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Bridge demolition

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heirflick

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Great video Heirflick, it's sad to see the old hump back bridges disappearing. They're a trademark of the Irish landscape. Some of them must be over a hundred years old, especially the canal ones. They were built at a time when things were built to last. I plan on building a few for my layout, if I can.

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It's an impressive video alright. They're some operators!

Worked on a few bridge change out projects when overseas, taking out old timber spans and replacing them with steel spans/concrete abutments. You'd be amazed what could be done in 12 hours!

It's sad to see the demise of what to be honest is some well put together civil engineering. But there has to be progress too. Anyone familiar with what happened next? Is there a wider road bridge going in, or was it just a clearance issue for trains on the mainline?

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Fast, fast work. The ironic thing is that, left to the elements, that victorian stone bridge would probably outlast its concrete re-inforced replacement by several hundred years.

 

ftp://ftp.wsdot.wa.gov/public/Bridge/WBES2007/assets/monday/2B/Mike_Bartholomew_2B.pdf

 

This study shows that most modern bridges have an expected lifespan of 100-120 years. The Kildare bridge was over 160 years old and managed traffic loads, no engineer could have foreseen.

 

 

 

I'm working on manufacturing some resin bridges and "getting up close and personal" to measure them for the R&D, you realise just how well they are made and indeed are a work of art in their own right.

Edited by Weshty
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Well said Des, I'd definitely take a few of those bridges off ye. I think they would be an integral part of any Irish layout, especially for any by-gone era.

Btw, I sent you a few e-mails, just wondering if you got them :tumbsup:

 

Ahhh, I have yeh now! Sound man. Emails received, goodies will be delivered.

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OB23 carried the road known variously as 'Hazelhatch Rd', 'Elm Hall Rd' or 'Loughlinstown Rd' across the railway immediately east of Hazelhatch & Celbridge station. With its demolition, the road was diverted to run parallel to and on the north side of the railway to a new junction with the Newcastle-Celbridge road. To maintain pedestrian access across the railway a new single-span footbridge was errected in place of the original bridge crossing the now four-track railway. The diagrams below might explain this better.

 

Looking at the map of the area it would seem that this is possibly the second time that this road has been diverted. It would seem that the road originally ran in a straight line across the alignment of the railway. I assume that the diversion over OB23 took place at the time of the lines opening.

OB23 KRP.jpg

OB23 KRP.jpg

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Looking at the map of the area it would seem that this is possibly the second time that this road has been diverted. It would seem that the road originally ran in a straight line across the alignment of the railway. I assume that the diversion over OB23 took place at the time of the lines opening.

 

MapViewer would appear to confirm your theory - http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,698479,731123,5,9

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Very interesting stuff there josefstadt.

Thanks for the diagrams. Im sure I've been over that bridge many times now that I know where it is. Used to live up near there a few years back. Interesting how all it's all evolved over time, overbridge/permanent way etc.... There is some really impressive railway architecture in Ireland for sure :)

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