Bridge bashing

[lmsforever]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Isn't it about due for another ship to crash through? They've had enough fires to last a little while, with the last in 2005.

Hope not when it happens our lifeboats have big problems at low tide we have to push our boat a long way to sea the hovercraft is okay regardless of tide level.They found the captain of one ship blind drunk on the bridge surrounded by shelves of booze ,he never captained another ship!

[lmsforever]

I shold have said that Southend RNLI  has a station at the land end of the pier and another at the head of the sea end of the pier .It is a very busy station and goes out on average 130 times a year with the hovercraft covering the kent coast as well. The crew are wonderful men and women and deserve everyones support as do the 500o othe crew members. 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The pier actually spans the seafront esplanade, thats why the trams took a detour before they reached the pier.

That area went downhill when they got rid of the Golden Hind…..as a nipper I loved running around in that.

 

At least the “penny arcade” is still there.

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, lmsforever said:

Hope not when it happens our lifeboats have big problems at low tide we have to push our boat a long way to sea the hovercraft is okay regardless of tide level.They found the captain of one ship blind drunk on the bridge surrounded by shelves of booze ,he never captained another ship!

That was the Russian (eastern block) ship I believe……surprise, surprise 

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, lmsforever said:

I shold have said that Southend RNLI  has a station at the land end of the pier and another at the head of the sea end of the pier .It is a very busy station and goes out on average 130 times a year with the hovercraft covering the kent coast as well. The crew are wonderful men and women and deserve everyones support as do the 500o othe crew members. 

Have they got rid of the old launch slipway yet? Last time we visited the new station there was mention of it.

 

Not been there since moving down here, oddly enough our next door neighbour is Coxswain of our local boat, actually no…..he resigned two weeks ago thinking about it…..forgot that.

[RJS1977]

11 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Isn't it about due for another ship to crash through? They've had enough fires to last a little while, with the last in 2005.

 

The big one will be when the Montgomery blows up....

[kevinlms]

13 hours ago, lmsforever said:

I shold have said that Southend RNLI  has a station at the land end of the pier and another at the head of the sea end of the pier .It is a very busy station and goes out on average 130 times a year with the hovercraft covering the kent coast as well. The crew are wonderful men and women and deserve everyones support as do the 500o othe crew members. 

 

13 hours ago, lmsforever said:

Hope not when it happens our lifeboats have big problems at low tide we have to push our boat a long way to sea the hovercraft is okay regardless of tide level.They found the captain of one ship blind drunk on the bridge surrounded by shelves of booze ,he never captained another ship!

Yes I know a little bit of Southend Pier. I was brought up in that part of the world, until I was 11.

 

But it does seem that each time some major rework is done, then some disaster occurs not long afterwards.

[JDW]

23 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Likewise,  the old brick arch Reading West Bridge used to have a sign on it to remind passengers on open top trams to remain seated. The bridge was replaced with the current girder bridge in the 1930s in preparation for the introduction of enclosed trolleybuses.

 

I can't help but imagine that if they didn't notice the bridge coming towards them, they probably wouldn't notice the sign either...

[lmsforever]

Think the old slipway is still there saw it in a recent tv show  do you remember the speedboaat that gave rides from the pier boy that was fast.My family could not afford to go on it but liked to watch it tearing around from the pier and then ride back on tram ,in the fifties they were open to the weather and bumpy.

[boxbrownie]

25 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

Think the old slipway is still there saw it in a recent tv show  do you remember the speedboaat that gave rides from the pier boy that was fast.My family could not afford to go on it but liked to watch it tearing around from the pier and then ride back on tram ,in the fifties they were open to the weather and bumpy.

Thanks, I do indeed remember the speedboat, in fact we have a similar speed boat down here that gives rides during the Summer called Superstar……owned by Mark, a very nice bloke.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, lmsforever said:

Think the old slipway is still there saw it in a recent tv show  do you remember the speedboaat that gave rides from the pier boy that was fast.My family could not afford to go on it but liked to watch it tearing around from the pier and then ride back on tram ,in the fifties they were open to the weather and bumpy.

I take it you mean the pier train, they were enclosed but were draughty and unheated. They used short lengths of track joined together by fishplates and when the new trains were delivered to the pier in the late forties, the wheelbase exactly matched the length of each track panel and every car sounded as if it had a wheel flat. Even when they replace the rails they still use short lengths of track rather than CWR in case of vessels striking the pier and damaging the track.  

[Adam88]

I probably shouldn't be reporting this one as no bridges were bashed although one close to me nearly was. 

 

This morning I witnessed a car transporter sheepishly reversing away from what must have been a very close call and then doing about a nine point turn before driving off to find another less hazardous route.  There was only one car on board, on the top deck, and no trailer but it definitely would not have fitted.  To compound the matter the bridge (marked 13'3") is approached through offset chicanes which would not have been easy either with traffic backing up.

