Some bridges have survived, some have not

[dodger]

Hi guys,

Just added some new pics to my flickr photostream, feel free to have a look see :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bondystuff ... 008155789/

cheers.

[AlanL]

Just another point.I read in the railway press this week that the road bridge at Ruddington station near Nottingham on the northern end of the Great Central Railway was time expired.It was two girder spans on blue brick arches.Instead of merely demolishing it and replacing it with an embankment, Nottingham Council rebuilt it as two blue brick arches with clearance for trains underneath! It must have cost a lot to do, but it shows what is possible when a local authority is friendly to your aims.

[AlanL]

I just read an official Nottinghamshire County Council report into the Ruddington bridge and I think it is worth quoting here.Apparently the bridge was owned by the British Rail Property Board who, in return for the local authority taking ownership of the bridge to repair it, paid NCC a "dowry" of £100,000 ! Apparently this is an established arrangement for BRPB when it disposes of surplus structures. I wonder if they own Burdale Tunnel?
http://itsacr02a.nottscc.gov.uk/apps/nc ... ington.pdf

[csimpson]

I am not sure who owns the tunnel, but BRB owns Settrington tunnel, the bridge outside North Grimston and one bridge support (MD8?). These are long term projects! THe first phase must not include bridges! to keep the costs down!But I presume rebuilding the three bridges back to Burdale seems quite easy compared to what the Northampton and Lamport railway had to do: rebuild two bridges over a wide river! Those two small bridges on burdale lane only need brickwork repointing and the instillation of a steel girder pre-fab inserted back into the brickwork.

[AlanL]

Chris, I think it was Mike Elliot told me that the bridges at Burdale merely consisted of pieces of old rail laid side by side.When you consider that the line was RA9 ( meaning that it could be used by any type of traffic) I think the HMRI would be happy with that?

[MikeE]

You are quite correct Alan, Bridges 12,17 and 18 were all decked with rails bolted together,17 and 18 decks were removed in the 80s but bridge 12 still has its deck made of 48 rails bolted together. I have photographed all the bridges (and whats left of the demolished ones) over the last few weeks in detail and make interesting viewing, hopefully I will be showing them at the next meeting.

[AlanL]

A former colleague of mine from Peak Rail posted this om the National Preservation website and I think its worth posting here.Although its not strictly analogous to the YWR (the bridges were of a wider span than the M&DR ones) I think it makes some good points.

http://railways.national-preservation.c ... er#p224382

[dodger]

A former colleague of mine from Peak Rail posted this om the National Preservation website and I think its worth posting here.Although its not strictly analogous to the YWR (the bridges were of a wider span than the M&DR ones) I think it makes some good points.

http://railways.national-preservation.c ... er#p224382

The link dont work dude !!!!

[AlanL]

It works for me. I just clicked on it and it worked perfectly.If it doesnt , try searching National Preservation for -
"Memoirs of a Railway Volunteer - Part 2"
Hope this helps!

[wato]

yes it worked fine for me aswell