St Johns, Woking, Footbridge Closure Dec23

[ainsworth74]

Re-opened for @Meerkat to provide an update.

 

[Meerkat]

In the local paper…

Timetable announced for new St John’s footbridge

Work will begin on a new footbridge across the railway line joining Woking Golf Club in Hook Heath with The Lye in St John’s in December, Network Rail has said.

www.wokingnewsandmail.co.uk

Work will begin on a new footbridge across the railway line joining Woking Golf Club in Hook Heath with The Lye in St John’s in December, Network Rail has said.
The new bridge, which will be open in January, will be particularly welcome to residents according to the councillor who has been fighting for its early replacement.

any possessions planned? I assume they will have to build it in Woking yard and trundle it down the line as the road access is problematic.

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened for @Sultan to provide an update

 

[Sultan]

Hi - The works on the new footbridge are starting next week, with Network Rail setting up shop either side of the railway (I understand the delay has been caused by 'access rights' on the southern side, where Woking Golf club have their car park). Preparations on the foundations for the new bridge will happen throughout February and March with a planned installation of the bridge in 9th March (I assume this will require full possession of the railway that Sunday) from 7am to 7pm. It's planned to open the bridge in April.

Network Rail are holding a drop-in session this coming Monday between 5.15 and 6.45 at the Lye Hall in St Johns for locals to see the exact plans.

It'll be a welcome relief from many locals (including me) to have access to the walks on the southern side of the railway again and for 'southerners' to have an easy path to the coffee house in the village!! If I can, I'll upload any relevant picture as the works progress.

Thanks for re-opening the thread.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Feb 2025 ==

Hi. I’ve just been to the Network Rail drop-in session and work starts this week building the footings for the new bridge. It will be positioned about 10 metres south of where the previous bridge was due to the embankment requiring better support (and the old is too close to private property).

The bridge itself is single span, but comes in 3 parts, all being transported from Leicester for installation on 9th March. The 3 parts will be brought to Brookwood station, lifted onto the railway, assembled and then transported via rail north to the site, where another crane will install it. They had even toyed with an aluminium bridge and flying it in via helicopter!

Railway possession will be for both 8th and 9th March with all lines closed.

Thanks

 

[GrahamA]

Hi - The works on the new footbridge are starting next week, with Network Rail setting up shop either side of the railway (I understand the delay has been caused by 'access rights' on the southern side, where Woking Golf club have their car park). Preparations on the foundations for the new bridge will happen throughout February and March with a planned installation of the bridge in 9th March (I assume this will require full possession of the railway that Sunday) from 7am to 7pm. It's planned to open the bridge in April.

Network Rail are holding a drop-in session this coming Monday between 5.15 and 6.45 at the Lye Hall in St Johns for locals to see the exact plans.

It'll be a welcome relief from many locals (including me) to have access to the walks on the southern side of the railway again and for 'southerners' to have an easy path to the coffee house in the village!! If I can, I'll upload any relevant picture as the works progress.

Thanks for re-opening the thread.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Feb 2025 ==

Hi. I’ve just been to the Network Rail drop-in session and work starts this week building the footings for the new bridge. It will be positioned about 10 metres south of where the previous bridge was due to the embankment requiring better support (and the old is too close to private property).

The bridge itself is single span, but comes in 3 parts, all being transported from Leicester for installation on 9th March. The 3 parts will be brought to Brookwood station, lifted onto the railway, assembled and then transported via rail north to the site, where another crane will install it. They had even toyed with an aluminium bridge and flying it in via helicopter!

Railway possession will be for both 8th and 9th March with all lines closed.

Thanks

This picture was taken on 14th March and shows the new bridge in place. The photo is taken from the northern St Johns side of the main line looking towards the golf course on the south side.

A lot of the equipment has gone and presumably another team will be along soon to build the ramp up to the bridge from the paths. These ramps will be substantial as the bridge platform is quite a bit higher than the path I'm standing on.

The new bridge is situated a couple of metres west of the original demolished bridge.

