Clapham Junction overbridge

[talldave]

So it seems work has started on the Clapham Junction overbridge and part of it is halved in width.

And in true UK railway "you couldn't make it up" style, two hi-vis operatives have been assigned to shout at people to keep left - and they're standing in the reduced width section, thus blocking about 25% of the available width and causing more of a crush than there would be if they weren't actually there.

Does nobody have any conmon sense any more??

 

[80sGuard]

This article on the 'Ian Viiisit...' website explains what's happening:
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/article...r-clapham-junction-stations-footbridge-88164/

...The main focus of the project is replacing the existing timber decking on the walkway, which has reached the end of its useful life. It will be replaced with glass-reinforced plastic panels, a more durable material designed to withstand heavy passenger use and last for many years.

Engineers will also install a scaffold crash deck beneath the bridge, allowing repairs and strengthening work to be carried out from below while trains continue to run through the station.

Additional improvements will include repairs to the bridge structure and replacement of the roof glazing and guttering...

 

[CarltonA]

Is that the largest passenger overbridge on NR? I like the way staff climb a couple of steps on one side before descending to the sidings through an opening.

 

[Ian Hardy]

Is that the largest passenger overbridge on NR? I like the way staff climb a couple of steps on one side before descending to the sidings through an opening.

It is probably the busiest.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I like the way staff climb a couple of steps on one side before descending to the sidings through an opening.

That was always a compromise, finding a place to provide a safe walking route for staff to enter/exit the yard (ie not having to cross any running lines/sidings), whilst taking the structure of the footbridge in to account.

 

[800001]

So it seems work has started on the Clapham Junction overbridge and part of it is halved in width.

And in true UK railway "you couldn't make it up" style, two hi-vis operatives have been assigned to shout at people to keep left - and they're standing in the reduced width section, thus blocking about 25% of the available width and causing more of a crush than there would be if they weren't actually there.

Does nobody have any conmon sense any more??

Passed through there several times last week.
Very busy bridge with the 2 people wearing hi vis politely asking people to keep left.
Never heard any shouting on the multiple occasions I passed through.

 

[jamesst]

Passed through there several times last week.
Very busy bridge with the 2 people wearing hi vis politely asking people to keep left.
Never heard any shouting on the multiple occasions I passed through.

Thats not good enough for this forum, you have to embellish!

 

[saismee]

Thats not good enough for this forum, you have to embellish!

I believe they sent up a flare and had megaphones to alert people to KEEP LEFT.

 

[Alxxxs]

I thought they were planning to build an entirely new overbridge and they are just replacing the flooring

 

[talldave]

The boarded off area has now been removed without any sign of any work having been done. Weird.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The boarded off area has now been removed without any sign of any work having been done. Weird.

Could it have been investigatory work to establish what actually needs doing, the results being needed to form an actual work plan and budget?

 

[Dstock7080]

The underside of the footbridge has a scaffolding raft and wooden battens, visible from platform level

 

[alf]

Is the footbridge of the same era & the same builders as the over the track Clapham Junction signal box that collapsed onto all the Reading line tracks in the nineteen seventies?

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I’ve seen the shouting on the footbridge. In fact I was just thinking the other day it’s becoming more and more common to see private security almost everywhere in Britain these days.

I caught a Midland Mainline train from St Pancras the other day and was amazed to see even there, quite a number of high-vis agency staff had segregated first class and standard class passengers into two separate queues, only for the queues to merge again right after the gate line. None of them could answer basic questions about the service. Completely pointless. What is driving this? It’s a phenomenon from the last couple of years or so.

 

[DelW]

Is the footbridge of the same era & the same builders as the over the track Clapham Junction signal box that collapsed onto all the Reading line tracks in the nineteen seventies?

It seems chronologically possible, though by no means certain.

The signal box (which collapsed in 1965) was built in 1912:

Clapham Junction ‘A’ – The Signal Box

signalbox.org

At Clapham Junction ‘A’ a new signal box opened in 1912 (then named Clapham Junction East), mounted on a 120-foot steel gantry across nine tracks.

