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Bridge bashing


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There used to be a bus service under this bridge:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/24+Sinclair+St,+Greenock+PA15+2EY,+UK/@55.9404846,-4.7261454,3a,75y,190.6h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s2ryiIvbTOTBQkcuSwWcjMw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x4889ae1b534863ad:0xdff823610808cb97
 

In the mid-1960s, there was only one bus in the local garage could be used. I think it was a Guy, but I’m not sure. Where else did buses run under a bridge this low?

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2 hours ago, melmerby said:

It was off route according to some reports.

 

Bridge is 12' between markers and a double deck bus is about 14'

 

The June 2019 Google view in the opposite direction shows a missing height plate:

https://goo.gl/maps/14CmortoU7bmFfuGA

The sign on one side of the bridge was obscured by vegetation as shown on this evenings BBC news.

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Isn't there one somewhere that required single deck buses with specially shaped roofs. I seem to recall that the buses were Bedford VAL's and later Bristol RE's. After that a new road was built and the route diverted away from the bridge.

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9 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Isn't there one somewhere that required single deck buses with specially shaped roofs. I seem to recall that the buses were Bedford VAL's and later Bristol RE's. After that a new road was built and the route diverted away from the bridge.

 

Not a railway bridge though Phil, but one under the Bridgwater canal near Warrington. The bridge was rebuilt in the 80s allowing normal buses to pass but it still had to be single deckers.  2 of the Bedfords are preserved but the Bristols didn't last long.

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Anent the Winchester horror, this is a quote from the BBC website. 

 

"Poppy, 11, who was sitting on the top deck of the bus, said the children had noticed the driver was "going on a completely different route" in the moments before the crash."

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last-minute replacement driver who doesn't usually do the service/route?

 

I used to need to get the first bus of the day to work and many's a time the driver asked where he was supposed to be going (or there were shouts of 'you're going the wrong way').

Seemed to be a service that would often fail to have the rostered driver, so others were used - from the same depot but on services in a different town to what they were used to. I think they sometimes had a 'route book' but if you don't know the streets/streetnames, it can still be hard to follow the guide.

 

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1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

The sign on one side of the bridge was obscured by vegetation as shown on this evenings BBC news.

That's only really an excuse (if still a poor excuse) if the height variation between bridge & vehicle is marginal. An experienced driver of double-deck buses would, I assume, have a good idea of when a bridge would look marginal, or obviously too low. No idea what this driver was thinking. Also not sure about the comments in the report that witnesses said "the driver decided to go for it anyway"..??!! Did he actually say that out loud beforehand??

Usually it should be "if in doubt, don't". Years ago one job used to take me on the A433 between Cirencester & Tetbury. The railway bridge for the line from Kemble is 13ft clearance. The truck I had at the time was 12ft 10in tall. I never risked it, and took the (well signposted) diversion route through Kemble, every time.

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19 minutes ago, Ohmisterporter said:

Is there a margin of error in bridge clearance signs? And are heights checked after every road re-surfacing with appropriate adjustment to signage if required? 

 

Good Question as clearly the vehicles must have a kinetic envelope - bounce on their springs

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1 hour ago, Ohmisterporter said:

Is there a margin of error in bridge clearance signs? 

Usually although not that much of an margin for todays incident. 

There was a low rail bridge on the former GC mainline south of Nottingham. The City Transport had it measured in the early 70s when it was still in use for freights before the Loughbrough Chord was built and found the clearance was 6 inches more than it as identified as. They had a batch of buses built with, uniquely for the time, low floors which otherwise looked like their full height buses.

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When using bus heights, it is safe to assume the sign is as stated plus 3". As the routes will be used regularly the operator will be aware of any changes and be in contact with the local authority responsible. This is due to allowing a little extra for long high vehicles. As a example, there is a bridge at meadowhall in sheffield that we have had to stop using as the height signs have been altered to lower the bridge because it is at the bottom of a hill on a bend, and long vehicles kept hitting it as they were below the height but the camber and incline caused them to hit it half way along. 

 

 

If that is a standard stagecoach E400, they are built to a low height as standard of 13`6" IIRC. Normal DD are 14`5" or 14`6" (this is due to london spec for interior height).

 

 

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14 hours ago, keefer said:

last-minute replacement driver who doesn't usually do the service/route?

 

I used to need to get the first bus of the day to work and many's a time the driver asked where he was supposed to be going (or there were shouts of 'you're going the wrong way').

Seemed to be a service that would often fail to have the rostered driver, so others were used - from the same depot but on services in a different town to what they were used to. I think they sometimes had a 'route book' but if you don't know the streets/streetnames, it can still be hard to follow the guide.

 

That's why a lot of bridge strikes are by rail replacement buses - it's not a common route and the driver often isn't familiar with the area...

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15 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Isn't there one somewhere that required single deck buses with specially shaped roofs. I seem to recall that the buses were Bedford VAL's and later Bristol RE's. After that a new road was built and the route diverted away from the bridge.

SWT had these built for routes around the Morfa and Machynys areas of LLanelli:-

https://showbus.com/gallery/wales/swt2.htm

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Many more and it'll be declared a pandemic.

All double decker buses will be on lockdown. Police will be stationed at all railway bridges and will fine any driver attempting to take a bus through

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1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Can't imagine what a bus was doing there.


Since it appears to have been running empty, perhaps on the way to/from a start/end point for a scheduled service? I know of at least one bridge strike by a bus taking a shortcut back to the garage after the last run of a shift.

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2 hours ago, rab said:

Police will be stationed at all railway bridges and will fine any driver attempting to take a bus through

If the driver hits the bridge, he will be fined anyway. Plus get points on his licence, and even if he doesn't lose his PSV ('D' or 'D+E' these days) entitlement he'll likely lose his job. Same goes for truck drivers.

I'm amazed at the recent rash of buses hitting bridges though. :scratchhead:

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1 hour ago, pH said:


Since it appears to have been running empty, perhaps on the way to/from a start/end point for a scheduled service? I know of at least one bridge strike by a bus taking a shortcut back to the garage after the last run of a shift.

 

I know that part of Bristol very well. It is not a sensible route for getting a bus back to "The Centre".

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1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I know that part of Bristol very well. It is not a sensible route for getting a bus back to "The Centre".


It’s rather obviously not a sensible route to anywhere for a double decker :D ! But the driver was using it to get somewhere. As I said, given the bus was running empty, I’d guess it was being used as a shortcut.

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1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I know that part of Bristol very well. It is not a sensible route for getting a bus back to "The Centre".

 

30 minutes ago, pH said:


It’s rather obviously not a sensible route to anywhere for a double decker :D ! But the driver was using it to get somewhere. As I said, given the bus was running empty, I’d guess it was being used as a shortcut.

Perhaps he just took a wrong turning.

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