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Disused Railway Bridges over Motorways


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Driving up the M1 from Junction 15 yesterday I passed under the bridge built, obviouslt at considerable expense, that once carried the Great Central line over the motorway a couple of miles south if Junction 21.  

 

This set me thinking, a dangerous precedent, about how many such bridges were built for often fairly short working lives as the lines were closed.

 

The two that come to mind are:-

 

A)  the one over the M1 south of Junction 36 that used to carry the ele trified Worsboro incline as part of the Woodhead route. I often used to see pairs of 76's droppi gback down towards Wath.

 

B) the bridge that carried the Spen valley line from Cleckheaton to Low Moor. This crosses the M62 i mediately west of Junction 26 (Chain Bar).  I never saw a train on this but ut's last regular yse was Healey Mills to Bradford Exchange parcel vans as far as I know. It now carries the Spen Valley Greenway cycle and footpath.

 

Jamie

 

 

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If you'll allow rail-under-road bridges too, M1 junction 15a re-uses the one built for the Northampton-Blisworth line and a few miles south there's another one over the Towcester-Olney.  I think there was a discussion on here a few years back abour the latter railway being closed before the M1 opened.  Further north there's one over the GNR Nottingham-Kimberley line just north of J26, which may eventually become a tram extension.  And back to rail-over-road there's the one for the Luton-Dunstable line, now a busway.  

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There used to be one over the A1(M) near Doncaster that carried a colliery line over it which I think was formally part of the Dearne valley joint group of line. It was removed a while back

Motorways and dual carriageway bridges over closed lines are probably more common 

On the old A1 near Borobridge there is one over the Knaresborough to pilmoor line 

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There used to be one over the M50. The line was closed very soon after the Motorway opened. It was removed only a few years ago (about 50 years after closure!) and the bridge is now at the Bluebell Railway.

There's also one still over the M48 in South Wales, leading to a now-disused MoD depot.

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The one that carried the Richmond branch over the A1 was only demolished fairly recently, when the road was upgraded to motorway. The bridge sections are now at Redmire, on the Wensleydale Railway.

 

A little further north, the bridge carrying the Leamside over the A1(M) between J61 & J62 is still there - although officially the Leamside is 'mothballed', of course.

 

Mark

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Is the bridge that took the line that latterly served Murton colliery still over the A19. This was the original Durham coast line until the one which is today's opened about 1903 

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2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

 

 

 

 

B) the bridge that carried the Spen valley line from Cleckheaton to Low Moor. This crosses the M62 i mediately west of Junction 26 (Chain Bar).  I never saw a train on this but ut's last regular yse was Healey Mills to Bradford Exchange parcel vans as far as I know. It now carries the Spen Valley Greenway cycle and footpath.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

There must be a pretty good chance that this bridge also had the shortest working lifespan as a railway bridge. 

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1 hour ago, Zomboid said:

 

Moderately related, I like the Lichfield canal aqueduct over the M6 Toll. No canal, not even any embankments.

 

The canal has been under restoration for a number of years, so it made sense to put the aqueducts in at build time, rather than cause disruption later.

 

For the same reason, there is a bridge over the course of the Thames and Severn Canal where the A417 crosses it between Latton and Cricklade.

 

Adrian

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1 hour ago, MarkC said:

The one that carried the Richmond branch over the A1 was only demolished fairly recently, when the road was upgraded to motorway. The bridge sections are now at Redmire, on the Wensleydale Railway.

 

 

I think that the sections have since been scrapped as they were found to be unsuitable.

 

Adrian

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3 hours ago, jpendle said:

There's the old Bridgewater collieries line over the M61 near just before the A666 junction.

 

Regards,

 

John P

 

That the was the one that sprung to mind for me as well, although it was actually built as a combined road & rail bridge so it's not totally obsolete.

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1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I think that the Puriton branch that used to serve an explosives factory across the M5 is disused now.

 

Jamie

The factory at Puriton finally closed in 2008, but rail traffic ceased a long time back (1991?), the Andrew Barclay shunters they used have been on the West Somerset since 1994.

