East Coast Mainline Blockade for Werrington Junction diveunder

[Crun]

Information about line closures at Kings Cross affecting weekends in January and February:

 

https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-later/kings-cross-u

[Donington Road]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

Trimble servo Total Station, probably an S10, conducting track monitoring. Results appear in (almost) real time in the survey office, or on whatever delay is set (base readings and routine monitoring are not checked in real time, because it isn’t necessary or useful). During the actual Tunnelling the results will be monitored in real time and fed through to the tunnel team and NR Engineering, typically during Daily Planning Meeting. 

 

This is a typical setup for this kind of task. There will be a regime for predicted settlement vs tunnel advance, with trigger values for speed restrictions and remedial works. I didn’t see the Monitoring Plan yet but that’s the way it usually operates. 

 

 

Another nugget of information, thanks.

Hope the new job is going well.

 

[Donington Road]

From the NR website, note the new times start at 15:30.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/east-coast/east-coast-upgrade/werrington-grade-separation/

 

To help keep people informed, we are holding a series of community drop-in sessions. Members of the project team will be on hand to answer any questions on the scheme:

This year, 15:30 – 18:00 at the Loxley Centre, just off David’s Lane, Peterborough, PE4 5BW

3 February

2 March

30 March

27 April

These times and dates are subject to change, and more dates will be added shortly, so please check this page each month before attending.

[Donington Road]

Lincoln Road temporary footbridge now open, it's like a maze negotiating the footpath down to Hurn Road.

Still making the access road to the east of Lincoln Road and what looks like partial digging out for the new line next to it.

Large crane has appeared near the dive-under.

Safety fencing being erected between the live running lines from the temporary access off Hurn Road footbridge.

 

 

 

 

 

[eastwestdivide]

Nice bit of Bailey bridge in the top photo?

[Donington Road]

41 minutes ago, eastwestdivide said:

Nice bit of Bailey bridge in the top photo?

 

Oh yes, but with supports like these piled deep into the ground I don't think NR knew what the definition of a Bailey Bridge meant.

 

 

[Richard E]

Some nice pictures there - thanks.

[eastwestdivide]

25 minutes ago, Donington Road said:

Oh yes, but with supports like these piled deep into the ground I don't think NR knew what the definition of a Bailey Bridge meant.

 

Temporary on a geological timescale?

 

Mind you, there's one over the Don in Rotherham (Bailey's birthplace), which has apparently been there since 1947:

https://www.picturesofengland.com/England/South_Yorkshire/Rotherham/pictures/1117213

https://life-publications.com/rotherham-life/community-news/2019/04/16/the-bailey-bridge-eastwood-rotherham/

and refurbished in 1990 or 1992 according to different sources:

 

 

[PenrithBeacon]

Bailey Bridges were intended to be very temporary. I suspect these bridges are heavily redesigned to make them permanent.

[Donington Road]

2 hours ago, eastwestdivide said:

Temporary on a geological timescale?

 

Mind you, there's one over the Don in Rotherham (Bailey's birthplace), which has apparently been there since 1947:

https://www.picturesofengland.com/England/South_Yorkshire/Rotherham/pictures/1117213

https://life-publications.com/rotherham-life/community-news/2019/04/16/the-bailey-bridge-eastwood-rotherham/

and refurbished in 1990 or 1992 according to different sources:

 

That is quite a substantial structure.  The one here at Werrington is more lightweight although it does carry electric, water and telecoms utilities which will eventually go back once the adjoining road bridge to the left is built.

There is also a lot of wood and string in the build so maybe they were erring on the side of caution when they built the supports

 

[Welly]

Apparently the prototype Bailey Bridge was erected over the River Don in the Attercliffe Road area of Sheffield during the war and it is still there. I walked over it once, all I had to do was to follow the River Don footpath from the old Victoria Station area to Attercliffe Road.

[melmerby]

This was temporary when built in 1968 to replace the original washed away in a flood:

 

It's a "Calender Hamilton" bridge carrying the A686 over the River Eden at Langwathby Cumbria. It was meant to be replaced after 10 years but is still there (just);

It nearly got washed away itself a few years ago when there was serious flooding which washed the road on the south side away

 

Google view:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZMKSHb4mrdBSYuVy8

 

BTW Bailey based his bridge on the Calendar Hamilton type.

