DEVELOPMENT – FURNACE SIDINGS FOOTBRIDGE (STEP 1.3.2) – PAGE 2

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More news on the ‘Hinckley’ footbridge (uploaded 12 June 2010)

It seems rather odd, but for some reason, updates regarding progress on the Hinckley footbridge have been noticeable by their absence. That is not, by any means, to say that there has been no progress, far from it, though much of it has been progressive in nature and with no obviously photogenic consequences that would justify many images on this page. It has been fifteen months since our last report, and the work has in fact been quite dramatic. In a nutshell:

(a) The second tower has been assembled and has been erected on site, though cannot yet be bolted down till the main deck is installed. The tower remains to be painted.

(b) The second tower flight walls were sent to Barry Docks for welding and reconstruction. They have since been returned to Blaenavon and are now in position ready to be bolted to No.2 tower, however this cannot happen till the tower itself is bolted down, and this, in turn cannot happen till the main deck is bolted into place. They still remain to be painted.

(d) the big news is that the extensive, and seemingly endless, welding work on the main deck is essentially complete, and painting is well under way. Wooden planking for the main deck and its related ascents (and for the two flights) is to be ordered shortly. A very few detailed welding jobs remain.

Now that it is becoming obvious that what started in October 2006 as an ugly collection of rusting parts is about to emerge as a swan (insofar as anything of LNWR design could ever be so described), less than four years later, the political spotlight is undoubtedly turning to the footbridge and there seems to be a gathering collective political will to get the bridge erected during the summer. It could be that the next update will the last on the footbridge and will record its final lifting into place – and some images from a new viewpoint! Anyway, here are 22 images telling the story to date.

Carrying tower No.1 complete from assembly on site up to the platform was a difficult job, and it was decided to assemble tower No.2 on the essentially unused platform 2. Here the first of the legs makes the journey from the site yard

2351 – 26 Apr 09

The components start to arrive on platform 2. One of the newly primed legs in seen in the foreground.

2398 – 3 May 09

Assembly begins – two legs are joined by three heavy but attractive cast trusses. We has always been worried that we might break one of the castings, which would as likely as not would have rendered the whole bridge scrap, but, to date, there have been no accidents

2415 – 3 May 09

With just one truss to go the assembly approaches completion

2822 – 15 June 09

The other half of the fabrication team, George P, keeps an eye on the proceedings as the last of the trusses is lowered into position. As a note of explanation the tower marked NW is in the south west, and vice versa. The markings relate to the positions at Hinckley, which have been- re-orientated so that the stair flight points the opposite way.

2837 – 21 June 09

The same scene from a differing viewpoint. Derek steadies the frame and slackens some bolts as Wayne E on the Manitou adjusts the final truss into place

2838 -21 June 09

The lift begins! Platform 2 is tested well beyond its design limit as a lorry load of concrete blocks, which happened to be passing, is commandeered into lifting tower No.2 with its hi-ab.

3055 – 22July 09

The tower teeters on its balance point. Note that the attitude of the tower is incorrect, as, once swinging, it has to be turned through ninety degrees so that the open side fitted with spandrels points across the rails to support the main deck and the triangular gussets point southwards to support the stair flights

3056 – 21 June 09

All that worry about getting the tower into position and the whole job only took five minutes. Men from the local haulage firm remove the lifting tackle from the bridge

3059 - 21July 09

Looking the other way a few days later we see tower No.2 in repose. It is very close to its final position, but needs to come in by 30mm after the main deck is slotted in.

3113 – 25 July 09

With tower No.2 in position it was now time to concentrate on the main deck. There had already been some progress but now all bridge effort could be directed to the main deck. Unfortunately there were many interruptions, distractions, and diversions, but despite these the fabrication team always managed to gravitate back to the bridge, so that although progress was slow, it continued to move inexorably forward.

Due to the proximity of damp timber to the bottom flange of the bridge (which would have supported the timber planking) the flange had almost completed rotted away. This is the ‘Achilles heel’ of this type of footbridge. This corrosion demanded the complete replacement of the bottom flange and of the first six inches or so of the side panel. Here the new parts have been bolted, but not yet welded into place

0092 – 16 Aug 09

Here’s a technical close-up of work in progress. Nothing has been welded yet, and the rivets have been replaced by high tensile friction bolts – not pretty but effective. The corrosion on the ascent is also severe but the bottom flange will live to fight another day, though some further localised work in this area will be necessary.

0099 – 23 Aug 09

As can be seen in preceding images, corrosion of the ‘ascent’ panels in severe, but here but the bottom flange is acceptable. The technique used here is to sandwich the defective plate between a new inner and outer plate. Here two plates can be seen tack welded into place.

0649 – 8 Dec 2009

From further back it will be appreciated that the sandwich technique employs no less than sixteen plates. The complex profile was obtained by means of tracing through a roll of the webmaster’s wallpaper!

0658 – 14 Dec 09

Snow! With only a sputtering arc to keep him warm, Derek B completes yet another two of the sixteen panels.

