Points on a bridge?

[PaulS]

Old maps of my local station (Linlithgow) show points on each through line on the bridge over the Edinburgh to Stirling high road. However these would only be for very slow speed manoeuvres into a bay and the goods yard, and it occurs to me that this might be one of the factors that informed decisions about siting of turnouts. They are now well off the bridge!

[melmerby]

Moor Street Station is mostly on a viaduct so all the pointwork in the throat is on bridges, as is some at the N end of Snow Hill

Edited February 16, 2019 by melmerby

[cypherman]

Hi all,

If include viaducts in this post then one of the best places to see points in an above ground setting is the station approach to Manchester Piccadilly station( At the time of this map though it was known as London Road station). The whole station is about 30ft above the ground level and is entered into by a long viaduct. Think it is about 1.5miles long. take a look here at the trackplan.

https://maps.nls.uk/view/126522842

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by cypherman

[Siberian Snooper]

Virtually everything at London Bridge is on viaducts and probably Waterloo.

 

 

[Guy Rixon]

Similarly at Charing Cross and Cannon Street. Also St. Pancras and Broad Street.

 

The track on the Charing Cross approaches used to be laid on baulks, unballasted; possibly it's still that way. I haven't been to Charing Cross for ages, but it ought to be possible to get a good look at the track from the footbridge at the side of the railway bridge.

[John_Hughes]

Gantlet track (yes, I know about the spelling, but I've been told that this is the correct form, though I don't have a clue why!) is probably more common on tram formations than anywhere else.

 

This example is in Lisbon, though there's some much nearer home on the Croydon Tramlink:

 

[Il Grifone]

I'd only ever seen 'gauntlet', but apparently both are a corruption of the original.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauntlet_track

 

As has been said already, pointwork on a bridge would be avoided if possible, but "Needs must where the devil drives!". In any case Rule one applies!

[31A]

There's a short bit in Sheffield too:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3826147,-1.4681245,3a,75y,50.35h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sL0wKRUJzQ9SJAmtxnn2-3w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

 

[Guy Rixon]

I don't see why P&C work on a bridge should be avoided unless:

• it costs more (e.g. the bridge has to be wider, as mentioned above); or
• it's harder to maintain.

If the track on the bridge is ballasted, then I don't see why P&C work should be any harder to maintain than on solid ground. If the track is on baulks, then I guess turnouts might be both more expensive to build and harder to repair.

[Poggy1165]

On 08/02/2019 at 19:33, Grovenor said:

It was clearly explained by theQ in his post above when he posted the photo, it allows the points to be in reach of the signal box but the actual divergence to be the other end of a narrow bridge.

Regards

 

There used to be very strict rules about points being within so many feet of the controlling signal box. Power driven points relatively remote from the box are a comparatively recent development. From memory, about the time of Grouping. This is why many refuge sidings used to be single ended, putting in a loop of any length meant a second signal box, until technology changed.

[John_Hughes]

16 hours ago, 31A said:

There's a short bit in Sheffield too:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3826147,-1.4681245,3a,75y,50.35h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sL0wKRUJzQ9SJAmtxnn2-3w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

 

 

There are some places in Amsterdam - sorry, I don't have pictures - where the point blades are a couple of tram-lengths away from the traffic lights controlling a junction, so that if two trams are both waiting for the lights to change they will have already pre-selected the routes they will follow.

 

Sorry, well off the OP's original quesion!

[melmerby]

On 18/02/2019 at 16:21, 31A said:

There's a short bit in Sheffield too:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3826147,-1.4681245,3a,75y,50.35h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sL0wKRUJzQ9SJAmtxnn2-3w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

 

IIRC there was a section on the Birmingham/Black Country network at Oldbury (?) where the street was too narrow for two tracks

[keefer]

On a much larger scale, but still Caledonian Railway in the OP's timescale - Glasgow Central

https://web.archive.org/web/20130312120942/http://www.jhowie.force9.co.uk/glasgowcentral.htm

 

Points, crossovers, slips, even a signalbox! The two bridges are of different styles too.

And of course, the approaches south of the Clyde are all built up on viaducts (brick arches, i think) 

Edited February 19, 2019 by keefer

[DCB]

Points on bridges are very unusual on models as it is hard to hide the point motors.  The full size doesn't have this problem so points on bridges and indeed platforms on bridges are quite common., Points on level crossings are also common in full size but virtually unknown on models.

Most modellers model models these days.   Its always a good idea to and look at the real thing for inspiration rather than other models at exhibitions.

See pics both 2018  Goathland NYMR point operating linkage on the bridge and Buckfastleigh SDR point operating linkage before the bridge.

Edited February 20, 2019 by DavidCBroad

[Londontram]

Thanks David these two especally the top one was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.

  Steve