 

[DelW]

View attachment 176297
This picture was taken on 14th March and shows the new bridge in place. The photo is taken from the northern St Johns side of the main line looking towards the golf course on the south side.

A lot of the equipment has gone and presumably another team will be along soon to build the ramp up to the bridge from the paths. These ramps will be substantial as the bridge platform is quite a bit higher than the path I'm standing on.

The new bridge is situated a couple of metres west of the original demolished bridge.

Thanks to you and @Sultan for the updates, good to see the outcome after all the speculation early in this thread (including from me).

Please do post some photos of the completed bridge from various angles if you get the chance, it would interesting to compare with those at the start of this thread.

 

[Meerkat]

View attachment 176297
This picture was taken on 14th March and shows the new bridge in place. The photo is taken from the northern St Johns side of the main line looking towards the golf course on the south side.

A lot of the equipment has gone and presumably another team will be along soon to build the ramp up to the bridge from the paths. These ramps will be substantial as the bridge platform is quite a bit higher than the path I'm standing on.

The new bridge is situated a couple of metres west of the original demolished bridge.

It still needs the perforated side screens fixing on - you can see the attachment points on the rail about halfway up the sides. Bit of a shame as it looks rather elegant as is!

 

[Big Jumby 74]

It still needs the perforated side screens fixing on

Is it known what sort these will be? In other words will it be possible to photograph anything passing below, or is a liable to be a case of can't see the railway at all?

 

[greaterwest]

Hopefully it'll be something that prevents undesirables from easily throwing or shooting items at passing trains, as well as preventing people from climbing on the framework of the bridge.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Hopefully it'll be something that prevents undesirables from easily throwing or shooting items at passing trains, as well as preventing people from climbing on the framework of the bridge.

Completely concur with that of course, particularly the undesirables issue in todays world. However, I am ashamed and feel I should sincerely apologise (if for no other reason than personal, albeit distant family reasons) in relation to that bridge as was, will still be raw for some. Not having known the person in question personally, sometimes one forgets sad events that happened years ago. Too easy just to remember one's own innocent youthful days when standing on this bridge or that just to watch trains was all that mattered.

 

[GrahamA]

Thanks to you and @Sultan for the updates, good to see the outcome after all the speculation early in this thread (including from me).

Please do post some photos of the completed bridge from various angles if you get the chance, it would interesting to compare with those at the start of this thread.

Here's the view from the southern side looking north.


This is taken from the road bridge approx half a mile east (towards Woking). I need to get my DSLR with its zoom lens out for a better shot of this view.

 

[DelW]

View attachment 176442
Here's the view from the southern side looking north.

View attachment 176443
This is taken from the road bridge approx half a mile east (towards Woking). I need to get my DSLR with its zoom lens out for a better shot of this view.

Thanks again, quite an elegant design, certainly more so than its predecessor. It's difficult to judge the height of the intermediate rails accurately, but it looks as though it might still be possible to see over the side panels, as well as through their perforations as mentioned earlier.

 

[WesternBiker]

I agree it's a handsome design, and the green colour is good in area with so many trees (arguably too many so close to the lineside, but that's another thread...!).

 

[Meerkat]

I agree it's a handsome design, and the green colour is good in area with so many trees (arguably too many so close to the lineside, but that's another thread...!).

Next to a very wealthy part of Woking, so they wouldn’t get fobbed off with something cheap!

 

[GrahamA]

Found a better location for pictures. 18th March 2025.

 

[Loadhaul60059]

Will be nice when this is finished and open to the public, bit fed up of fighting my way through shrubbery to get a view of the line!

 

[LUYMun]

Will be nice when this is finished and open to the public, bit fed up of fighting my way through shrubbery to get a view of the line!

By the looks of it you'll instead be needing a stepladder...

 

[DelW]

By the looks of it you'll instead be needing a stepladder...

See post 59 for NR's proposed solution to that. The fixings visible on the new span (post 71) suggest that the panels only go up to the upper intermediate rail, though it's admittedly hard to judge exactly how high that is.