Edited January 17, 2020 by melmerby

[Donington Road]

Forgot to post this photo from today.

A bit of digging going on near the dive-under access bridge, hard to see what they are doing, maybe they are making access to the underbridge easier.

The ground beyond the yellow digger where the dump truck is standing is much lower than it was.

 

[Richard E]

15 minutes ago, Welly said:

Apparently the prototype Bailey Bridge was erected over the River Don in the Attercliffe Road area of Sheffield during the war and it is still there. I walked over it once, all I had to do was to follow the River Don footpath from the old Victoria Station area to Attercliffe Road.

 

Apparently not from what I can find, it is supposedly near Christchurch although this differs to the information board at the bridge in Sheffield (see below). The inventor came from Rotherham and gained a degree in Sheffield. But he worked in Christchurch for the Experimental Bridging Establishment (see https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2012/01/uk-military-bridging-equipment-the-bailey-bridge/). The bridge on the River Don footpath in Sheffield was erected in 2005 apparently replacing an earlier version. My source for this is at https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMT2H3_The_Sheffield_Bailey_Bridge_Sheffield_UK

 

It includes the narrative from a plaque near the bridge that says;

 

Quote

THE SHEFFIELD BAILEY BRIDGE

The Sheffield Bailey Bridge, which dates from 1945 is believed to have been used in or after the D-Day landings in Normandy and subsequently has travelled the world with the British Army.

It has now found a new peaceful use in the city where its inventor first learnt the profession of a civil engineer, and where the first prototype bridge was erected by the West Riding Squadron of the Royal Engineers, based then at the Somme Barracks, Glossop Road.

The bridge has been adapted to current safety requirements with the addition of a stainless Steel handrail, lighting and parapets designed by Sheffield City Council Design and Site Services.
It was erected by Mandell Engineering and Land & Water PLC in 2005-6.

 

I can remember there being a Bailey Bridge in use in Bristol in  the 1960's as part of the public road network, traffic was controlled by traffic lights. I think it crossed part of the docks.

 

It would seem that there are conflicting claims here which it is unlikely that we mere mortals can resolve.

[jamie92208]

3 minutes ago, Richard E said:

 

Apparently not from what I can find, it is supposedly near Christchurch although this differs to the information board at the bridge in Sheffield (see below). The inventor came from Rotherham and gained a degree in Sheffield. But he worked in Christchurch for the Experimental Bridging Establishment (see https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2012/01/uk-military-bridging-equipment-the-bailey-bridge/). The bridge on the River Don footpath in Sheffield was erected in 2005 apparently replacing an earlier version. My source for this is at https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMT2H3_The_Sheffield_Bailey_Bridge_Sheffield_UK

 

It includes the narrative from a plaque near the bridge that says;

 

 

I can remember there being a Bailey Bridge in use in Bristol in  the 1960's as part of the public road network, traffic was controlled by traffic lights. I think it crossed part of the docks.

 

It would seem that there are conflicting claims here which it is unlikely that we mere mortals can resolve.

There is a section of Bailey bridge on a roundabout at Christchurch with a plaque about it's history. From memory Bailey's main contribution was making it in easily jointed sections so that it could be erected by manpower alone in the field and in such a way that extra sections could be added to increase the load carrying capacity. Mabey engineering now supply a lot of bridges like that. 

 

Jamie

[runs as required]

What an interesting thread.

References to ‘definition of a Bailey Bridge’ made me realised I’d never properly delved back into BBs’ origins.
Here is a Wiki link about its origins: not actually being mass produced until July 1941!

And with a disputed provenance too!

The wiki claims

Quote

the first prototype of this was used to span Mother Siller's Channel, which cuts through the nearby Stanpit Marshes, [Christchurch] an area of marshland at the confluence of the River Avon and the River Stour. It remains there ( 50°43′31″N 1°45′44″W) as a functioning bridge.[14]

 

BBs featured in my childhood because one of our Scout assistant District Commissioners (a former member of the Troop himself) was the local blacksmith who’d become very wealthy during the war as a Bailey Bridge contractor.

