Cholsey & Moulsford (Change for Wallingford)

[Nick Gough]

What can I do with a piece of plastic drainpipe?

 

Well, as I did for the last bridge, I can cut it in half and use it for the arch of the next bridge:

 

This one though is a skew bridge:

 

Another Brunel brick road bridge, this time for the public road leading into Cholsey from the south:

Again, the bridge has been rebuilt, in recent times, with a girder deck, but would have looked like a lower version of this one, a mile or so further west:

 

 

[RJS1977]

Our friends at Grundon have recently returned the Dogfish to us, having repainted it:

 

 

(Photo: Kaz Lewinski)

 

We have made enquiries with Heljan regarding the possibility of getting a run done in 00 - any takers?

[Nick Gough]

These bridges have an oval profile to the arches, rather than circular:

 

Therefore, to get the correct shape, I gently squashed the plastic pipe, with clamps, between two pieces of wood:

 

After dunking the whole lot in boiling water, for a short while, the plastic took on its new shape, ready for use.

[ChrisN]

Very ingenious.

 

When your wife finds out there is a hole in your downpipe................. 🙂

[Nick Gough]

2 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Very ingenious.

 

When your wife finds out there is a hole in your downpipe................. 🙂

I think that's why I need radiotherapy!🙂

[ChrisN]

13 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

I think that's why I need radiotherapy!🙂

 

Nick,

I am glad you can still laugh about it.

[Nick Gough]

This bridge will be located, on the layout, on the lifting flap in the doorway:

 

I made provision for it, when I built this board, by making holes in the longitudinal members beneath the trackbed:

 

And creating a channel with plywood sides:

 

Due to the location it will be much easier to work on from both sides and underneath. When it's finished it will also be easier to view the bridge from both sides.

[Nick Gough]

I have glued two strips of ply to the lower walls of the channel:

With coffee stirrers above the strips.

 

The plastic arch slides into place:

 

In its final position the arch is flush with the lower sides:

[Nick Gough]

A plywood portal and parapet attached:

 

The vertical pieces of stripwood, on either side, are for the pillars at each end of the parapet.

[Nick Gough]

I have glued four toilet roll inners together to make a laminated tube 5mm thick - the same as the plywood I have been using:

 

When dry, I cut out two small pieces for the curved ends to the parapet:

 

[Nick Gough]

One wing wall in place - supported by a small shelf:

 

The other one, attached to one of the cross struts:

I had to 'nibble' away at the top of the cross strut as it was slightly too high.

 

Both in place together with what will be the road surface:

 

The road drops below natural ground level as it approaches the railway, in order to pass underneath:

Therefore, the lower parts of the wing walls will need to be 'buried' beneath ground cover.

[Nick Gough]

To finish off the main structure I used two more T roll sections:

 

For the curved corners between the wing walls and the portal:

Looks a bit messy at the moment but the brick paper will cover this.

[Nick Gough]

When the quadrupling took place, in the 1890s, this bridge wasn't widened - unlike the previous one.

 

Here a separate, girder bridge was constructed, for the relief lines, with an open space between it and the original bridge. This open space corresponds with the position of the station's island platform - a short distance away.

 

This is a view of the 'new' bridge from below the main lines:

 

From the other end:

(July 2023)

 

Clearly there has been a problem with high vehicles!

 

Back in 2003 it looked a lot less bright and the posted height restriction was different:

 

The bridge seems to have lost a lot more height over the years. The 1911 track plan shews that the headroom was 12' 6" then!

 

Back in the 1980s there was a lot less greenery as well:

As well as the relief lines the 'new' bridge also carries the access road for what now is the station car park but was originally for the goods yard entrance:

 

Looking back towards the main lines it can be seen that the roadway is narrower under the old bridge compared with the 'new' one:

Interestingly, this narrow section of walling extends into the open air section.

 

This leads me to believe that this section of walls may date back to the opening of the Wallingford branch, in the 1860s. At that time the branch had its own separate line, adjacent to the two main lines, from the bay platform at Moulsford station, to the point where it diverged towards Wallingford.

 

I believe that these two walls originally served as abutments for a separate bridge for the branch line, later being removed when the main line was quadrupled, and the branch truncated at the new Cholsey station.

 

Although heavily weathered it does appear that the lower brickwork, in the wall, is similar in colour to that for the main line bridge, on the left, while the (newer?) parapet has similar brick colour to the 'new', relief lines bridge:

 

If I am correct the branch line track would have needed removing before Cholsey's island platform could be constructed. Presumably, the relief lines bridge would have been constructed first, allowing the branch line to be temporarily diverted onto it; the parapets then built up after the branch and it's bridge had been removed.

 

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any photos or documentary evidence to confirm or deny my theories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick Gough]

I have replicated the narrowed section of roadway:

 

Together with the brick parapets, in the open area, and the opposite end of the main line bridge arch:

[Nick Gough]

The relief lines road bridge is supported on 31 girders spanning the road below:

 

 

 

Although the railway lines are on a skew, passing over, the supporting girders are mounted perpendicular to the road.

