6959 Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Undefeated - The Toughest Bridge in the World http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3c0_1351184890 "The Durham train trestle has stood its ground for the last 100 years. This fact doesn't deter some drivers from challanging the bridge about once a month. all of them fail". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 About 20 miles from my home Street view: http://goo.gl/maps/nH592 The NS put up the 'headache girder' to protect the bridge and, as important, to keep rail traffic moving. Every time some mouth breather would hit the bridge, NS would have to stop all rail traffic until the bridge was inspected. Now they just knock the truck chunks off the girder and keep going. The area is called Brightleaf Square - many of the buildings are old ornate brick tobacco warehouses. Durham was built on tobacco - used to have half a dozen cigarette factories there. Driving thru as recently as 1980 you could smell the thick sweet smell of cured bright leaf tobacco. Nearby is the American Tobacco complex - repurposed Lucky Strike factory buildings full of offices, condos, shops. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Street view: http://goo.gl/maps/nH592 That's a pretty serious telltale! I would think it's the ideal position for an advert for a local scrap metal merchant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovenor Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 The street view images are so detailed you could do the annual bridge inspection without leaving the office, sure could do with some derusting and a decent coat of paint. Presumably its a one way street as there is no protection the other side, Regards Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
signalmaintainer Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 It's hilarious! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Presumably its a one way street as there is no protection the other side, Regards Keith looks like it to me; all the clips are taken from the one side. 11'8" is an incredibly low bridge for what looks like a busy main road. I note that most of the trucks that hit it were rigids; the drivers of which probably get complacent when it comes to bridge height, as presumably they're usually well below the usual minimum heights such as on the Freeways? maybe they thought the flashing warning lights were for something behind them..??!! I wonder if the drivers of the rented trucks got their deposits back?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hippo Posted November 10, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2012 I too noticed alot of them were part time drivers, Camper vans, rented trucks etc. The flashing height warnings are next to useless, there are a few in London that go off for my lorry even though it is 2 foot shorter than the bridge height. It also works the other way the bridge entrance to Wilsden Traincare Depot is signed as 11'3" however I can get in there and mine is an accurate 11'6" Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridwatcher Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Love the aircon coach about half way though that suddenly wasn't...........!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 looks like it to me; all the clips are taken from the one side. 11'8" is an incredibly low bridge for what looks like a busy main road. I note that most of the trucks that hit it were rigids; the drivers of which probably get complacent when it comes to bridge height, as presumably they're usually well below the usual minimum heights such as on the Freeways? maybe they thought the flashing warning lights were for something behind them..??!! I wonder if the drivers of the rented trucks got their deposits back?? Low? Try this one in the small town of Bailey, NC http://goo.gl/maps/tWNaa The one in Durham is low, yes...there's low relics like that across the US. Some have great lettering on them still...this one is one of my favorites. It's in Memphis, TN - http://goo.gl/maps/RNhVb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 I wonder if the drivers of the rented trucks got their deposits back?? Getting closer to home, at Stonea (between March & Manea on the Peterborough to Ely line), there is a very low bridge (7'0" if I remember correctly). The wing aeriel on my Austin A30 used to scrape it! I came through there on the 1st day of the new registrations for that year (1/8/1968?) and there was a rental Ford Transit Luton with the roof peeled back.....it was the new registration..... Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted November 10, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2012 Low bridges are quite common in the US. Even in cities such as New York some are so low that even Transit type vans cannot get under them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 ...this one is one of my favorites. It's in Memphis, TN - http://goo.gl/maps/RNhVb There's a few chunks of concrete been taken out of the underside of that one, I notice... Getting closer to home, at Stonea (between March & Manea on the Peterborough to Ely line), there is a very low bridge (7'0" if I remember correctly). I know about the one right by Ely Station itself; it's 9ft high IIRC, although there is a (very obvious) diversion via a level crossing right by it. It does look frighteningly low, though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacque Jacque Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 I know about the one right by Ely Station itself; it's 9ft high IIRC, although there is a (very obvious) diversion via a level crossing right by it. It does look frighteningly low, though... It