Bailey Bridges in the UK

[Down_Under]

Other option is wagon loads in open wagons...

[Joseph_Pestell]

As mentioned above, Bailey bridges are very lightweight. They might support the weight of a train (locomotive) but would flex a lot which would cause derailments.

[2750Papyrus]

I can't help with the question but this may be of interest - a Christmas card from Adolf Hitler to Bailey at the Experimental Bridging department, Christchurch.

 

 

 

G.

 

I remember seeing this in the mess of what used to be MVEE (Christchurch).  This is the first time I have seen any reference to it - people tend to disbelieve the story!  Does anyone know what happened to it?

[DLT]

Wasn't there a Bailey Bridge on the A303 at Marsh in the Blackdown Hills?  It replaced the old bridge over the River Yarty when it was washed away.

It was never rebuilt, the short dual carriageway Marsh Deviation was built instead, bypassing the village and the old bridge.

[Richard E]

The roof of Eindhoven Station is built from Bailey Bridge components.

[D826]

Wasn't there a Bailey Bridge on the A303 at Marsh in the Blackdown Hills?  It replaced the old bridge over the River Yarty when it was washed away.

It was never rebuilt, the short dual carriageway Marsh Deviation was built instead, bypassing the village and the old bridge.

I think you're spot on there. My father old me we were going over a Bailey bridge in that neck of the woods on a trip on holiday to Dawlish Warren circa 1971/2.

 

Best Regards

 

Matt W

[RANGERS]

Nearly rail use, I have definitely seen a picture of one in use in the ironstone belt, to maintain an access road route over a temporary track bed used to move the quarried ironstone out.

There was one over the LNW/ GN Jt Line at Tilton on the Hill station. It carried a roadway which connected the quarries on one side of the line with the loading dock on the opposite side.

[Barry O]

There used to be Bailey Bridges on the Salisbury Plain Training Area. One, near Tank Crossing V(ector) had a ML 50 bridge loading on it but it took the weight of a Challenger 1 with ease (about 65 tons). So it was a tracked vehicle bridge.....

 

Baz

[DLT]

I think you're spot on there. My father old me we were going over a Bailey bridge in that neck of the woods on a trip on holiday to Dawlish Warren circa 1971/2.

 

Best Regards

 

Matt W

 

Funnily enough, it was my Dad who told me about it, I never saw it myself.  We moved to Devon in 1976, and it was gone by then

Edited September 20, 2016 by DLT

[Joseph_Pestell]

The one I knew best was on the A246 Leatherhead By-Pass. That stretch of road was built in 1943 by Canadian Army Engineers and while the road was to a good standard, it only had a single-track Bailey bridge over the River Mole. Even worse was its use of what had been a farm occupation bridge to get under the railway. Not only did it need a set of lights to control the traffic but lorries got stuck under it with monotonous regularity. Both bridges remained in original form until c1980.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Joseph_Pestell

[JR1984]

There's one crossing the Tees between Barford and Gainford in co. Durham. It's blocked off now after one of the piers collapsed a little while ago.

 

-it carried road traffic.

Edited September 22, 2016 by JR1984

[John_Miles]

There was one at Portinscale near Keswick on the road towards Cockermouth to replace an arch bridge which had been washed away in a flood. This was in the 1960s.

[Richard E]

I can vaguely remember one in the Bristol area many, many years ago but I'm blowed if I know exactly where (edit: there was a pair in Bath near the railway station, I think it might have been there).

 

And there is/was one in Frome town centre (2009 picture I'm afraid). There were attempts made to restore and preserve it but I don't know what happened. It is quite a while since I've been to Frome.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/2cAZgDEAoS72

Edited September 23, 2016 by Richard E

[jetmorgan]

Whilst not a Bailey Bridge in full, don't forget that sections of Bailey were used to temporarily support the cast iron tubes of Stephenson's Menai bridge after the fire in the early 1970's.

 

There are many sections of bridge still in use around the country and the world as they are still manufactured today...I can't remember the name of the company that manufactures the parts but it is still a British company I believe...some bridges were shipped out to South America a few years back after devastating floods washed away some bridges. To add to the list I think there are short sections at Brooklands museum & the Mosquito Museum in Hatfield in use as footbridges.