0694 – 22 Dec 2009

The work continues by making a waterproof weld along the top to keep the rain out. The bottom weld is intermittent in order to allow any condensation to drain away

0807 – 17 Jan 2010

Along the ‘six-inch’ line a very deep penetrating weld is required. The strengthening pillars need particularly careful treatment when they are welded.

0990 - 7 Mar 2010

Derek B surveys the advancing weld. The nearest pillar has been ground to confirm the quality of the weld

1017 – 14 Mar 2010

The plate work is just about complete, but two stretcher bars under the main deck need cutting off and replacing.

1103.-.4 Apr 2010

Here, in its full glory, the main deck. The repairs have left small scars but this is not expected to seriously detract from the overall appearance once the bridge is painted.

1132 – 10 Apr 2010

Now it really does look as if completion is very close. Derek B again, grit blasting off any remaining paint, and surface rust, in readiness for the first primer paint layer.

1294 – 30 May 2010

Access to the main deck for maintenance or painting will be difficult once it is in position, so plenty of high phosphate primer is now quickly applied to such surfaces as have been de-rusted.

1302 - 6 June 2010

So that is the current situation. We still have to install the cleats, which support the footsteps, and we are having new brackets cast which will support new handrails. It is expected that the timber for the footsteps and decking will be ordered very shortly and these must be installed. Since many of the timbers will have profiled ends in order to provide clearance for bolt heads and other bits and pieces this could prove to be quite time-consuming, and has been recommended that this work is completed before the main deck is finally lifted into position, in order to provide dimensional stability.

Final assembly and commissioning (21 October 2010)

Progress with the high phosphate primer now extends most of the way down the inside. Also, as an added safety feature a flat sheet has been fitted along the midline of the main deck and can just be seen here. Now, in the case that in about 100 years time, the side angle should fail again, there is no chance of the timber being completely unsupported.

1306 – 8 June 2010

Primer coat now completely covers the outside of the east side of the main deck. The area to be painted was not small – there are of course, four sides to be painted – and several weeks were needed to dodge the showers and complete the work.

1307 – 8 June 2010

This was a lucky shot, caught with the light in just the right position to show the prodigious amount of work along the bottom edge of the main deck. All the rivets had to be burnt and punched out., the bottom cut away, the original angle discarded, new plate and angle fitted, an exceptionally long high quality double sided weld made, any number of friction bolts installed, and all the pillars reconstructed – and then the whole process had to be repeated on the other side!

1308 – 13 June 2010

Another week goes by, and the main deck is covered in primrose coloured undercoat. On the left, master painter Bev W starts on the cream coloured top coat. On the right, and with Derek hidden on the far side, Wayne E makes a start attaching the cleats to the sides of the ascents.

002 – 18 June 2010

Unlike the level portion of the main deck, repairs to the steelwork on the ascents took the form of ‘sandwiching’ the damaged plate between two outer plates. Here a watertight weld held the top. The sides were bolted as were the bottoms, though the bottom were able to make use of the cleat bolts. The open sides and bottoms were to allow the escape of condensation and so reduce corrosion

0003 – 18 June 2010

For a change we see the south end of the bridge, but with the same dogged workers fitting more bolts into the sandwicjh plates. As soon as the bolts are fitted and finally nipped up it is imperative that they are given a thick coat of paint – this is one area where we cannot afford corrosion.

0004 – 18 June 2010

We pause now to record an important step forward in the restoration of the footbridge– the removal of the main deck and fitting between the towers. All this group of images are from the camera of volunteer Martin Hope. The date is 20th July 2010, four years and four months after the date when the main deck arrived from Rushden in Northamptonshire and was dropped into this position, to whit,16 November 06

Although the main deck was unloaded on arrival with the aid of a modest hi-ab, this rather large crane was used to load it back onto the lorry. Something a large as this was not needed for this operation, but read on….

Photo: Martin Hope

Here the deck, painted in cream with Gulf Red details, in true BR(M) fashion, being carefully loaded onto the back of the lorry. The planking had already been installed on the level section of the main deck, in order to prevent the sides being squeezed inwards from pressure from the lifting slings

Photo: Martin Hope

The deck makes slow progress out of the Furnace Sidings on its way up to the station area.

Photo: Martin Hope

One in the ‘paddock’ behind platform 1, the need for the big crane becomes apparent as the deck is swung skywards.

Photo: Martin Hope

The big crane jibs round as the deck approaches the twin towers

Photo: Martin Hope

The next stage was rather delicate- the design width between the towers was planned to be 25mm though in reality, for a variety of reasons this had increased to 30mm. Nevertheless the positioning of the main deck was required to be very precise

Photo: Martin Hope

Clearly the crane driver was an operator of considerable skill as the main deck slotted neatly between the towers without difficulty and the first tapered ‘podging’ bolts were quickly installed in order to allow the slings to relax their tension.

Photo: Martin Hope

Wayne and Bev, without delay, replace the podging bars with final nuts and bolts on tower 1. This procedure was necessary since tower 1 was fixed. Immediately afterwards tower 2 was inched the necessary 30mm towards the deck and the final bolts installed there too. The following weekend tower 2, like tower 1, was finally grouted into its concrete plinth using specialist ragbolts.

