Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Stanton aqueduct round up



BRIDGE 09 – AQUEDUCT/ PEDESTRIAN FOOTBRIDGE – FINAL REPORT




















The Aqueduct/footbridge is now totally completed and the Public Footpath which it carries has now been re-opened. 

You can just about make out the timber fencing at each end on the south view photo.

Cotswolds bank seat as built

Cotswolds bank seat today
The main changes, since the last report, are to the east (Cotswold) bank seat. 

Costwolds side footpath entrance

Cotswold side landing area

This has been enlarged to provide a better entrance, with a new “landing” area. 


New timber fencing, here on the Malvern side

 All of the timber fencing around the Public footpath approach section at both ends has been replaced.

New grating


The inlet on the Cotswold side has been fitted with a grating. This end is now fixed so the joint between the steel box and the concrete approach channel should no longer leak. 



The final (not very clear) photo is of the Malvern end showing the rollers which retain the steel box but allow for movement due to expansion, which could total up to 25mm over the likely temperature range encountered in this country (minus 10 C to + 35 C). 


Heat absorption by the steel can add another 5C.



   

Inevitably, when working in November/December, there were a few problems encountered during the works:–

  1.         Low temperatures slowing the off-site painting operation and some of the brick laying.
  2.         The gales, which stopped the expensive 60T crane from being used for the steel erection work. Although excellent service using a large lorry with a very long reach Hiab crane was substituted, this was nowhere near as flexible. It involved some shunting of the lorry to and fro between lifts, to optimise the reach and angle needed. The short notice availability and reach issues probably added about 2 days onto the installation operation.
  3.        The rain, which made access up the embankment difficult and caused delays in excavation, concreting and brick laying, and the final making good.

Fortunately, by very hard work and chasing around for alternatives, the Contractors were able to overcome all of these issues, and managed to get the line cleared in time for the northbound Santa trains to start on Saturday 8th December, as originally programmed. The Contractors were finished just 2 days late, on the Tuesday night (11th) and finally cleared all their welfare and storage cabins, waste skip and plant  site, from Stanton yard on Friday (14th) leaving it a lot clearer than before they started (photo)!




Photos courtesy of Alastair Watson & John Balderstone.

16.12.2018 - JOHN BALDERSTONE

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5 comments:

  1. Peter Lee18 December 2018 at 17:41

    Good looking final outcome! Do the intermediate brick piers have rollers on top to allow for the expansion? When you say "Heat absorption...can add another 5C" - is that from the sun's radiation on the metalwork? (Assuming the other temperature range is ambient air.)

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  2. Paul & Marion Sucksmith20 December 2018 at 11:22

    Hello Jo
    thanks for a great report, it seems that the contractors have done an excellent job on this and we can see this bridge being very popular for the train spotting photographers amongst us! Well done to all who got this sorted. A great job by all concerned and on time despite the weather!
    Regards
    Paul & Marion.

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    Replies
    1. Aardvark1128 December 2018 at 16:54

      I'm curious about the public footpath that goes across this bridge. It appears to start by the B4632 road, near an entrance to what appears to be some sort of stately home - but where does it come out? I've tried following it on Google Earth but it doesn't seem very clear after the bridge over the railway.

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    2. Peter Lee5 January 2019 at 11:44

      It doesn't go very far! You can see it on Streetmaps.co.uk - there is a link to it on Jo's Extension Blog - if you set the zoom to 1:25000 you will see the ordnance survey map with the path clearly marked as coming out on Stanway Road at the triangular intersection with the southbound lane.
      If you look in Google Earth at 52.005239(North) and -1.907018 (west) degrees then switch to Street View you can see the gate and the public footpath sign where it comes out.

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  3. Peter Lee6 January 2019 at 22:31

    If any of you are interested, I've made a short video showing the replacement aqueduct here on Youtube: https://youtu.be/XrzoE1lphL8

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