Vazon Railway Bridge

We finished our run on the Sheffield and South Yorks and Stainforth and Keadby at Keadby. Before mooring up we passed through the weird and wonderful Vazon Railway Bridge, one of only three in Europe. See this video I did of it Vazon Railway Bridge   As they say on the CRT site:

A railway swing bridge crossing existed here as long ago as 1866. In time, this was superseded by the first sliding bridge at this location, built for the Great Central Railway’s Scunthorpe line in 1925. This bridge was designed by Sir William Arrol & Company of Dalmarnock.

The 1925 bridge was replaced in 2004 by the present, low-lying, sliding bridge. To allow boats to pass, the whole deck of the bridge which carries two tracks, slides sideways on rails and is pulled by steel cables. The bridge construction is an open riveted steel framework and incorporates two walkways, so that pedestrians can cross when the bridge is in open or closed position.

The modern bridge is powered by mains electricity, although interestingly the 1925 bridge was operated with a massive set of batteries.

Watch out for a train!!!

Vazon Railway Bridge, which slides out of the way
Vazon Railway Bridge, which slides out of the way

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