[Kris]

24 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

I probably shouldn't be reporting this one as no bridges were bashed although one close to me nearly was. 

 

This morning I witnessed a car transporter sheepishly reversing away from what must have been a very close call and then doing about a nine point turn before driving off to find another less hazardous route.  There was only one car on board, on the top deck, and no trailer but it definitely would not have fitted.  To compound the matter the bridge (marked 13'3") is approached through offset chicanes which would not have been easy either with traffic backing up.

Sounds like a positive outcome for the driver. Assuming they missed earlier signage they did the right thing when they reached the crunch point (see what I did there). 

[PhilJ W]

52 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

I probably shouldn't be reporting this one as no bridges were bashed although one close to me nearly was. 

 

This morning I witnessed a car transporter sheepishly reversing away from what must have been a very close call and then doing about a nine point turn before driving off to find another less hazardous route.  There was only one car on board, on the top deck, and no trailer but it definitely would not have fitted.  To compound the matter the bridge (marked 13'3") is approached through offset chicanes which would not have been easy either with traffic backing up.

Possibly he's used the route before when empty or only the bottom deck loaded.

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Adam88 said:

I probably shouldn't be reporting this one as no bridges were bashed although one close to me nearly was. 

 

This morning I witnessed a car transporter sheepishly reversing away from what must have been a very close call and then doing about a nine point turn before driving off to find another less hazardous route.  There was only one car on board, on the top deck, and no trailer but it definitely would not have fitted.  To compound the matter the bridge (marked 13'3") is approached through offset chicanes which would not have been easy either with traffic backing up.

Sounds like it would have been quicker to unload the car and drive both vehicles through separately then reload.

. ... I've seen that done here with a lorry piled high with wheelbarrows.

[roythebus1]

There was a lorry wedged under the bridge at East Cheam Station yesterday according to a friend who was stuck in the traffic behind it for over half an hour in the Banstead area.

 

[Michael Hodgson]

55 minutes ago, roythebus1 said:

There was a lorry wedged under the bridge at East Cheam Station yesterday according to a friend who was stuck in the traffic behind it for over half an hour in the Banstead area.

 

Does your friend live at No. 23 Railway Cuttings by any chance?

[Trainshed Terry]

Is it me or is it that bridge strikes on the increase due drivers not reading the road signs.

 

I just dis a quick web search to see if there are ant figures showing the number of bridge strikes for the year.

I came across this list

 

Bridge strikes: Six-year breakdown

Financial Year            Number of bridge strikes

2017/18                                      2019

2018/19                                      1937

2019/20                                      1728

2020/21                                      1624

 

And we have about three months till the new year.

Terry.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Trainshed Terry
Add infomation.

[Wickham Green too]

11 hours ago, roythebus1 said:

There was a lorry wedged under the bridge at East Cheam Station yesterday according to a friend who was stuck in the traffic behind it for over half an hour in the Banstead area.

Is he ( she ) totally sure it wasn't just a petrol queue ?

[TheQ]

Many years ago I was involved very slightly  in two Bridge "events" both at the same bridge. but not over a railway.

One was an RAF Queen Mary which arrived at the bridge, but luckily stopped... it was a narrow hump backed bridge.. It had to reverse back up the road to the first turning, several hundred yards up the road, to turn round and go the long way about..

It was mid summer in a tourist town, it was chaos big time..

 

The second was someone I knew taking that bridge a little enthusiastically , he was towing a boat trailer, the 18ft, 1/2 ton  yacht  leapt off and impaled itself on the hand rails of the bridge... More chaos, this time late May ..I got caught in the traffic jam he caused..

 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Trainshed Terry said:

Is it me or is it that bridge strikes on the increase due drivers not reading the road signs.

 

I just dis a quick web search to see if there are ant figures showing the number of bridge strikes for the year.

I came across this list

 

Bridge strikes: Six-year breakdown

Financial Year            Number of bridge strikes

2017/18                                      2019

2018/19                                      1937

2019/20                                      1728

2020/21                                      1624

 

And we have about three months till the new year.

Terry.

The financial year runs from April to March so we are currently only through half of the current one.

[RJS1977]

12 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Does your friend live at No. 23 Railway Cuttings by any chance?

 

Though interestingly, in today's episode on R4E, the lad gave his address as 7 Railway Cuttings...

[RJS1977]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Is he ( she ) totally sure it wasn't just a petrol queue ?

 

I'm actually quite surprised R4E haven't been playing the episode of 'Hancock' where Sid sets up a petrol station in Tony's front garden this week. 

[rab]

And anuver one in Plymuf:

 

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/morrisons-launch-investigation-after-delivery-5999250?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

[boxbrownie]

30 minutes ago, rab said:

And anuver one in Plymuf:

 

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/morrisons-launch-investigation-after-delivery-5999250?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

Oddly there is only a height warning on one side of that bridge……15 feet