Photo: Martin Hope

With the main deck in position and with the all-important joint formal opening of the extension and GWR175 gala looming, pressure to complete the footbridge was growing. As a result the two man team of Derek and George were strengthened by the addition of Bev, Wayne and Ian L. The images below try to tell the story…

Unlike the level portion of the main deck, repairs to the steelwork on the ascents took the form of ‘sandwiching’ the damaged plate between two outer plates. Here a watertight weld held the top. The sides were bolted as were the bottoms, though the bottom were able to make use of the cleat bolts. The open sides and bottoms were to allow the escape of condensation and so reduce corrosion

0003 – 18 June 2010

For a change we see the south end of the bridge, but with the same dogged workers fitting more bolts into the sandwicjh plates. As soon as the bolts are fitted and finally nipped up it is imperative that they are given a thick coat of paint – this is one area where we cannot afford corrosion.

0004 – 18 June 2010

The flight walls are roughly in place and are bolted loosely into position. The extensive ‘sandwiching’ is clear to see. The ascent to the main deck awaits its steps…

0066 – 25 Jul 2010

…as do the stair flights themselves. Derek and George adjust the bottom of the flight walls to ensure that they are exactly parallel. It is also necessary to ensure that the geometry with regard to the platform edge is also ‘spot-on’. Bev and Ian L busy themselves removing rust flakes prior to the first primer coat going on.

0067 – 25 July 2010

The cast newel posts are the next to go on. These are essentially thick rectangular hollow castings and are massively heavy. The faithful Manitou peeping in from the left provided the ‘grunt’ which otherwise would have to be provided by the volunteers

0070 25 July 2010

The newel posts have been bolted into place. It is just possible to see that each newel post has a pad or foot drilled with four mounting screws. A temporary steel angle can be seen in this image, which helps to stabilise the lower ends of the flight walls, and ensures that the geometry stays correct.

0128 – 1 August 2010/8

Of course, there has to be the mandatory group photo and here are most of them posing at the foot of the erstwhile steps. Meanwhile yet more volunteers attend to some minor matters on the landing.

0129 – 1 August 2010

Despite volunteers trying to get into yet another shot, this image is intended to show the complete bridge and shows that it is structurally complete. The steps have to be installed, and the towers painted, but the end is clearly in site.

0130 – 1 August

Fast forward now …. It’s the first day of PBR’s three day extravaganza marking the formal opening of the extension to BHL and the GWR175 celebrations, the bridge has been brought into use. The steps have been installed, the last ones being fitted only the day and the towwere have been painted and the steps brought into use. The steps were only finally installed on the day before. The bridge seems reasonably well patronised. Nevertheless its entry into service was a rather low-key affair compared with the erection of a new footbridge on other railways, overshadowed as it was by the formal opening of the extension and GWR175 celebrations.

7710 – 17 Sept 2010

One detail that had not been brought into use on 17 September was the handrails. We had one or two complete handrail support brackets, but, unsurprisingly, most had disappeared or had been broken. Accordingly a further 32 were cast though this time in aluminium alloy rather than iron. Here we see one of the supports in close up. Frustratingly, the standard wooden handrail sections were never of quite the correct length and recourse had to be made to scarfed joints in order to complete the work.

7720 - 25 Sep 2010

And that, we think, just about concludes the story of the footbridge, there are some minor jobs to do, like pouring the concrete thresholds, fitting smoke hoods, fitting wooden caps to the tops of the tower legs, and we are even looking at the possibility of fitting lamps. We may or may not report on these smaller matters. The images below are taken from a series of high resolution images that we intend to make available to our friends at the Rushden Historical Transport Society near Northampton, and the Leicester Museum who have helped us in one way or another over the last few years.

A general view of the bridge from Furnace Sidings, platform 1, looking over the level crossing towards the south and Blaenavon (High Level) station. The flight of steps to the left in the shorter of the two and was originally on the Leicester (north) side of Hinckley station.

7756 – 3 Oct 2010

Looking north from Furnace Sidings, platform 2 in the direction of Whistle Inn

The flight of steps on the left landed on the platform for Nuneaton trains. The smoke stains on the main deck are proof that steam engines are operating in the area.

7757 – 3 Oct 2010

An oblique view of the No2 flight shows the effect on both the inside and outside of applying sandwich plates. We think you will agree that once painted they don’t detract from the overall look of the bridge at all.

7758 – 3 Oct 2010

The landing on tower 2. The remains of a few setps were measured for thickness and varied between 75mm and 80mm. To be sure we standardised the planks at 85mm thickness – so they should last for a few years yet

7759 – 3 Oct 2010

Standing on the landing of tower 2 and turninf east we see the ascent steps to the main deck

7760 – 3 Oct 2010

The top of this tower leg awaits its wooden cap, whilst the newly cast aluminium alloy handrail brackets await a coat of paint.

7761 – 3 Oct 2010

A view northwards towards the top of the line and the Whistle Inn station from the landing of tower 2. The environment in which the bridge finds itself is considerably more rural than in Hinckley!

7762 – 3 Oct 2010

This is a view looking roughly north-west up into the complexity of the top of tower 2. The four cast trusses are now easy to see, and add considerable charm to this rather austere structure.