Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A10 re-opened at South Tottenham
The High Road by the railway bridge at South Tottenham station has now been re-opened, traffic seems to be back to 'normal'. This follows five days of not normal at all., N15's share of the disruption from essential rail works, but we have a new bridge to show for it. I'd have liked to have seen the replacement arriving but was away, does anyone have pics?
Tags for Forum Posts: A10, railway, traffic news
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I loved the original Bagsy artwork on the old bridge.
I gather some art lovers have carefully salvaged this beautiful piece and taken it away to be restored. And then placed safely in a bank vault where it will remain - so it can be appreciated by the community.
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Thanks for letting me know, Pam. The link ought to work. Try the full address here.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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cant see any artwork only a tag. Those lovely cast-iron pillars have gone. A pity, but it makes the pavement much wider.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Does anyone know when the old bridge dated back to?
1868 - when the railway here was opened?
1894 - when the extension to Forest Gate & Barking was opened?
I personally like the new vista, the replacement bridge has created.
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Here's the south side. No idea re dates. Next, lengthen the platforms and go electric - the new BOGOF line is just too popular.
Those big holes in the brick must be drainage? They have fat capped pipes in them.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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They might be to stabilise the bridge abutments (a high-tech version of the wrought-iron Xs you see on the side wall of some end-of-terrace houses).
The old bridge is currently parked on supports just round the corner. Couldn't see the cast iron columns though, maybe Alan S is right.
I wonder if the ramps and high kerbs underneath the bridge will now be removed - I assume they were needed to protect the columns from vehicle impact.
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Date of bridge: sorry, no. I think you (also) have Lake's 'Railways of Tottenham', which doesn't mention that bridge in the relevant section, and I have looked in the Jim Connor book 'St Pancras to Barking' which only dates a picture of the bridge with tram underneath to "early 20th century". The Network Rail press release about the bridge work says only "over 100 years old".
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Thanks Gordon and yes, I've got those books too. I looked myself but couldn't find anything.
I think wasn't this wasn't the original. 1868 cast iron bridges generally looked more filigree and I imagine the removed bridge was a replacement for that one. By the 1900s locomotives and trains were much heavier and many of the early bridges just couldn't cope with the weight and were replaced.
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Well; the original parapet looked rather fancy judging by that early 20th century picture though not open-work filigree, and the bridge had pillars at some point which might have relieved the load of the later heavier locos if it was the 1868 original, I wonder. I also ponder [no evidence] if that part of the High Road was as wide in 1868 as it was later - can't find any pre-1870 pictures of it.
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Permalink Reply by Glenn Wallis on
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Thanks for the photos, I too was away over Christmas and missed the big moment. I know my friend in the signal box was looking forward to it. I will have a look at the finished job this weekend while at South Tottenham for the replacement buses. I rather think that the bridge was the 1868 original. I think the original station platforms extended out over the bridge which is why there were originally solid parapets. When the line's management was transferred to Watford in 1992 (every latter day BR manager tried to offload it onto someone else), the Watford civil engineer (who also designed the current platform 2) produced a report which was concerned about about the condition of all the steel rail over road bridges and also felt that those with cast iron columns along the kerb line were especially vulnerable to impacts from HGVs. He proposed keeping the line west of South Tottenham open and closing the eastern section as soon as a bridge was declared unsafe. Luckily all the bridges lasted into the Railtrack era when line closures were politically unacceptable and the company, and its successor, Network Rail, have had to play "catch-up" on over 30 years of neglect.
If readers look at the 23 December newsletter on our website there is a photo of the display boards showing how the bridge swap was to be done. The newsletter also deals with the new Winter timetable, the increasing delays to electrification and the worsening overcrowding crisis.
Glenn Wallis
Secretary
Barking - Gospel Oak Rail User Group
@RidingtheGoblin
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This was one of the 99% of projects completed on time. For Network Rail's report on why Finsbury Park station went into meltdown on 27th December, there's a link to it here.
One local laugh-out-loud moment: a map (on page 14) shows the extent of the 'works possessions', i.e. which lines were closed and occupied by engineering equipment (from Kings Cross right out to New Barnet and Winchmore Hill). The closed lines are marked in red. As is a line from Finsbury Park to Highgate, and onwards up the hill to Alexandra Palace.
Someone at Network Rail thinks the Parkland Walk is still a railway.
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