was closed today, presumably someone has clouted it AGAIN !!. I don't know if it still holds, but at one time it was Britain's "most hit" bridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 And the Durham, NC bridge videos are celebrated in a local paper today in RTP. We also discussed this bridge in Wheeltappers a couple of weeks ago under the thread "How high is this thing ?" The dedicated web page and youtube pages can be found by searching "11 foot 8 bridge" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Boucher Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I especially like the "two guys and a truck" moving service hitting the bridge. I guess now its just "two guys" as the truck is in tough shapes. There's a bridge in downtown Westboro, MA, not too far from where I work, with a a 12' 6" clearance. Its a major road (mass route 30) and its the B&A/NYC/PC/Conrail/CSX mainline going over it. Most recent report I can find of a truck hitting it is from Feb of this year... Here's a link, with a picture of the stuck truck... http://westborough.patch.com/articles/truck-jammed-under-railroad-bridge#photo-9075903 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 And the Durham, NC bridge videos are celebrated in a local paper today in RTP. We also discussed this bridge in Wheeltappers a couple of weeks ago under the thread "How high is this thing ?" The dedicated web page and youtube pages can be found by searching "11 foot 8 bridge" You beat me to the News & Observer's story. I just finished reading it in the actual paper. The real question is...what's a guy in Oregon doing reading a North Carolina paper? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 The real question is...what's a guy in Oregon doing reading a North Carolina paper? Craig, I have a colleague who lives in Cary. I sent him the video on the Gregson Street underpass a couple of weeks ago and asked him if he knew it. He sent me the link from the paper this morning. I'm only slightly familiar with the area. I can say I have been to a Durham Bulls game. It's a small world. --------------------------------- Undersized bridges are everywhere. In my formative days this bridge was a timber trestle and frequently had trucks stuck underneath. Major engineering (new approaches, new concrete bridge) brought it up to 4.7m. A little reminiscing for me, my parents bought a Toyota Corona (Ca 1968) from the dealership on the right. In the old days, this one was a doozy. Even with the new (2004) bridge, the clearance is too low for the Google Streetview camera. Originally it was also a timber trestle, this time with about a 6'6" clearance if memory serves. We would involuntarily duck our heads going under it. Every time the creek to the right flooded (which was often) - the road was impassable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Undersized bridges are everywhere. In my formative days this bridge was a timber trestle and frequently had trucks stuck underneath. Major engineering (new approaches, new concrete bridge) brought it up to 4.7m. A little reminiscing for me, my parents bought a Toyota Corona (Ca 1968) from the dealership on the right. In the old days, this one was a doozy. Even with the new (2004) bridge, the clearance is too low for the Google Streetview camera. Originally it was also a timber trestle, this time with about a 6'6" clearance if memory serves. We would involuntarily duck our heads going under it. Every time the creek to the right flooded (which was often) - the road was impassable. I remember the old timber trestle at Wynnum Road well. My wife grew up where the Toyota dealership is now - her father owned the three blocks of land there. There were similarly low trestles in Deshon Street Wooloongabba and Compton Road Woodridge, the latter having a deeper clearance on a dirt side track with a ford through the creek - if that flooded then no one got through! Come to think of it, the Deshon Street one flooded when it even looked like rain!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Undersized bridges are everywhere. In my formative days this bridge was a timber trestle and frequently had trucks stuck underneath. Major engineering (new approaches, new concrete bridge) brought it up to 4.7m. A little reminiscing for me, my parents bought a Toyota Corona (Ca 1968) from the dealership on the right. I remember the old timber trestle at Wynnum Road well. My wife grew up where the Toyota dealership is now - her father owned the three blocks of land there. There were similarly low trestles in Deshon Street Wooloongabba and Compton Road Woodridge, the latter having a deeper clearance on a dirt side track with a ford through the creek - if that flooded then no one got through! Come to think of it, the Deshon Street one flooded when it even looked like rain!! Ah yes, Deshon Street - the infamous Norman Creek bridge. Norman Creek still floods at the sight of rain clouds. (Streetview shows QR 2360 and 2352 double heading coal hoppers on the QR narrow gauge up line.) I remember the trestle here well. This area was under water in 2011. My dad grew up on Abingdon St. in Woolloongabba in the 1940s. Albert Station (on the branch to the yards) was at the end of the road next to a gated level crossing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted November 14, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 14, 2012 On our motorhome, I put our height information on the rearview mirror. 2/3 of the mirror isn't needed because the rear window is narrow. I put the information on in both imperial and metric; trying to convert at 50 mph gets tricky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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