DEVELOPMENT – FURNACE SIDINGS-FOOTBRIDGE (STEP 1.3.2)

The ‘Hinckley’ footbridge (uploaded 24 October 2008)

There seems to be poplar misconception amongst visitors that all preserved railways in Wales and the West must be Great Western. In the case of the PBR, this is certainly not true. Our history section will show that the part of the line between the Whistle Inn, through Furnace Sidings down to Blaenavon (High Level) was built by the Brynmawr and Blaenavon Railway in 1866. In reality the B&BRly was really the all-powerful London & North Western Railway (LNWR) in sheep’s clothing. In 1923, at the grouping imposed by the government of the day, the LNWR became a constituent of the mighty London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and so it remained until nationalisation produced British Railways in 1948. It is true that the line was worked by GWR engines in later days, but retained LNWR and LMS signals to the end. However, the inescapable fact was that it’s infrastructure, such of it that remained until later days was pure LNWR. Now although Furnace Sidings never even existed as a station prior to preservation, we felt honour bound to at least make it suggestive of an LNWR backwater.

When the notion of a second platform and a linking footbridge was being considered, it was with LNWR ‘furniture’ in mind. It was a pure stroke of good fortune that round about this time we became aware of a genuine LNWR footbridge in store at the Rushden Historical Transport Society in Northampton, and that they wanted to dispose of it. A visit to Northampton on a sunny day in October 2006 revealed a beautiful station building, both inside and out, and an impressive LMS signal box, but the footbridge had caused them problems. It was poor when they acquired it fifteen years previously, and after all that time in outside storage, it had suffered grievously.

The main deck is on the left, and the two towers, one threaded in the other lie on their sides on the right. On the main deck the bottom angle had rotted beyond redemption, and the side plates were holed in a number of places. Behind can be seen the typical LMS signal cabin

Member Alastair Warrington stands close to the top of one of the towers. The cast trusses were in good condition, and retained a certain ‘heavyweight’ LNWR charm. The legs had not only been burnt off, close to their bases, but had suffered very severe corrosion

There were some interesting details, as the cast supports for the handrail on the stair portion of the main deck illustrate

Some of the side walls would need complete reconstruction. The presence of soil and weeds within the structure served only to accelerate corrosion

The stair flight side walls were in generally very poor condition, and this photo shows the bottom of the heavy cast newel post. The base of this post is in good condition, but several had pieces cracked or missing at the base

Oh, for a station waiting room like this one. Now used as a member’s bar in the main building.

By the time we got the main deck to Furnace Sidings on a rotten wet day in early November, our enthusiasm for this bridge had been tempered by thoughts of ‘What on earth have we let ourselves in for?’, and our confidence started to wane.

The delicate job of offloading the main deck off the lorry onto terra firma was undertaken by a second lorry fitted with a hi-ab unit.

Volunteer and ace welder Derek considers how he is going to put the rest of tower 1 together

-and here is the completed tower. Getting it upright safely proved to be a difficult job

A detail showing the stair flight bracket and the heavy cast spandrel that supports the main deck

On 27 August 2008 was a day of typical low cloud, as the local transport firm was called in once again to move the tower onto the platform.

It was a tricky job with the lorry reversing up the grade, and often slipping – and it’s always worse when someone’s watching.

Finally, with the hi-ab at absolutely full stretch, the tower was dropped to within an inch of its final position.

Looking strangely isolated we see the tower on the rather barren platform 1 in this view looking north east

Viewed straight on, the tower appears to lean, with the platform straight. In fact it is the platform that is not level- the tower is dead plumb

A week later on 7 September, it’s Derek once again who grouts the tower into its concrete base with resin anchor bolts to make sure it stays put!

News on the ‘Hinckley’ footbridge (uploaded 15 April 2009)

The winter has seen a lull in the proceedings since Derek was involved fixing the loco shed roof which had blown off during the winter gales, and it was far too cold and damp to attempt to paint the footbridge, but eventually Spring 2009 arrived and work resumed.

In mid-February the repaired stair flight walls arrive on Platform 1. The flower bed under the posts of the running-in board posts would be an early casualty img_2022rr

The first flight wall went in without too much of a fight, a few days later - but it was the Manitou’s jumbo tyres which laid waste to the flower bed. img_2028rr

Both flight walls are on but there is a definite twist on the left hand wall, we suspect due to poor storage conditions at Rushden img_2037rr

With the weather a little warmer and days slightly longer, the laborious business of chipping away old paint gets underway, as volunteer Bev W attacks the tower with a variety of dangerous looking implements Img_2038rr

Not really related to the footbridge, but we knew that we were going to have to move the old ‘station building’ (an old banana van) before construction of its replacement could begin. We planned to do this late in 2009. The chance arrival of a crane on site doing something quite different decided a rapid re-deployment on Platform 1 as the van was moved south of the bridge, where it teeters on the south end of the platform. img_2090rr

Not all our plans are trouble free in the execution. In this case the van was lifted – and left its floor behind. A pity this, as we now have even more work if we are to restore the van. It’s worth doing, as there are only one or two in preservation, and the sight of one, with its characteristic yellow spot would make a colourful addition to our demonstration freight train Img_2088.

In early April, the newel posts were fixed to the bottom ends of the flight walls and concreted into position. Straining bars had to be employed to force the twisted flight wall back into shape, whilst the concrete set. A few days later the bars were removed and, thank goodness, the flight walls remained perfectly aligned. Here volunteer Eric (he of Eric’s Emporium’) examines the work, whilst Derek looks on, having just welded the ‘Furnace Sidings’ sign permanently into position. img_2187rr

Its Easter Sunday and a fine Spring morning sees platform 1 well patronised as passengers wait for the first train. In the background, the tower, topped by ‘Y Ddraig Goch’ has been fully primed, including the newel posts. A new coat of undercoat/topcoat is being applied now, which will bring the bridge a shade darker. img_2280rr

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. They still remain to be painted.

(c) the newel posts for No.2 flight have been painted and remain in the yard.

(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 (insoar 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 foorbridge. 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 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

A high phosphate primer now stretches down the length of the outside face, and, out of sight, three quarters of the way down the inside. This is the face that will shortly face the Whistle Inn. 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.

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