 

cheers 

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2 hours ago, Zomboid said:

There's one over the M6 just north (West actually, but in M6 terms it's north) of Keele services.

 

Moderately related, I like the Lichfield canal aqueduct over the M6 Toll. No canal, not even any embankments.

Was just going to say theres a bridge over M6 toll for what looks like no reason, thought it might be rail related.

 

Theres another at Lichfield where there is a mothballed line that has at least one new bridge put in it to bridge new roads, not being a native i cant recall what line it is/was. Seen/been under it when visiting the inlaws at Burntwood

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2 hours ago, Coppercap said:

There used to be one over the M50. The line was closed very soon after the Motorway opened. It was removed only a few years ago (about 50 years after closure!) and the bridge is now at the Bluebell Railway.

There's also one still over the M48 in South Wales, leading to a now-disused MoD depot.

 

The M50 Bridge is on the Tewkesbury to Malvern line - if Wiki is right then the line had already been closed for 9 years when it was built.

 

Didnt the M48 bridge also serve Gwent Demolition? 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

 

The M50 Bridge is on the Tewkesbury to Malvern line - if Wiki is right then the line had already been closed for 9 years when it was built.

 

Didnt the M48 bridge also serve Gwent Demolition? 

 

 

The M50 opened in November 1960, the line between Tewkesbury and Upton-upon-Severn (crossing the M50) closed to passengers in August 1961, and to freight in July 1963.

Edited by Coppercap
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2 hours ago, BrushVeteran said:

There was the bridge over the A1(M) at Colsterworth which carried the ironstone branch from High Dyke to the quarries of Sproxton and Stainby. It was removed in August 2008.

A1 High Dyke overbridge @ Colsterworth 24-8-08.JPG

I thought it had been re-used as a road overbridge in the same location ? 

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2 hours ago, jessy1692 said:

Was just going to say theres a bridge over M6 toll for what looks like no reason, thought it might be rail related.

 

Theres another at Lichfield where there is a mothballed line that has at least one new bridge put in it to bridge new roads, not being a native i cant recall what line it is/was. Seen/been under it when visiting the inlaws at Burntwood

 

There are a couple on the Lichfield to Brownhills section, the first being close to, and just north of the canal aqueduct you mention, which is literally at the shunt limit of what was Charringtons' terminal at Anglesey sidings.  In the outskirts of Lichfield itself there is another one not far from Fosseway Crossing, which has been installed to facilitate housing development.

 

Of course, on the Walsall to Dudley section of what was the same arterial freight route, there are a number of structures bridging the abandoned alignment in the vicinity of Great Bridge, near to Ikea at Darlaston, and south of Dudley tunnel/ Blowers Green.

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4 hours ago, 'CHARD said:

 

There are a couple on the Lichfield to Brownhills section, the first being close to, and just north of the canal aqueduct you mention, which is literally at the shunt limit of what was Charringtons' terminal at Anglesey sidings.  In the outskirts of Lichfield itself there is another one not far from Fosseway Crossing, which has been installed to facilitate housing development.

 

Of course, on the Walsall to Dudley section of what was the same arterial freight route, there are a number of structures bridging the abandoned alignment in the vicinity of Great Bridge, near to Ikea at Darlaston, and south of Dudley tunnel/ Blowers Green.

Cheers for that 'Chard, way more detail than i could muster!

James

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9 hours ago, Zomboid said:

There's one over the M6 just north (West actually, but in M6 terms it's north) of Keele services.

 

It carried the remnants of the old Stoke to Market Drayton line and latterly traffic from Silverdale and Holditch collieries before they were closed.

 

It was connected to the WCML by means of the Madeley Chord.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

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9 hours ago, jessy1692 said:

Was just going to say theres a bridge over M6 toll for what looks like no reason, thought it might be rail related

There's a sign next to it in both directions, since a structure like that needs some explanation. Only way I know what it is...

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7 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

I thought it had been re-used as a road overbridge in the same location ? 

The alignment was used for the new road but the bridge was completely new. Being single track width, the old bridge wouldn’t have been wide enough.

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