Bridge that Gap: Great Central Railway News

Would have Thought that just before that bridge would be the ideal position for a junction.
Surely this isnt suggesting a double track all the way to the Gypsum works ?

 

One track is the chord up from the Midland main line, as now, with the other track the eventual reinstated link to Loughborough Central. The actual junction between the two has to be somewhere over towards the back of the Brush works so that a train can clear the incline up from the Midland line. There was a piece on the EMR Trust website that was linked to from one of these NP threads a while ago which gave details of what was being planned........

 

Think i see, even though the tracks are at the same level at this point the junction need s to further on so that a north bound loco stopping at the junction doesnt have its trailing load mostly still on the incline.. ?

 

The link to the downloadable .pdf of the proposed track arrangement in the Loughborough area was mentioned in the EMRT thread, not this one.
Go to... https://emrtrust.co.uk/looking-forward/ and click on the "Read more here" button on the Critical traffic considerations sub-heading

 

Thanks for that link esp the piece about the double track reception siding/ run around loop proposal

 

I have just been e mailed this...."the A60 bridge, there are two excavators on the track bed removing the ballast, so its begun!!!!!

 

I had a wander up there today as I in the area. Two excavators at the MML end of the embankment and a third on the Nottingham side of the bridge.

 

Thanks for posting the Pic J Rob't, will you be able to follow the weekend's events on the bridge?

 

Unfortunately not, I was only at the Gala for today.

 

Taken this afternoon at the A60 bridge...

 

Wow, they didn't waste any time!
Ray.

 

That's a very neat cutline on the abutment brickwork. Accident, or design, I wonder.

 

There was a gang of Lithuanians who operated a chain cutter for that very task. It looked like bicycle chain (but VERY long) and, I believe, was covered in diamond dust. They trimmed the abutments of an underbridge between Clapham Junction and Pouparts Junction (on the Brighton) when the bridge deck was replaced one freezing cold Christmas - so cold that the water cooling kept freezing up! It produces a very level surface when finished.
Pat

 

I also noticed, at the South end of the embankment near the new MML bridge, there was an excavator moving soil around. So possibly filling in a bit of that gap to the bridge as part of the site tidy up for the work that NR are doing on the main line bridge over the brook?

 

On the face of it, reinstating the embankment up to the MML would be a fairly easy win. However that gap in the embankment is also currently providing access for NR to maintain their bridge over the brook. From a quick look on Google maps, it might be possible for NR to access said bridge via Railway Terrace, but that looks a fairly tight and tortuous route to have to take with heavy machinery. So I wonder whether the embankment has been left as-is until now because another small bridge may be required to maintain that access? Unless the MML bridge is long enough- and I don't think it is- to span the MML and a haul road?

 

That is a good point and that gap has provided good access for the current MML bridge work, but I don't think there has ever been an intention not to have the embankment reinstated up to the new GCR MML bridge. There is I believe sufficient space between the abutment, signal and rails for small vehicle to get through. There never was much more of an access route before, from pictures in the 50's and 60's.

 

If you have got 4h 47m to spare, you can watch the bridge being demolished on YouTube!

 

A fascinating video - the choreography of the four diggers working together was most impressive. Sad to see that iconic lattice steelwork so casually crumpled and cut though.

 

So it turns out that excavators are pack hunters. Never would have guessed. If you don't have the thick end of 5 hours to spare, there's a truncated version (6 minutes):

 

Will the new A60 bridge have a greater clearance height ? and / or some of those " tin opener" bars to protect it from bridge strike ?