NYMR - any plans for last train over Bridge 30?

With work due to begin on replacing Bridge 30 at the end of November, I was wondering if there were any plans to mark the last train over the bridge? I appreciate that late November isn't exactly the best time to run a special, but I would have thought you could fill a special dining train for the last Grosmont- Pickering and return prior to the line being cut in half.
So does the NYMR have anything in mind, or is the last engine over Bridge 30 likely to be a simple light engine move to Pickering as the fleet is split between the north and south terminii?

 

Plans are being formulated for the last weekend of passenger services over the Bridge - 31st October and 1st November. Once the Gala is out of the way this coming weekend, these will be finalsied but the last passenger train over the existing Bridge will be marked and should be hauled by 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley.

The Railway's Board have approved the final weekend being a "Bridge Benefit" weekend with the surplus over operating costs going to the Bridges and Wheels Appeal. There will be light engines for a short period after that before the line is severed for the renewal.

I am pleased with be able to announce that receipt of the first Gift Aid Tax Refund means that the amount raised by fund raising towards the Appeal has now topped £200,000.

More details shortly

Steven Hogg
NYMR

 

Thanks for the reply and glad to hear the appeal is progressing well.

 

Plans are progressing for the "Bridge Benefit" weekend on 31st October and 1st November 2009, which will be the last passenger trains over the present Bridge 30.

Hope to be able to confirm further details in the next few days.

Steven Hogg

 

Is there anything on the internet about what their strategy is to replace the bridge ? From what I remember it is something of a technical and logistical nightmare due to its awkward position ?

 

Any more news on the plan for this weekend, or is just witches and wizards?

Cheers

 

The details of the weekend are at:

http://www.nymr.co.uk/2009/10/wizard-weekend-itinerary-published/

Plenty for the kids but also an intensive service with the special last train and the DMU shuttle across the Bridge.

In respect of Pesmo's request, the Civil Engineer and web-master are working on getting the articles in Moors Line on the Bridge's history and replacement available via a link from the Bridge and Wheels site (http://www.bridgeandwheels.co.uk/index.php).

At the Steam Gala in early October, Jackie Bowes (assisted by husband Mike) passsed the £20,000 mark with her on train collections - she is now targetting passing £25,000!

Total in bank from all donations etc. now £220,000.

Anyone interested om the Ball at the NRM, please make your booking as soon as possible.

Steven Hogg
NYMR

 

Thanks Steven

Can you post when the timetable is ready.

Cheers

 

If the County Council pledge money has not yet materialised, is the railway likely to have to borrow some money to actually pay for the bridge, which is presumably being fabricated as of now, and the installation costs?

Can we have an update on the physical progress on the "Bridge & Wheels" website or the NYMR website please?

( I have read the detailed Civil Engineering articles in my "Moorsline", interesting but quite technical, I was rather thinking about where we are with the actual fabrication, the latest thinking about how the actual job is to be undertaken on-site, etc)

46118

 

A post I did on the NYMR forum 2 Sept;

GM Mr Benham was on Radio York this morning at 08:45, use listen again on the bbciplayer below.

Doubt link will be valid now.

About 2 hrs 16 mins in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... 02_09_2009

A good piece, but basically saying that the replacement of bridge 30 is going ahead using loans and that the Bridges & Wheels appeal has to repay the loan, if I am listening to it correctly.

Line closed early November 2009 to late March 2010.

Best Regards

 

Andrew, as you said, that link has gone. Lets hope someone can provide some uptodate information.

 

Unfortunately, I think the BBC only keep articles up on the iPlayer for a couple of weeks, so that is why the link isn't working.

The actual method of replacement continues to be finalised. A few snippets are that the current plan is for part of the beams delivery will be by rail and the Volker Rail crane will be lifting the old bridge out in January and the new in. The deck will be formed of concerte sections on top of the steel beams.

Steven

 

If anyone is thinking of taking the "afternoon tea" option for the last train, please try booking as soon as possible. Space in the teak saloons is filling fast and we are currently looking at adding the GW saloon also - which already has a booking for a party in the morning!

Fireworks have been added to the marking of the last train

Steven

 

Timetable available via this link with loco roster (surely an NYMR first!?!)

http://www.nymr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/wizard_timetable.pdf

Cheers

 

Hi All

Now sadly the weather put me off attending today, but following this report from a friend who did, it might of been just as well that it didn't travel down.

Reports indicate that the Black 5, 7F and DMU were all non runners along with 76079 not being allowed on NR to Whitby.

With 6619 and 75029 stopped for repairs and 825, 63395, 49395 not mentioned, did 60007, 30926 and 76079 manage to run all services today or did the diesels creep in?

And the fireworks for the final crossing of bridge 30 by SNG were 2 rockets?!

Like I say not my information, but eager to here other views/reports from today.

Hope it wasn't as bad as the above.

Many thanks in advance.

Best Regards

 

Lets hope the NYMR learn from the bridge 30 debacle that the correct way to maintain the infrastructure is to build the cost into the yearly budget. Future appeals to replace other bridges approaching the condition of bridge 30 may not be looked upon quite so favourably.

Look how rusty some of the others are.

 

Is the £300K pledge from NYCC now sat in the Appeal Fund bank account? If not, when? Money will need to be spent very soon.

