40
FEATURE
RAILSTAFF JULY-AUGUST 2021
REPORT BY COLIN WHEELER
RAILWAY STRUCTURES TURES ARE DIFFERENT CULTURAL VANDALISM AT GREAT MUSGRAVE
A
s a student I worked briefly for a County Council in the department led by that County’s Surveyor and Bridgemaster who was a chartered civil engineer with many years of experience. Post-graduation working for British Rail was very different.
In one railway office I recall the working of a full-time member of staff whose sole mission was to generate income by letting contracts for the removal of the steel deck spans of redundant railway bridges usually leaving the abutments and wind walls standing. At the time the prices being paid for scrap steel significantly improved our bottom line. Detailed examination of these bridge decks often revealed serious corrosion wherever water could accumulate. Bearings, cill beams, trimmer girders, trough decks and other areas all needed close examination if the bridge’s life was to be extended.
RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF
Due to the age of these bridges their design life easily exceeded the 100 or so years with which highway engineers are well acquainted. Indeed, most if not all would have been candidates for estimated and actual cost reductions if the original designers had known how to apply “value engineering” analysis. However routine maintenance had been neglected deliberately due to budget constraints and the prioritisation of repair works to operational structures. I also recall having to repair two ornamental stone arch bridges within the grounds of a minor stately home due to the fact that the owner of the house at the time when a certain railway was built only agreed to allow it to be built across his land if the rail company agreed to maintain the two bridges into perpetuity! When Railtrack was set up many disused railway structures, including unused railway bridges and tunnels were initially transferred to the keeping of “British Rail Residual”. This was the method
Colin Wheeler.
