Camp or Pre-Roman Settlement without a proper archaeological study first.
That's a sure sign the contract has been mis managed. If it was known there were archaeological remains the archaologists would have carried out their work before the construction works began.
@AFCManUk All archaeological work finished around 3 years ago so they know what's there. If you look at my earliest videos of this section you will see the Roman cemetery discovered near Putlowes. Many weeks were spent carefully excavating it.
@@KarlVaughan Awesome,,,I will definitely have to check that one out. Thanks!
I suspect the reason this phase of HS2 seems to be lagging is due to the size of the site. Other sections run for a few miles whereas this section is approx 50 miles long. That might explain why a 4 way joint venture of Contractor's are building the work (Effage, Kier, Bam, Ferrovial). It is the only 4 way joint venture as all the other phases are being constructed by 3 Contractor's, in some places 2. When HS2 set the phasing they probably thought this section, although the longest, was also the most straightforward as it runs through mainly open countryside so is less technically demanding. But since the phasing was set the planning conditions were set out resulting in several tunnels and the bat protection tunnel.