Keadby Bridge

Details

SE 81 SW KEADBY WITH ALTHORPE A 18

Keadby 4/125 Keadby Bridge

GV II

Rail and road rolling lift bridge. 1912-16. C A Rowlandson and J B Ball, engineers, Sir William Arrol and Company, contractors, for the Great Central Railway. Minor later alterations. Carries a double track railway on the wider southern section, with a double carriageway road on the north side. Steel bridge on rusticated ashlar piers and blue brick abutments with rusticated ashlar dressings. Brick engine room. Abutments and 4 piers with cutwaters, plinths, cornices and blocking courses. Bridge has 3 main spans: 2 fixed western spans, each of 38.4 metres and one moving east span of 45.7 metres, with 2 further short spans to the east: a 12.2 metre span on which the bridge rolls, and an approach span of 21.3 metres, giving an overall length between abutments of 167 metres. The main spans are of steel framed truss construction, with 3 main longitudinal girders, the middle girder between road and railway. The moving span is a Scherzer rolling lift type, in which the counterbalanced tail rolls back, raising the nose until the bridge is nearly vertical. The rounded tail section, with a toothed roller path for each of the 3 main girders, carries a large ballast tank rising to over 15 metres above deck level, and is flanked on each side by a steel framework for the winding gear. Electrically powered, originally by a large storage battery fed by petrol-driven generators housed in the engine room beneath the east approach span, later using mains electricity. The single- storey, 2-cell engine room, disused and partly derelict at time of resurvey, has a north front with 2 doors and 4 windows with iron glazing bars beneath segmental arches. Since construction, the top ties over the roadway have been raised to increase headroom, a footpath has been cantilevered outside the north girder, and the battery house and wooden control cabin on the north side of the tail have been removed. The bridge was the Great Central Railway's greatest bridge undertaking, and replaced their nearby 1866 swing bridge. At the time of construction Keadby was one of the first Scherzer bridges in Britain, the heaviest and longest in Europe, and the first anywhere with 3 girders. A plaque formerly on the eastern approach parapet recorded the opening on May 21 1916 by the chairmen of the railway company and Lindsey County Council who contributed towards the cost of providing for a road section. Not lifted since 1956. This bridge is also in the parish of Gunness. Sir J Ball, "Keadby Bridge", Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, volumne 203 (1916-17).

Listing NGR: SE8409310652

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

165189

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 203, (1916)

End of official list entry

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