 

Why is Bridge 30 a debacle? I'd be grateful if you'd explain further. If you're suggesting that the NYMR have failed to maintain the bridge, you are far from the truth. The bridge was problematical even in BR days. Over the years they have spent vast sums of money on its upkeep and repair. The main girders have been strengthened; additional steelwork has been added; abutments repaired, etc, etc. The simple fact is that every train that passes over it is hammering it even more. Our Civil Engineer essentially gave the NYMR two choices, either keep spending ever increasing pots of money on trying to keep this life expired bridge operational, or bite the bullet and replace it. The NYMR has simply decided to bite that bullet. Spend £250K this winter and perhaps another £300K in a couple of years time or spend £600K now and essentially forget it for the next 50 years. Which would you do?
For those that don't know, the construction of bridge 30 is pretty poor. It has cross beams underslung from the outer main girders and held up by rivets in tension, not shear. In NER days, a third, middle girder was installed underneath these cross beams to better support them but the crossbeams are not physically attached to the centre girder but rest on individual cast iron blocks filled with a 'cement' material of unknown quality (according to the drawings). Access to these blocks and the fill material for inspection is impossible because of the method of construction. The 'I' section beams are also slowly but surely deforming under the repeated hammering of the trains.

 

Firstly, the service yesterday was affected by one or two problems but nothing like the extent suggested by the information given to 47 406 (who was very wise to stay somewhere drier – most of us running the service got drenched!)

Yesterday was a first in that two Whitby locos were given fitness to run exams at Pickering (and many thanks to Adam for going down to do this after being on as Duty Fitter at Grosmont the previous afternoon). Unfortunately, the batteries gave up the ghost (it was Wizard Weekend!) on 76079, rendering the electrical equipment including TPWS inoperable, which was the reason it couldn't venture to Whitby. 53809 has been failed the previous day with a grate problem, and had been replaced by 30926. 45212 was down for a single trip from Pickering, which could have been avoided (in theory!) by 76079 working the 09:00 right through from Pickering to Whitby; hence the reason for undertaking the FTR at New Bridge. 825 was also steam and was able to swap with 76079. The move still saved steaming a loco for 18 miles. The DMU was curtailed (not totally cancelled) to avoid grid-lock at Grosmont, which had occurred late on Saturday afternoon. Instead of working a shuttle all the way between Goathland and Grosmont, the unit run to just North of Bridge 30 and then returned to Goathland, with yours truly providing a commentary of the work necessary and a history of the Bridge. This was sort of the original aim of the service anyway.

Unfortunately, the very heavy rain and strong winds, and particularly the fact these were forecast, meant visitor numbers were low, although we did manage about £1.50 per head on average with the bucket collection on the DMU (the trip was "free"! - an excellent idea from our debutant DMU driver Shaun). Inevitably, the sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky by mid-afternoon.

The actual last train was well supported, with the “afternoon tea” option being sold out and an additional saloon being added (rather smart work by catering and all concerned as it returned from a charter just 25 minutes before the last train departed. The fireworks were a bit limited - but there was some criticism on the NYMR Unofficial Forum of having them at all and the one we had were divided between the last Up train and the very last train itself.

In respect of the Bridge renewal, Steve has covered this pretty well, but as the person ultimately responsible for the NYMR’s budgeting process, I would can assure Lingus that organisation with a Turnover of just over £5 million would be very hard pressed to fund a major renewal of a piece infrastructure that, all in, will cost around £ ¾ million from its “yearly budget”. It would have been very nice to put aside so much per year to build the sum up but simply not possible given all the other costs involved in running the NYMR (or any other major heritage railway, I would add). Yes, we know that other bridges need work – although, despite not being an engineer myself, I can comment that “they look rusty” is not necessarily an accurate assessment of structure life (and I know, because I have heard the Civial Engineer's reply to the very same question!) Our Civil Engineer Nigel Trotter has made a technical assessment and we have files on all Bridges and Structures on the line, indicating when work will be required and what will need to be done. What makes Bridge 30 uniquely expensive is its remote location and height above the river. Metal bridges do have finite lives – the main structure of Bridge 30 is 145 years old and, even ignoring what Steve rightly says about the cost of “patching” up and the regularity with which such an approach would need to be undertaken, the time comes when it has to be said “its had its day”. The cost of funding replacement in one go is massive, but it produces a low maintenance bridge with a design of 125 years. Bridge 30 has done very well (the next Bridge needing attention is actually 40 years younger but still approaching the end of its life as metal structure) but an approach of patching it up would be, over the years, much more expensive and still a matter of “good money after bad”. As recently as earlier in 2009, a “life extension” scheme was considered but gave a comparatively small reduction on cost but a massive reduction in how long before renewal was still needed. The very nature of single span metal bridges means “regular maintenance” can actually be quite a difficult concept to apply – a beam etc. is either in good order or has deteriorated to the point where work is required – and that work is likely to be replacement. As Steve says, the design of Bridge 30 dates from days when train were much lighter and the NER had to take some action 100 years ago. Add to this the problems of working 60’ or more above a water course in a National Park/SSSI and “going a bit a year” is not a practical proposition!

On 46118’s question, we are still awaiting the outcome of technical discussions at North Yorkshire County Council on the payment of the main grant of £300,000 – it hasn’t been received and cannot be considered as definitely coming until it is. This is still a source of some considerable concern.

Steven Hogg
NYMR Finance Director

 

Well, you frequently go on about the NYMR not providing loco rosters for galas, etc, To please you, and others, this time they did and look what happened? Things on the day were quite different. Those in the know have said many times that NYMR operations do not allow these things to be planned rigidly in advance. The locos frequently get to the end of the days duty and require some work doing to them which precludes their use the next day. It generally happens several times a week. The railway needs its locos to be fit for traffic and cannot put out lame ducks. Both the Railway and its crews require them to be a suitable tool for the very onerous job that they undertake.