Rother Valley Railway

There are more pictures in the blog of the repairs to Austens Bridge. Who ever did the 'damage' made a real mess.

 

It seems to me that given the destruction of the floor and gas axing of the main beams that destruction of the bridge was the intention.
I wonder when in the time line this was done?

 

The blog says June 2023 which is after the announcement of the TWAO announcement in early May 2023 but before it was 'made' in August 2023.

 

This one was just two 'I' beams on two crumbly concrete abutments. And pushed out of alignment !


Sorry about the poor picture quality. It was taken with one of those tiny Kodak 110 cameras that you kept in your back pocket.

 

Which bridge is/ was this, Jo?

 

Newmill, Summer 1976.
The one just past Northbridge St L/C looks similar.

 

Here’s @45669 ’s pic of the same bridge (Newmill) in ‘61 when it still had track over. To the left you can see the propping BR had to install to hold it up a little longer.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/5982038908

 

I did wonder if it was bridge 6. The most recent photo of that suggests that too has been displaced, but with the passage of so much time, it's hard to tell. Had Newmill bridge been deliberately damaged, or was it floodwater, do you know? I visited the line for the first time in summer 76, and walked the track from Northiam to just short of Rolvenden, so I must have walked over this! Strewth.

 

The track is in very good condition, did BR relay the line?

 

It was floodwater. Remember that this land used to be sea, so the tide is always nearby. The people responsible for the channel took action and raised a dyke along both sides all the way along. Before reinstating the line (tracks down, but unusable) we had to rebuild the bridge and run up and over the new heights. The same had to be done a bit further along, over the Hexden channel. I do recall further flooding at Wittersham later on, when even that raised dyke was breached. So the water certainly went up and down. I think flotsam attaches to the current (raised) Bailey bridge even now.




In the picture you can see the old beams taken out, and a start being made for ramps each side to get over the new height. With wheelbarrows.... Later, mine waste was dumped with Dogfish through the track.
The more recently built Austen bridge was a lot more substantial.
Once, the Newmill Channel was so low that I was able to wade around in it and fish out a number of two bolt SER chairs, which after a very roundabout trip through my working life abroad, ended up with the Colonel Stephens Museum in Tenterden.

 

Given that what was done to the bridge was after the decision on the Transport and Works Order was announced but before it formally took effect, that would detract from any value due to the owners if there was any.

Any effects from what went into the water under it while the recent owners still had it, that would be between them and the Drainage Board or the Environment Agency.
If that were to exacerbate some future exceptional flood - and the KESR has been affected within the last twenty years by two hundred year floods within ten days...............

(Effectively the T&WO updated, double checked or better, the future estimates from the experience of those floods)

 

Yes, indeed they did.

 

The "new" bridge over the New Mill Channel (now nearly 50 years old of course) I believe used Callendar-Hamilton bridge components, second hand from a temporary road bridge over the Medway at Aylesford. Rearranged to suit the higher loading of the railway bridge.

 

That has to be the understatement of the year, I wonder has any of the supporters of the owner of the farm, on who's land the "damage" happened posted in support of these actions, I just hope it was reflected in the value of the land, minus the replacement costs, and I hope the Environment agency levies a heavy fine in regard of the leakage of material into the river rother, on the same owner, as it was on her land at the time, compare this to the behaviour of the RVR, who has paid for numerous measures to protect the riverways, and land it has purchased, and had to agree to when exercising its powers as regards the TWO.
"

 

I rather think that the 'supporters' were unaware that this had occurred. In fact RVR have been 'tight lipped' about the extent of the damage until very recently. It is easy to speculate and I am trying not too. The good news is that repairs are well advanced.

 

I think we can make some deductions here Watson through some simple questions, is this bridge on a tract of land in which the owner was refusing to sell and was against the railways reinstatement? Is the timing of the damage interesting in that it muddies the waters on who is liable for said damage? (I believe that’s been answered upthread), whatever happened, and I hope the vagueness is due to some sort of ongoing legal consequences, it shall come out in the fullness of time, you can hardly damage a bridge that extensively and get away without local people knowing the details, it’s a tremendous act of spite regardless.

 

Further pictures of the repairs to Austens Bridge have been posted to the blog - click here. The contractors are doing a very thorough job.

 

I hope that by the time the railway is completed and opened the perceived wound will have healed sufficiently that there are no future “actions”. The railway and the land owners need to rub along. I’m sure the railway will want to do just that, and let’s hope those that opposed the railway do the same.

 

Three furter posts appear on the blog today - click here. Things are moving forward on a number of fronts,

 

Has this additional work impacted on the time schedule to re-open this section? replacing and repairing those two bridges must had an impact, certainly on the costs, I dare say there would have been some attention needed on the bridges anyway, they have not seen any attention since the line closed, and at least the work being done will ensure they won't need much in future, compared to this, the level crossings should be quite straight forward as they are pre assembled sections that just need to be craned in , As regards the environmental damage done to the Rother, by the actions of those who did the damage to the bridge, It would be very fitting if the fines and costs of cleaning up the damage were so huge as to leave the former owner of the land in who's ownership it was at the time the damage was done, end up costing more, than they received for the land when the RVR purchased it.