DEVELOPMENT – BRIDGE 14 (Step 1.2.4.2)

Bridge 14 (uploaded 14 November 2008)

Bridge 14 is loosely referred to as the ‘New Pit Road bridge’. It is a long bridge, 59ft 3ins between its abutments, but is mercifully square – not skewed like Bridge 13. Visitors to Big Pit pass through it on their journey from town. Amongst all the bridges in the area, it is probably the best maintained, and therefore requires fairly minimal work to bring it up to scratch. Funds for this work are in place, and work is expected to begin early in 2009.

A clean, straightforward girder bridge, but with an attractive curved top to the longitudinals – and long enough to rumble loudly when trains pass over it. This is the view the visitor to Big Pit will see. He will need to turn right just by the big winding gear wheel. Carrying straight on and curving left will bring him to Doncaster’s works. Initially in the business of making tyres for railway engines carriages and wagons, they now make turbine blades for RB211 jet engines! Doncaster’s are currently involved in a major expansion of the works.

This is a view of the bridge looking roughly east. Visitors to Big Pit cannot be over-impressed by having to travel through an industrial estate before reaching their destination

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Above the bridge looking north we see Bridge 12, the notorious ‘Rail-over-Rail’ bridge in the distance. Virtually invisible between the photographer and Bridge 12 is Bridge 13. On the right can be seen the water tower in the middle of Furnace Sidings yard. The track in the foreground was re-sleepered in mid-2008.

The bridge deck,and the line on it is steeply curved and canted and also on a steep downhill gradient. The Railway Inspector was concerned with this, but we appeased him by offering to introducing a permanent 5mph speed limit on down trains. The massive pile on the right is not a slag heap, but earth arising from the works involved in Doncaster’s expansion activities

Progress! (uploaded 18 April 2009)

Of the bridges along the line Bridge 14 was in the best condition, work was confined to patching a few small holes, welding and bolting some small holes in the main longitudinals, replacing the longitudinal baulk timbers, and painting all newly exposed metalwork – especially the ‘orrible galvanised handrails, installed a few years ago.

Bridges along the route needed more or less scaffolding on them, and Bridge 14 was troublesome since, despite needing least work, it crossed a busy road going to Big Pit and Doncaster’s works. In order to manage the traffic, it was necessary to widen the road, albeit temporarily. Here, on 13 January 2009, a strip has been strip dug out to permit widening. 1838 13/1

The hole which had been dug had to have a strong sub-base, not only to support the weight of vehicular traffic, but to safeguard a gas main which was only an inch or so below the surface. Here is the situation looking west (towards Doncaster’s and Big Pit) a few days later on 17 January 1846 17/1

By the 22nd Griffiths of Abergavenny, the main civil contractors, had made a rapid start by removing all the cess walkway decking, though at this stage the ‘four-foot’ decking remained outstanding. This view is looking up the line towards Bridge 13,12 and Furnace Sidings. 1864 22/1

By Sunday 25 January the rails chairs and fittings had been removed by PBR 1877 25/1

A few days later the’four-foot’ decking and main baulks had been removed leaving the bridge a trap to the unwary 1915 1/2

The situation was even more startling when viewed from below 1916 1/2

Mid-February saw the second round of snow, and this miserable scene sees the one way flow road traffic management arrangements in place. Part of the work was to fit substantial steel stiffeners at the ends of the longitudinal beams, and this was an important reason for the scaffolding 1979 14/2

…but by mid-March Blaenavon was bathed in bright, warm but slightly hazy sunshine. Looking north the new baulks are in place. Note the kinked joint required to accommodate the curve 2119 19/3

A view in the opposite direction. The baulks are about 2.5 inches wider than their predecessors in order to allow ‘check rail chairs’ to be fitted. This will permit the installation of check rails which will avoid the imposition of a severe speed limit over the bridge by HMRI 2125 19/3

Left: In April, three workers (the third largely hidden behind the second) enjoy the sunshine as they notch transoms and fix the steel straps that hold the baulks in place 2183 3/04

The scaffolding is moved to the south end of the bridge. This will allow the south end stiffening ribs to be welded into place- as well as painting a few previously hidden places 2220 6/04

Modifications! (uploaded 18 May 2010)

Bridge 18 is crossed by track on ½ mile radius. This is quite sharp by railway standards, and demands that the track has a pronounced cant or ‘superelevation’. We were always aware that the cant was pronounced, but having been visited by two inspectors, neither of whom had mentioned it, we were happy that the bridge was rebuilt as it was – after all it had carried heavy coal trains up till 1980. We were a little surprised when the second inspector during a visit in April 2010, whilst generally happy with what we had done to date, demanded that the cant be reduced. The only way that this could be done was to contruct complex packing pieces, tapered in two planes, and, like the new baulks, fabricated in hardwood.

The work, which took about three days, was completed on 2 May. The tools of the trade are evident, to whit, one Duff-Norton jack, two crow bars - and three cups of tea! 1208-2 May 10

The final chair screws go in! In the foreground can be seen the original baulk timber and the packing pieces in a paler shade of wood. The fringing effect on the side of the building is a result of reducing the image resolution for web use, and is not real 1212 - 2 May 10

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