TONIGHT will see an historic moment for The Great Central Railway – the installation of a new bridge to rejoin two sections of the line divided for almost half a century. Once construction work on the reunification project is complete, this will enable trains to run all the way from Ruddington to Birstall in Leicester for the first time since 1969!
Great Central Railway Nottingham {GCR(N)} is reporting that the groundworks are now finished and that contractors are due to lower the two decks of the giant structure into place over the Midland Main Line at Loughborough using a one thousand tonne crane (GCR photo above) during the early hours of tomorrow.
The time for the bridge installation will be between 00.30 – 07.00 hrs (Sunday 3rd September) when trains will not be running on the Midland Main Line itself. Despite the schedule it’s still expected that rail enthusiasts will travel from far and wide to try to witness the long-awaited moment when they “Bridge the Gap”.
Consequently GCR/GCR(N) have provided the following guidelines to help:-
“We recognise that the many dedicated supporters of the GCR/GCRN have been waiting for several years to see the first part of the Bridging the Gap project come to fruition. For individuals planning to come along to view the installation, we would like to issue some information which we hope will enable spectators to remain safe and abide by the instructions given to us by our contractors.
• You will have noted the size of the crane and be aware that each of the two bridge decks is approximately 37m long, each weighing 40 tonnes. This means that the radius across which the crane has to swing will be considerable and we are advised by MPB that the bridge decks will swing across the north embankment (owned by EMRT/GCRN)
• It is imperative that No SPECTACTORS attempt to access the embankment or the GCRN railway bridge over the A60 to view the installation work during the hours of operation.
• There will be no access to the two site compounds by members of the public – either from the access road off the A60 opposite the Brush entrance or off Railway Terrace. Security guards provided by the contractors will be positioned at each site entrance.
• There will be no access via the Preci Spark carparks adjacent the work site. Please be aware that the Preci Spark site is private property and Preci Spark have been very cooperative throughout all the planning and installation work.
• The only viewing areas will be from the A60 road or close to the entrance to the recycling centre off Railway Terrace. Be aware that these are public highways and it has not been possible to close the roads on the night.
• Be aware too that the parapets of the road bridge over the Midland Main Line on the A60 are very high and it is difficult to see over these. Also, that the pavement is very narrow.
• Free parking will be available at the Railway Station across the road – we have been given permission to park in the bus and taxi areas. Please note that the barriers to the main car park will remain closed.
• GCR/GCRN cannot be held responsible for the actions of the public on the night but urge anyone attending to be mindful that this is an operating site with work scheduled to take place during the overnight closure of the main line. Work cannot continue after the scheduled times so must not be delayed by the actions of GCR/GCRN members of the public.”
Now everyone has fingers crossed that contractors can complete the work within tonight’s allocated six and a half hour window! You can read more about the construction and history of the project >>HERE<<.
Meantime GCR(N) has announced that “Due to failure 8F – 8274 is now out of service for the foreseeable.” This, sadly, is the main, operational steam locomotive based in Ruddington. They add “For the next few weeks all services will be diesel hauled.”
We’ll bring you further updates on the situation via RUDDINGTON.info as soon as we have them.