 

As mentioned earlier they are supposed to be lightweight for quick assembly by a minimum of 6 men...If I remember rightly, will have to consult my Bailey Bridge manual. While they can be strengthened by building a double double, 2 side panels wide & 2 panels high...or a triple triple 3 panels wide 3 panels high I don't think they would be able to support even slow speed trains over a prolonged timescale.

[Southernman46]

There was vehicle one over the River Medway in Aylesford village between 1968 & 2000 ...........

 

There are still footbridges over the A316 at Twickenham & St Margarets in SW London - the latter being the subject of some campaigning ...................

Edited September 23, 2016 by Southernman46

[PhilJ W]

A late colleague of mine was awarded the Military Medal for erecting a Bailey Bridge under fire. This was during the push to rescue the paratroopers trapped at Arnhem.

[adb968008]

ok not in the UK, but not a bridge too far.. for this thread

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Station_Eindhoven_interieur.jpg

Edited September 23, 2016 by adb968008

[jamie92208]

There was one at Portinscale near Keswick on the road towards Cockermouth to replace an arch bridge which had been washed away in a flood. This was in the 1960s.

I remember the Portinscale one well from holidays with my aunt in Keswick. IIRC the wash out was in the 50's and the new bridge didn't appear till the late 70's or early 80's.

 

Jamie

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There's one not too far from Christchurch.

 

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2870819

[John_Miles]

I remember the Portinscale one well from holidays with my aunt in Keswick. IIRC the wash out was in the 50's and the new bridge didn't appear till the late 70's or early 80's.

 

Jamie

I must be older than I thought I was.

[keefer]

The 'Glasgow Electric' information booklet about the suburban electrification mentions Bailey Bridges. Seems they were used during the reconstruction of certain road overbridges where traffic had to be kept moving during the work to provide clearance for the OHLE.

 

From the railwayarchives site: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRS_Glasgow1960.pdf (p.21 of the PDF)

[Nearholmer]

'Military trestling' and Bailey bridges proper are, I think, different things, but of the same generic, Meccano kit, type. At least one very significant railway in the UK holds a set of military trestling in store/reserve to cater for extreme circumstances.

 

Kevin

[jetmorgan]

A picture scanned from my copy of the Bailey & Unifloat handbook.

 

Certainly not Britain looking at the loco & rolling stock I would think Middle East but perhaps someone more enlightened will let us know.

 

But looks like I was a bit wrong and a double double is perfectly capable of holding up the weight of a long train...although that does look like a fairly short span and it looks like it might be a double double reinforced but the photo is quiet low quality.

[melmerby]

There was one at Portinscale near Keswick on the road towards Cockermouth to replace an arch bridge which had been washed away in a flood. This was in the 1960s.

What about the A686 at Langwathby?

It's actually a Callender-Hamilton bridge, but used for the same purpose as a Bailey bridge

 

The original bridge was washed away 25th March 1968 and this temporary bridge put in it's place.

Intended to be used for up to 10 years and despite several washouts of the road since, the temporary bridge is still there 48 years later:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/fk3n5eG9Tvu

https://goo.gl/maps/35TQtSC4TSr

 

Keith

[dvdlcs]

With reference to the ECML flooding in 1948, there is a plate in "Scottish Railways" by OS Nock that shows a replacement bridge at Grantshouse being tested by running an A4 (I assume) over it. Loco was 60012 Commonwealth of Australia.

 

The text simply states "Temporary bridge on East Coast main line; streamlined Pacific engine testing new structure near Grantshouse"

 

The deck isn't Bailey although the piers might be.

 

 

Additional: On page 99 (discussing the flooding and bridge failures): "It was decided to construct temporary bridges of the military type, and a railhead for receipt of the necessary steelwork was set up in the goods yard at Tweedmouth Junction."

 

But the 'B' word is not mentioned.

 

"In all, within the 28 miles of railway between Dunbar and Berwick the line was completely breached at seven bridges and three large slips, in addition to being severely damaged at several other places by scouring of bridge foundations, slips, landslides, and wash-outs, not to mention the critical embankment at Ayton."

 

Of interest was the fact that the flooding occurred on August 12th and the line was reopened on October 25th (same year).

Edited September 26, 2016 by dvdlcs