"Bridge & Wheels Appeal" NYMR

Report from Nigel Trotter

Thursday 18 February 2010
This report includes for work carried out on Wednesday.

Walked across the bridge today!!

All 27 of the precast concrete deck units are now in place with the last 10 placed on Wednesday. The complex shuttering for the insitu concrete deck ends is progressing. This involves all sorts of chamfers and slopes plus securing the shutters in tight and restricted places. The plan is for the base parts to be concreted on Monday/Tuesday together with the joins between the units up to above sleeper level. To minimise costs, the concrete for the Grosmont side will be taken across the new deck using a dumper rather than a concrete pump (the dumper could be hired for 14 weeks for the daily cost of the pump!) This is only possible as we now have a deck to cross on!
The next levels of concrete will be placed on Tuesday/Wednesday with completion on Thursday. To stop the concrete falling out of the gaps between the precast units, aerofil gap filler and sealants will be used.

Other work continues on tidying the site with one cabin already loaded onto rail wagons for return to New Bridge and much of the plant now taken off hire. Some such as one lighting unit has already gone.

Diary reports will be limited for the next periods as there may not be anything to report as the concrete is curing. Work will continue with fitting the handrails etc however.

It is looking that we may be ready for reopening some time this year!

(Getting a Civil Engineer to admit that reopening is a possibility at some point is a major milestone in the project!!! Seriously, main works on the actual bridge structure are now nearing completion but the track still needs relaying across the bridge, some other track in the area relaying and all approach track realigning and re-grading (the new rail level on the Bridge is 14” above the old bridge, smoothing out gradients in the area). Still plenty to do before 27th March!)

Steven

 

Nigel Trotter reports:

Sunday 21 February 2010
John Bruce has kindly supplied some photos and work carried out to date.
The joiners/steel fixers have continued to assemble the shutters and place the reinforcement cages at both ends for the trimmers. You will see from John's photo of the Goathland one that it effectively covers the top ends of the steel beams, stops the pre-cast deck units moving longitudinally (bearing in mind that they will also be secured individually using the shear studs welded onto the top of the steel beams) and also form the end of the deck overlapping the abutment concrete so that the ballast etc does not fall down.

CML were also continuing to tidy up the site ready for a further withdrawal on Tuesday. They will come back as required to continue bearing in mind that the concrete layers will be occupied on various days next week and then we wait for the concrete to dry and gain strength. Once it is dry enough the waterproofers will come in, lightly grit blast the concrete surfaces and then waterproof them When waterproofed Gerry can then lay the ballast and track on the deck and lift up on either side. You will see from John's photo that Gerry has to provide nearly 3 feet of ballast above the formation (which has been lowered next to the bridge).

As the concreting is planned to be completed this week ( a week early!) it is reasonable to say that the bridge works will be completed on time and that Phil Bustard etc can plan for reopening on 27th March. Note that this puts great pressure on the P Way Dept, so please bear that in mind. They need all the support possible from everybody on the railway.

John Bruce reports the site seemed strangely tranquil this weekend, with no work underway.

Steven

Pictures show reinforcing in place for end castings, precast ballast retention units which will go at each cirner and also provide the step access to the bridge walkways and a view from the west showing the return of the white stuff!

 

Steven: Thanks for this latest update.

Just out of interest did they in the end have to pin/stitch or whatever any of the original stonework? I wondered if the abutment that had thought to have moved over the years was going to be soil nailed back into the embankment mass to stabilise it?

46118

 

The "crack" on the stone work has been filled and fitted with monitors. It is suspected that the change is how the deck is sitting on the abutment could solve the movement problem but if there is further movement, then the facing wall can be secured without disrupting traffic.

Steven

 

Monday 22 February 2010

Not a good day today. With the icy weather CML decided not to concrete today as there was ice in the shutters from the weekend. They have covered them and hopefully will concrete tomorrow with heaters if required. The concreting of the abutments involved large lumps of concrete that could be protected and also covered and heated. Unfortunately this week we have to cast quite small sections, some in the middle of the deck and which are difficult to keep "warm" and frost free. This icy spell couldn't have come at a worse time.

Perhaps I will learn to not say we are a week ahead!