 

Looking through my photos I noticed that the 18 girders supporting the two railway lines are clearly deeper than the 13 beneath the goods yard/car park access road:

 

 

So I decided to cut out a small section of 9mm ply from the top surface of the bridge:

 

And replace this with a piece of 3mm ply:

With small strips of wood attached to represent the girders.

 

Another piece of ply holds it in place:

(I intended to raise ground level here to allow the roadway surface to be at sleeper top level in the goods yard)

 

This gives a 3mm difference in height between the goods yard road part and the relief line part of the bridge:

I'm not going to put girders under the relief lines since they would be invisible with the road in place.

[Nick Gough]

A merry Christmas to all visitors to Cholsey & Moulsford and thanks for your interest this year.

[BMacdermott]

Hello Nick

 

And all the best to and good luck with your hard work on this project!

 

Brian

[Nick Gough]

After a quiet but pleasant Christmas & New Year something interesting was delivered today:

 

My wife, having seen one, had asked whether I would like one as a Christmas/birthday present - it would have been rude to say no!

 

Clearly not within my usual modelling period - but it did run on the Titfield to WMallingford line, and it is one of my favourite films.

 

A little recent modelling work. 

A couple of bridge parapets under construction:

 

And some more work in the area of the road bridge:

The goods yard access road descends, in front of the platform, to meet the station forecourt, on the right. I have built up the embankment behind with strips of foamboard, to keep the weight down, since this is the lifting flap.

[Graham T]

Really enjoyed seeing how you built up the bridges Nick, thanks.

[Nick Gough]

Hooray!

Just received an email from Kernow to say that my steam railmotor is on its way.

 

Great news, and timing, as I've just returned from my first radiotherapy appointment.

Nothing to it - "Never even blew me hat off!"

I still feel as fit and well as when the whole process started.

[Nick Gough]

Back to bridges:

 

The steel parapet fitted and a couple of pieces of ply for the core of the outer abutments, with the abutments built out with plastikard:

Also, one of the pillasters in place.

 

With the second pillaster:

Note, this one has a recessed panel in the brickwork. This is following the prototype - as seen in this older view (before the greenery ran amok):

I wonder whether the right hand one has been rebuilt at some time and omitted this feature?

 

Looking from the other side:

 

 

After that I lined the inside of the bridges with brick paper -with two different colours for the two different sections:

 

 

Bringing the ends out to cover the outer face of the abutments on the 'newer' section of bridge:

 

The inner roof of the arch bridge has the brick paper positioned diagonally:

Since this was the arrangement in skew bridges:

[Nick Gough]

I'm now halfway through my radiotherapy sessions, with another two weeks to go.

 

I'm not experiencing any serious side effects and the actual procedure is no problem - the biggest issue is trying to find a parking space at the hospital. However, I haven't been feeling at my best this week - mainly because I have a stinking cold and had a tooth extracted on Monday!

 

Since I don't feel anything, during the sessions, and the only indication that anything is happening is the movement of the equipment, it's hard to believe that it is actually having any effect.

 

My steam railmotor arrived in the post last week though, unfortunately, I had to send it back due to poor running. The replacement arrived yesterday, so a nice quick service. It needs running in but is definitely better. A lovely model - full of detail.

[Nick Gough]

I've managed to find a video of the radiotherapy equipment in action, which is quite interesting:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzwPI1zJ9K0

 

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, Nick Gough said:

I'm now halfway through my radiotherapy sessions, with another two weeks to go.

 

I'm not experiencing any serious side effects and the actual procedure is no problem - the biggest issue is trying to find a parking space at the hospital. However, I haven't been feeling at my best this week - mainly because I have a stinking cold and had a tooth extracted on Monday!

 

Since I don't feel anything, during the sessions, and the only indication that anything is happening is the movement of the equipment, it's hard to believe that it is actually having any effect.

 

My steam railmotor arrived in the post last week though, unfortunately, I had to send it back due to poor running. The replacement arrived yesterday, so a nice quick service. It needs running in but is definitely better. A lovely model - full of detail.

 

Nick,

Glad to hear it is going well.  I did wonder if it would make you tired.

 

Trust me, it is having an effect.  There are not 3ft thick concrete walls around a machine like that, or whatever they use there, if it was not able to give out a serious amount of radiation.

 

Hope the new steam railmotor works out alright.

[Nick Gough]

12 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Trust me, it is having an effect.  There are not 3ft thick concrete walls around a machine like that, or whatever they use there, if it was not able to give out a serious amount of radiation.

 

Indeed.

 

That's why, every time I lay down on the table, I am reminded of that YouTube clip!

 

Thankfully though my radiographers are a lot more pleasant than Auric and his minions.