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Disused Railway Bridges over Motorways


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21 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Slightly different tangent...

 

but whats the motorway bridge over HS1 at Ebbsfleet for...

theres no motorway, nor even a road close to it ?

 

https://goo.gl/maps/vLob9jwNbKRhbmqu8

Easier and cheaper to put it in during the construction of CTRL 2; I wouldn't be surprised to see it being at least 50% cheaper.

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1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

Easier and cheaper to put it in during the construction of CTRL 2; I wouldn't be surprised to see it being at least 50% cheaper.

Yes but Is there any plan, even a canceled plan, to build a motorway there ?

 

i checked here..

https://pathetic.org.uk/unbuilt/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motorways_in_the_United_Kingdom#Unbuilt_motorways

 

best I could find was the A2(M), but that died in the 1960’s..

https://pathetic.org.uk/lost/a2m_medway_towns_bypass/


Ebbsfleet valley housing looks to block any chance of a motorway in the future, but the angle of it looks wrong to goto the A2, or even curve around to the station...

 

Theres a picture of it here.. but no rationale for its construction..

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebbsfleet_International_railway_station#/media/File:Ebbsfleet3716.JPG

Edited by adb968008
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I think the same, maybe they would just replace it with something more substantial on the existing pillars 
 

saying that if you do street view and ‘drive’ below it the deck is well supported and the sides are quite thick 

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23 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Slightly different tangent...

 

but whats the motorway bridge over HS1 at Ebbsfleet for...

theres no motorway, nor even a road close to it ?

 

https://goo.gl/maps/vLob9jwNbKRhbmqu8

 

It was built in anticipation of extensive development that hasn't to date happened. The original plan would have seen the Ebsfleet station surrounded by offices, shops and flats (much like as at Stratford) and this bridge was put in place so there would be no disruption later on.

 

The fact Ebsfleet is still surrounded by fields and the supposed 'Garden City' project a certain George Osbourne was championing hasn't really happened yet speaks volumes....

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On 25/01/2020 at 18:57, Edwin_m said:

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.  

 

The M1 bridge over the Northampton - Blisworth line, taken in 1970 by Peter Narramore on an authorised walk along the line...

 

 

RM PN 1970 A43 traffic under the M1 Duston JW-Blisworth walk OLE up in 1961 first to be done.jpg

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On 26/01/2020 at 00:36, '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.

A new underbridge was also built between Wednesbury and Bescot Curve Junction to give access to the land where the Lidl distribution centre has subsequently been built.

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4 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

All the way to Blisworth Russ - apologies for the late reply...!

 

What was the thinking behind this can't imagine there was anything at Blisworth that would have needed an electric railway 

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One that hasn't been mentioned yet is the former Midland Bristol-Gloucester line under the M4, at what is now Westerleigh oil terminal. The M4 actually still has track under it, the stops being under the south side of the motorway. I've seen p-way machines stabled under the bridge, which is at the left hand side of the photo below.

There can't have been revenue earning railway traffic for very long under this bridge.

 

60085_Westerleigh_March2009_IMG_20200411_0001

 

Edit: J18-23 of the M4, including the Severn Bridge, opened in 1966, the Lawrence Hill-Yate section of the Bristol-Gloucester line closed in December 1969, so by my reckoning, passenger trains ran under the M4 for 3 years. The Bath branch remained open until 1971, presumably accessed from Yate, so the last revenue earning trains would have passed under the M4 in 1971.

Edited by rodent279
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On 28/01/2020 at 10:06, adb968008 said:

Slightly different tangent...

 

but whats the motorway bridge over HS1 at Ebbsfleet for...

theres no motorway, nor even a road close to it ?

 

https://goo.gl/maps/vLob9jwNbKRhbmqu8

This whole area has changed since the design of the CTRL, the change to HS1 and the changing economic situation, so I suspect it was future proofing for a plan that never became.