As such he was always rather shunned by the rest of our Pennine Mill village because he’d not had a “proper war”.

 

I found him a kindly man who took our local Troop camping all over north Wales and the Lakes in his war-time long wheel-base Bedford open truck at his own expense. He really liked to stay with us 'wild camping' in his own little tent using his giant pair of Airedales as pillows.

 

In the last years of Scotswood's vastly long Vickers tank factory, production seemed to be mainly of tracked bridge carrying veicles.

 

Perhaps the Langwathby bridge (posted above) will be renewed in the promised post-election infrastructure handout for the north.

dh

Edited January 17, 2020 by runs as required

[Titan]

After the Lewisham crash they replaced the overbridge with a temporary Bailey Bridge. It is still there...

[Mike Storey]

1 hour ago, Donington Road said:

 

That is quite a substantial structure.  The one here at Werrington is more lightweight although it does carry electric, water and telecoms utilities which will eventually go back once the adjoining road bridge to the left is built.

There is also a lot of wood and string in the build so maybe they were erring on the side of caution when they built the supports

 

 

It does not matter about the longevity of the structure - that is inherent in the design required. The issue here will be that the structure is required to be placed upon made-up land, and, given that the normal length of time for land to settle is 10 years, which is not allowed here, such piling would be extremely prudent. 

 

Engineering 101.

 

[Donington Road]

1 hour ago, Mike Storey said:

 

It does not matter about the longevity of the structure - that is inherent in the design required. The issue here will be that the structure is required to be placed upon made-up land, and, given that the normal length of time for land to settle is 10 years, which is not allowed here, such piling would be extremely prudent. 

 

Engineering 101.

 

 

Thank you Mike, that is a simple explanation as to why it has substantial foundations for such a short life span at this site.

[rockershovel]

The term “Bailey Bridge” is like Hoover or Sellotape, a particular type of sectional bridge which has come to be used as a generic term for structures of that nature. Most so-called “Bailey Bridges” are nothing of the sort. 

 

Regarding the piling, a bridge is only as good as its abutments. If there is no suitable footing present, one must be included in the construction. 

 

 

[ess1uk]

Let’s hope it's not the same digger driver

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-51152431

[ess1uk]

12 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

There is a section of Bailey bridge on a roundabout at Christchurch with a plaque about it's history. From memory Bailey's main contribution was making it in easily jointed sections so that it could be erected by manpower alone in the field and in such a way that extra sections could be added to increase the load carrying capacity. Mabey engineering now supply a lot of bridges like that. 

 

Jamie

Barrack Road in Christchurch where it crosses the railway.

used to be able to see the bridges etc from the trains 

[rockershovel]

17 hours ago, Donington Road said:

Forgot to post this photo from today.

A bit of digging going on near the dive-under access bridge, hard to see what they are doing, maybe they are making access to the underbridge easier.

The ground beyond the yellow digger where the dump truck is standing is much lower than it was.

 

 

That's the South end of the underpass, yes? There is a substantial piled cofferdam to be constructed there, forming the entry to the underpass and the exit portal for the tunnelling machine

 

[Donington Road]

5 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

That's the South end of the underpass, yes? There is a substantial piled cofferdam to be constructed there, forming the entry to the underpass and the exit portal for the tunnelling machine

 

 

Yes, it will be the eventual maintenance access as well.

The boring machine is in France being refurbished, probably fitting webbed feet to it as well.

[Crun]

On 17/01/2020 at 18:59, Donington Road said:

 

That is quite a substantial structure.  The one here at Werrington is more lightweight although it does carry electric, water and telecoms utilities which will eventually go back once the adjoining road bridge to the left is built.

There is also a lot of wood and string in the build so maybe they were erring on the side of caution when they built the supports

 

I was going to visit this at the end of my usual cycle ride with Peterborough Cycling Club this morning but will delay my start as I've had a warning of icy conditions on the roads. Several people came off their bikes yesterday I have learnt. Must explore this bridge when safer. Thanks for the news Mick.