 

Better news from Nigel

Tuesday 23 February 2010
A good day in spite of the icy weather.
CML cleaned out the ice, snow, water and normal constriction debris from the joints. Photo 5473 shows Dave Ball using one of the industrial vacuum cleaners to make each joint and shear stud area clean so that the concrete forms a good bond all round. The gaps between the concrete deck units are sealed with aerofil and conbextra grout to keep the concrete in and the cement grout from running out onto the steelwork. However you do it, so will so when complete CML will go underneath and clean the steelwork up along with the abutments. I now have evidence of several people using vacuum cleaners on site and have threatened them with telling their wives/partners!

The high grade 10mm aggregate concrete was delivered in two loads this afternoon (when it was a bit warmer from last night!) and the trimmer ends and joint bottoms were concreted as shown in the photos. As the joints in the sides have to be fully filled and topped up with concrete, each one (54 in total) has to have a little shutter fitted.

CML have brought concrete covers and the space heaters back again to keep the concrete from being attacked by the frosts.

The plan is to concrete the trimmer and joint sides on Thursday and hopefully the trimmer walkways on Friday or possibly Monday (these do not need waterproofing - see below). The specialist waterproofers are coming on Tuesday/Wednesday next week and hopefully the bottom ballast will be on the deck by a week this Friday 5th March.

CML will not be working this weekend and next week will also be fitting the handrails.

We are still on course for the planned re-opening on 27th March 2010.

Regards
Nigel

Steven

 

Is the track set to be relined or is the slight curve going to be permanent (as shown in the 4th photo above)? Sorry if this has already been discussed...

 

Track will be realigned from Grosmont side of Br 32 near Beckhole through to Br 29 Darnholm.
Work starts this weekend.

 

Thanks for that info

 

In the second photo, the one of the dumptruck pouring cement, there appears to be quite a difference in height between the track and the bridge, or is this an optical illusion?

 

No optical illusion - and there is a good depth of ballast to go on top of the bridge deck! The track is the temprorary crane track laid so that the Volker Rail crane could lift the beams in. The embankment was dug out to cast the abutments and hence the embankment needs building back up plus the extra to raise the track level by 14' and be realigned to "meet" the new deck as Ploughman and Lewis discussed above.

Steven

 

Optical illusion. There seems to be a substantial gap there.

 

Thanks Steven.

At least until Monday the weather looks frost-free, so they should be able to get the rest of the concreting done--if any remains. There is however what looks like a day of heavy rain in the forecast for tomorrow.
Have they craned on those four precast units yet, the ones with the steps to the walkways?

 

I understand the rain on Friday duly arrived and at Goathland the trackbed was awash, with possibly some damage to the P-Way down towards Bridge 30.

Oh for some better weather!

 

Thursday 25 February 2010
Friday 26 February 2010

On Thursday CML continued to fix the side wall shutters for the joints and end trimmers. They also got the covers out for the forecast frost on Friday (see later). John Bruce and Chris Cubitt brought up about 120 tons of ballast which was unloaded using the CML excavator and dumper. The two length so crane track were also removed and put to one side. Photos 5513, 5529 and 5535.
Friday was last of the concreting days. No frost, just torrential rain which flooded parts of the railway including Goathland.
It was not a case of keeping the newly placed concrete warm but more of stopping it ending up in Grosmont! The frost covers became rain covers. It was very trying for CML but they achieved it by early afternoon.
So now we wait for the concrete to go off and the CML joiners will come back on Monday to strip the shutters. Then we need it to dry (and also be dry) for the waterproofers to come in Wednesday to grit blast the inside of the deck, prime it and then spray the acrylic waterproof on, roll out the Terram and put the ballast on next day. Photos show water coming down at Goathland Station, river full across at bridge 30 and also at 31 when we were checking for scour (but will have to do again when the water levels are down)

CML are not working this weekend but Gerry Carter and the volunteers plan to relay 3 lengths of track on Sunday.

So no diary until Monday.

Regards
Nigel

Edited (slightly) by Steven!

 

Steven: No disrespect whatsoever to Nigel, but would the time to undertake any protective work to the base of the abutments against scour have been whilst concrete making and other engineering facilities were on site?

 

When Nigel refers to checking for scour, he means the standard checks made after the sort of very heavy rainfall we had yesterday rather than dealing with any known problems at this stage. Such checks are needed each time we have heavy rainfall - quite frequent these days!