 

Apart from the the changes in historic industry, there is little in the way of planning interaction between the levels of government. Planned rights of way may no longer exist and the idea of Ebbsfleet never took off either.

 

There was a plan to put another Thames crossing in that area, but that has changed more times than some people's underwear! 

 

If you add the constant change of the geology with extraction of minerals and re-routing of water courses, the bridge carcass my have made a lot more sense 25 years ago. If you look at the A2660 bridge to the south, that also got built for dialling.

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Further to the south on the former Southfleet (Gravesend) branch, there was the curious situation where they installed a twin track railway bridge over the new carriageway of the A2(T) when it was widened to dual carriageway nearly motorway standard from the former A2 coroners corridor 3 lane road (I'm guessing in the late 60s/ early 70s).

 

The original bridge was a single track bridge, and the line had been singled and freight only for some years. So the headshunt on the single track deck was augmented by being extended over the new twin track bridge to end very nearby at a buffer stop.

 

On the latest Google Earth shot you can make out the concrete elements of the coal tippler installed in the former yard. There was an article in Model Trains or Scale Trains in the early 80s taking Southfleet as an inspiration for a small layout, and I suspect it was closed soon after and definitely by the miners' strike in 84. The  embankment can still be seen on the south side of the A2 London bound carriageway. The decks had long gone by the time I lived in Chatham in 2007-12 but as the widening and HS1 work went through, the pillars and abutments were removed.

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6 hours ago, daveyb said:

The decks had long gone by the time I lived in Chatham in 2007-12 but as the widening and HS1 work went through, the pillars and abutments were removed.

Not *that* long gone. I had a girlfriend from Gravesend in 2001/2 and I remember that bridge having decks.

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Not quite a bridge over a motorway but similar. One of the Modernisation Plan marshalling yards that never got built was at Stourton just south of Leeds where the current freightliner terminal is. The main entrance from the south was going to come off the Midland main line between Rothwell Colliery (aka Fanny Pit, named after one of the origional owners daughters) and Stourton Junction. To get into the site of the yard it had to go under the East and West Yorkshire Union Railway and the A639 Pontefract Road.  Underbridges were built for both of these. The approach cutting was partially excavated but the A639 one was never dug out though the bridge was complete in the ground.  Obviously the entrance lines were never built and the East and West was closed in the early 60's. The Yard project was cancelled and the area for it became a large industrial estate.  I used to cycle over the A639 bridge on my way to work in Leeds in the mid to late 70's.  The bridges were eventually demolished and the whole area transformed when the M1 was extended to meet the A1 in the late 1990's and very few traces remain. Stourton still has railfreight to the Freightliner terminal but the two rail served steel warehouses on the industrial estate no longer generate traffic and the tracks to them have mostly been lifted though I believe that a stub still exists as a cripple siding.

 

 

Jamie

Edited by jamie92208
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15 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Two views of the GC bridge over the M45 taken in 2005. This is not easy to photograph. One is from the Oxford Canal and the other from a farm crossing that carries a public footpath.

 

2192990963_f499e535ff_c.jpgP1010904m by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

2193781270_41da61e001_c.jpgP1010897m by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

That can't have been in use very long?

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3 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Judging by the photos the M45 should also be closed, due to lack of use !

 

I've only ever used it once when trying to fet from Guildex at Telford tona family wedding near Northampton and an accident blocked the M6.

 

Jamie

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54 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Judging by the photos the M45 should also be closed, due to lack of use !

 

 

You leave our M45 alone, nice quiet motorway like they all should be. A bit like the M6 toll, only cheaper! :D

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Not sure if this has been mentioned but they built a bridge over the Witham to Maldon branch on the south side of Witham when the dual carriage way A12 was constructed. The branch closed in April '66, not sure when the road was constructed.

The remaining stub nearest the station at Witham was used for delivering steel but I'm fairly sure the line under the A12 was lifted when the line closed.

AFAIK the A12 has been proposed at various times for upgrading to the 'M12' so almost comes under the OP's remit :-)

Edited by H2O
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