BRIDGE 08 – B4632, STANTON &
BRIDGE 07- STANTON FIELDS -
PRINCIPAL INSPECTIONS
On Monday 8th October a new contractor came
along to carry out a principal (detailed) inspection of these two bridges. They brought with them two vehicles:
In the picture you can see a MEWP and a van.
You're probably asking: what is a MEWP?
It's a Mobile Elevating Work Platform.
You may know it under its more common name of cherry picker.
In this picture it is parked underneath bridge 08. That's the main road (B4632) passing diagonally over the railway at Stanton.
They will be returning in November to do a Principal
Inspection of bridge 11 – Stanway Viaduct.
Most of this inspection will be done from a MEWP
working from the field below, but at least 5 of the 15 arches will be done using aerial
rope workers, which will be a new activity for us.
BRIDGE 09 – AQUEDUCT/ PEDESTRIAN FOOTBRIDGE
START OF
REPLACEMENT NOW IMMINENT
For those who are not familiar with the Railway, this
bridge is about 1¼ miles north of Toddington.
It is a 3-span structure, comprising an open topped steel box channel approximately 34m overall length.
The channel carries a small stream across the railway, which is dry for much of
the year. The top flanges of the channel have timbers bolted to them, which
carry further timber at right angles, forming a pedestrian walkway with steel
handrails.
Unfortunately the timbers have caused water to be trapped against
the steel, which has caused unbelievably extensive corrosion of steel ½” thick
(see picture) and odd bits have fallen off. In addition the sides of the channel have
been reduced to about half their original thickness, and some holes have also
appeared. The footpath has had to be closed for safety reasons.
Fortunately the two brick piers are sound and will be
retained. The bank seat on the Malvern side was rebuilt in concrete in 2002,
but no provision was made for expansion. In consequence the thermal expansion
(up to 25 mm) all occurs at the Cotswold end, where the water enters, and
consequently leaks occur at the joint between the stream and the steel box. It
is in poor condition and will be re-built as a fixed end.
Manufacture of the new structure is being done by a
contractor in North Wales, who has done several other bridge works for us. Two photographs showing the new closed channel showing progress of the fabrication, can be seen above.
BRIDGE 12 – STANWAY VIADUCT.
We have had an ongoing problem with the 4 end corners
of this structure, where gradual erosion of the embankment against the end brick
piers has been undermining the edges of the track bed, leading to slippage of
the ballast.
A temporary retaining wall was created using concrete sleepers as can be seen in the adjoining pictures
but the continuing movement is now causing them to lean over, so
a more permanent retaining scheme needs to be put in place.
As the embankments
are mostly made of clay fill a soil investigation has had to be carried out, so that a
properly designed scheme can be prepared. A drilling rig went to the site for two
days last week to do the bore holes and take soil samples. In the picture you can just make out the top of the viaduct on the left.
A
Topographic survey will also have to be carried out to establish the ground
contours, which has meant a huge job for Mike Peers and his team, so that the
surveyors can see exactly what is there.
ONGOING ANNUAL VISUAL INSPECTIONS
All the time throughout the year, Alastair Watson
soldiers on with doing the visual inspections of each of our 46 bridges and
about 60 Culverts. A typical photo group for bridge 25 (Working Lane at Gretton)
compiled by him is given below. A written report is also produced.
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Damaged fence on down/Cheltenham wing wall
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Close up of pointing done in October 2016 showing cracking
at low level
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Up/Cheltenham wing wall showing growth and damaged fencing
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Up side parapet showing fresh graffiti
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Photos courtesy of John Balderstone, Jonathan Symonds, Alastair Watson & Brunswick Ironworks.
24.10.2018 - JOHN BALDERSTONE
Have you heard about the new graffiti below Gotherington ,on Posts and bridges ,I missed them doing a meet and greet coach party ,but they are visible from train and have bad language on them . john M.
ReplyDeleteParticularly bad language!
DeleteWe have about 8 bridges with varying amounts of graffiti (Br. 38 at Bishops Cleeve being the worst by far, but more "artistic"!! and less offensive than elsewhere). Our C & M dept. are hoping to get onto this soon, but they have a huge list of projects awaiting action. We will aim to remove the more offensive ones first.
DeleteJudging by the style and paint used they were mostly done by the same hand.
DeleteI strongly recommend that for any pictures you take of the graffiti that you blur the “art” before uploading. By putting them in the web you are giving the “artists” exactly what they want.
ReplyDeleteJust a suggestion!
Another reason we didn't post is that the nature of the graffiti is extremely offensive.
DeleteThe graffiti started with the building of the houses to the north of Bishops Cleeve along our line.
Thanks for the update, and sad to hear about the graffiti - any chance the foulest could be removed before santa specials commence?
ReplyDeleteon the aquaduct, 'scuse my ignorance but looking at those pictures of the fabrication and with Broadway canopy in mind, how much thought was given to seeing how much of the aquaduct job could be done "in house"? I'm not normally one for saying this as I do accept the need for contractors for certain jobs, but I was gobsmacked by how much this job is costing and I'd be curious to know why it was felt volunteers couldn't do this when such a marvellous (and cheap) job was done at Broadway.
The way I do my own building work is to do what I can do the best myself & save the most paid for time & money and let Contractors do what they do best quickly & for little additional labour cost.
DeleteTimescales here are very tight, materials & cranes will be the highest cost, so Contractors win I guess
I think the volunteers with the relevant metal fabrication skills are fully involved in making the Broadway footbridge steps, and after that the canopy extension, so probably not able to do work on the aqueduct.
DeleteIt is expensive maintaining a railway. It’s good to see money going into infrastructure, as I believe the railway will be in a much stronger position to push northwards in a few years with all of the structures and culverts in good shape, prevention is better than cure and with good drainage and well maintained bridges it surely must minimise the risk of landslips or more costly works later on.
ReplyDeleteIt’s nice to have the good stuff like carriage sheds, turntables, and more extensions. But better to have the existing line in top form and open for business to keep the cash flowing surely