Steven

 

Mercifully there appears to be three or four quiet weather days this week, so hopefully the contractors will have a good last push.

Has the Appeal Fund moved on recently Steven? it appears to have been "static" on £660,000 for some time. I know of at least one fellow Heritage railway that said it was making a donation.

 

Monday 1 March 2010
CML did not work the weekend and today were tidying up the site and the joiners were stripping the shutters.
Gerry made a start on relaying and moving the track over to line up with the bridge which as you will all remember is now in the former six-foot so the track on both sides needs to move over half a four-foot plus half a six- foot making 5ft 7 and 1/4 inch or about 1.7 metres.

Tuesday 02 March 2010
We had the close out meeting today with CML to plan the last items and also how to help Gerry lay the track in what is a very congested site, especially when he lays the track to its new alignment thus restricting access even more. Waterseal who are the waterproofing sub-contractors tested the concrete for its "dryness" and thus its suitability for taking the acrylic primer etc without it coming off. They paint some patches of primer on the concrete, wait and then measure the stick to the concrete. The photo shows the deck with the joints being prepared for sealing.
Gerry has now re-laid 3 lengths of the existing bullhead with flatbottom and is sorting materials out and taking to site. CML have reduced their staff down to the absolute minimum on site (three!) but will bring in more next week to fix the handrails and seal the joints. They will also assist Gerry with their plant.

Wednesday 03 March 2010
Waterseal scabbled the bridge deck to remove the loose concrete spillage etc and are returning today to grit blast, prime and waterproof the deck. With luck the first ballast will be on the deck by the weekend.

CML helped Gerry remove most of the existing track on the Goathland side ready for relaying in flat-bottom. Today they will be placing the two concrete step units on the Goathland side, which will then allow the ballast to be placed right up to the bridge once the waterproofing drapes are fitted by Waterseal. The two for the Grosmont side are a slight logistics problem as how to get them there!

The scaffolders are re-arranging the scaffold to provide access into the steelwork for cleaning and painting. They are also adjusting the scaffold at each end preparatory to removing it as the access will be across the bridge once the waterproofing is dry (If anybody goes on when it is still curing, they become a permanent feature!)

John Bruce is bringing up another 100 tonnes of ballast for the Grosmont side today.
(I should add that this is with the assistance of 08 850 and some ballast wagons after a comment from the General Manager!)

Unfortunately the copes and top two courses on the high retaining wall to the Goathland side of the bridge have moved forward during the winter so I am asking CML to drill and pin them back. This will involve ladders and harnesses secured to the big trees.

(above reports from Nigel Trotter)

Thursday 4th March 2010
Another delivery of ballast from Grosmont today, during which Driver Whitter
demonstrated his training as a Banksman - skilfully guiding Lee, the CML
excavator operator, in emptying the 3 two axle hoppers, and getting more out
of them than previously (and without scratching them!). The bridge looks
rather pristine at the moment, with everything having been cleared off it
for the waterproofing. The scaffolders were dismantling a lot of the
scaffolding, and the PW gang was working on the Grosmont side dismantling
the old track

(this part from John Bruce after he recovered his breath from moving 100T of ballast!)

Steven

 

Saturday 06 March 2010
Waterseal continued to waterproof the deck as shown in the two John Bruce photos (thanks John) and CML placed the second step unit. The black cover you see in photo is the geotextile protection layer, the pretty yellow and white waterproofing itself is underneath! CML are putting the bottom ballast on tomorrow ready for the access boom lorry to go on the bridge on Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday 07 March 2010
John Bruce has yet again sent the info and photos.
The first ballast is on!
CML have put the sufficient bottom ballast on the deck to allow the boom lorry to go onto the deck tomorrow.
You will see that more is needed on the Grosmont side unless we have a gradient of 1 in 1! It is starting to look more like a railway bridge!
Gerry Cater and the Pway Gang were laying more track in also.

Regards
Nigel

Arrangements for the re-opening train have now been published – see:

http://www.nymr.co.uk/2010/03/take-...-new-bridge-30-reopening-weekend-27-28-march/

It is hoped that 45428 will work the first train as its first passenger train since total boiler rebuild, and the shuttle service with the GW Saloon.

Steven