 

[LUYMun]

See post 59 for NR's proposed solution to that. The fixings visible on the new span (post 71) suggest that the panels only go up to the upper intermediate rail, though it's admittedly hard to judge exactly how high that is.

Most likely to look similar as the new Farnborough (Monk’s) Bridge as pointed out on Network Rail’s slide, the holes aren’t big enough to put a camera lens through so you’d end up needing to peer over the 7ft wall.

 

[Meerkat]

Most likely to look similar as the new Farnborough (Monk’s) Bridge as pointed out on Network Rail’s slide, the holes aren’t big enough to put a camera lens through so you’d end up needing to peer over the 7ft wall.

If you can't see the trains through there are going to be a lot of annoyed people - you see quite a few families up there watching the trains go by.

 

[Loadhaul60059]

The bridge does seem to be lower at either end so hopefully it will still be possible to see over it for photography purposes, and if the bridge is perforated as post #59 suggests then the line should still be viewable for children.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Most likely to look similar as the new Farnborough (Monk’s) Bridge as pointed out on Network Rail’s slide, the holes aren’t big enough to put a camera lens through so you’d end up needing to peer over the 7ft wall.

How big is the mesh on Monk's Bridge?

If it's the same size as on the footbridges just west of Wimbledon, it's not difficult to take pictures through the mesh. I've done it many times. Here is 450 054 photographed through the mesh at Wimbledon...

 

[strimmer]

How big is the mesh on Monk's Bridge?

If it's the same size as on the footbridges just west of Wimbledon, it's not difficult to take pictures through the mesh. I've done it many times. Here is 450 054 photographed through the mesh at Wimbledon...

Last time I visited Monk's Bridge, I had to use a step, and I'm over 6 foot.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Last time I visited Monk's Bridge, I had to use a step, and I'm over 6 foot.

Are you saying the sides are solid rather than a mesh, then?

 

[strimmer]

Are you saying the sides are solid rather than a mesh, then?

Sorry, my memory is not as good as it was. I think it was a series of small holes, rather than a mesh. But, what I am sure about is that you can't take a photograph through it, you have to get above it.

 

[Sultan]

The bridge is scheduled to be opened on Thursday 24th April. Everyone in the area (especially those on the north side) have been looking forward to this for a long time - easy access to the footpaths across the golf course (and beyond) and also the lake to feed the fish. Whether the golf club members will be similarly happy to see significantly more non-golfers crossing their fairways after a more than a year I'm not so sure.

But it's great for anyone (regardless of age) who likes watching trains - and it's twice as wide as the previous one.

 

[Sultan]

A minor delay but I'm told that provided Network Rail sign off the works, the bridge will open today (Friday 25th April) at 5.30pm.

Fingers crossed.

Hopefully it will be strong enough to support everyone who may turn up at the same time!

 

[najaB]

Hopefully it will be strong enough to support everyone who may turn up at the same time!

That's how they used to load test bridges in the good old days!

 

[DelW]

A minor delay but I'm told that provided Network Rail sign off the works, the bridge will open today (Friday 25th April) at 5.30pm.

Fingers crossed.

Hopefully it will be strong enough to support everyone who may turn up at the same time!

That's how they used to load test bridges in the good old days!

Just don't all jump up and down in unison!

 

[GrahamA]

A minor delay but I'm told that provided Network Rail sign off the works, the bridge will open today (Friday 25th April) at 5.30pm.

Fingers crossed.

Hopefully it will be strong enough to support everyone who may turn up at the same time!

Crossed the new bridge for the first time today - a few days after opening as I was away for a few days.

The bridge seems popular today (Sunday) with quite a crowd of family groups and hikers. Waiting for passing trains may be a longer experience than normal as the mainline between Woking and Basingstoke is closed for engineering work. I think only the Alton trains are running here.


Taken from the northern side.


The steps and accessible ramp at the northern end.


On the bridge looking towards the northern side.


Looking across the bridge from the southern side. You can see the height of the side panels more clearly with people on the bridge.