Swindon & Cricklade Railway - Return to Cricklade commences!

Hi all,

See attached from the S&CR. This week saw major ground works taking place to prepare the track bed for ballast and track.

A monumental and welcoming achievement considering all the negativity COVID brings.

However we still need help raising money to complete the extension, donations can be made via the S&CR website at https://swindon-cricklade-railway.org/return-to-cricklade/

Thanks!

 

Tracklaying and snow - brings back memories of Alton winter 1984/5. Best of British (and don't let the stiff upper lip freeze!).

 

Looks like a lot of hard work but Im sure it will be worth it. Did I see though they need a new bridge? (Edit: Yes they do I just read the web page; Fairfield)

 

Same at Swanage, took out six panels of track under Victoria road bridge for a relay then everything frozen solid including our Hymac

 

Yes, the original bridge was demolished and a road built over it back when the track was lifted. Now we have to take it back to what it was....

 

The missing overbridge was allegedly blown up by the army as a training exercise in the early 1970s. It was a 3 arch brick overbridge leading to a farm. One of the members does have an original drawing of it. There is a big bank of earth with the road on top and the SCR did many years ago have a bit of an exploratory dig into the earth mould where the bridge was to see if any of the bridge actually survived underneath, but I understand little does survive.

Sadly there is another similar bridge which does survive at the Mouldon Hill end but on a section that will never get used, but as least it will give clues as to the construction of the missing one.

 

Although there have been numerous heavy restorations of bridges and quite a few replacement girder bridges during the heritage era, has there been any complete like-for-like reinstatement of a substantial brick structure?

 

If it was a three arch bridge I presume it has been replaced by an embankment. Ever considered using an Armco tunnel? The Middleton Railway runs through one where it goes under the M621 motorway. That would essentially leave the embankment in place with some simple buttresses at the ends. If you were building a new road over the railway it would be dead easy but it may not be as practical where the road already exists. However, it would be worth a discussion with them.
https://www.obo-bettermann.com/armco/construction.php

 

Welsh Highland have some as well.

 

It might be worth noting that just a few short miles away the Cotswold Canal Society has built from the ground up a beautiful brick arched bridge.
If they can do it......

Weymoor Bridge, Latton (cotswoldcanals.net)

 

Thanks for this, would be worth looking into!

 

Lovely looking bridge, i'll forward this onto the trust also. Thanks for linking it.

 

An update from the P-way team at the S&CR.

After much vegetation clearance, track bed profiling has now begun. See attached pictures!

We still need a little bit of help from the public and you can now become a regular donator by using our standing order form located here:

https://swindon-cricklade-railway.org/return-to-cricklade/

We appreciate all help and donations offered so far, we WILL return to Cricklade!

 

Best of luck. By the look of some of the shots its hard to know whether you are restoring a railway or a canal!

 

The same thought here. I do hope those embankments weren't constructed the same way as those on the G-WR.

 

Great to see the work in progress!