The signal box hit the headlines in May 1965 when the steel gantry supporting it partially collapsed early on a Monday morning, bringing train services to a halt. The cause was corrosion to the steelwork at one end of the gantry.

The gantry was jacked up, and restricted operations were, remarkably, resumed the following morning. Full repairs included the removal of the wartime steel roof. The lever frame was undamaged, and the signal box continued in use until abolition on 27th May 1990.

The history of the footbridge is more elusive, but, per NLS 25" to the mile maps, it wasn't shown on a revision dated 1893/4, but was shown on a revision dated 1913.

(Screenshots of maps)

So far I haven't found a history of the station detailed enough to say exactly when the present footbridge was built.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

The signal box (which collapsed in 1965) was built in 1912:

Clapham A. A minor point of order, it didn't collapse on to 'all the Reading line tracks'. I have belatedly noticed whilst typing this, DelW has I see added some further accurate detail (thank you). It was the Northern stanchion that partially collapsed.
The weight of the remaining war time steel roof panels, mounted atop a separate framework to boot, both of which likely contributed to the excessive weight, that combined with un noticed (presumably?) corrosion issue led to the partial collapse.
My own father was severely delayed on his way to work that morning en route up from Farnborough, and in later years an elderly colleague of mine ('Ron') who worked at Clapham Junction during the war, had witnessed a Stuka dropping its bomb that landed/exploded fairly close to A box, on the embankment next to same. If this had any impact on the structure in later times will never be known.
I myself worked in A box on many occasions on an overtime basis, additional to my regular duties at a-another box.

On the subject of the footbridge, without further research myself, I can not add anything more at present, other than the attached that I took many years ago. This was long before the staff staircase was added.

Edited: for attention of DelW and the MODS- it may appear that my 'point of order' comment is directed at DelW's comments. This is NOT so. My reference to (quote) 'all Reading line tracks' was in response to a-another's post, which seems to have been excluded from my response here.

 

[stuving]

If you want the full story of the the collapse of the Clapham Junction 'A' box overbridge, there are two reports in the Railways Archive. One is an internal report by F. J. J. Prior, the Assistant Civil Engineer (Maintenance) BR Southern Region, and is faint and hard to read. The other is the official report by the MoT examiner Col. D McMullen.

The MoT report identifies the failure as the result "partly of lax examination, partly of errors of judgement by the examiners and steelwork inspector, and partly a lack of proper organisation in the office of the District Engineer, Woking".

The member that failed was formed of two steel plates of 14 x 1/2 inch section, with a 5/8 inch gap between them. Obviously it was almost impossible to inspect (or paint) the surfaces facing that gap, even under the best conditions. This was considered bad design by 1965, but was typical of its age.

Inspections had been done at night, up a ladder, with a Tilley lamp (or later a head torch), and without removing the decking that hid part of that member, which are hardly the best conditions. The ideal time to examine the steel for rust was after it was scraped before painting, but no such co-ordination between departments happened. The other three similar members (at the other corners) had been strengthened in 1954, but no-one could remember or find a record of that work or why the fourth was not done.

No doubt methods and standards have improved a lot!

 

[swt_passenger]

Is the footbridge of the same era & the same builders as the over the track Clapham Junction signal box that collapsed onto all the Reading line tracks in the nineteen seventies?

They’re chalk and cheese in terms of construction. The signalbox span was very much a lightweight structure compared to the massive girders of the footbridge.

 

[hwl]

From memory the current footbridge was rebuilt in three stages. The section over the LBSCR tracks 12-17 first arround 1909* (aligning with overhead electrification), then bit over LSWR "Wimbledon" platforms then the rest over the next few years.

*builders plate on a column under the bridge on p13/14 if memory serves.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

No doubt methods and standards have improved a lot!

Possible perhaps that some ad-hoc inspections may have been done from the top of the signal box ladder itself, which was on the Northern end of the structure?

In my time, 70's, walking across the decking from the top of that ladder to the operating centre of the box was noticeable by creaking boards beneath one's feet, but once inside all was fine, until one of the North Kent MGR coal trains passed beneath, whereupon everything shook.

 

[talldave]

It would be nice if the seats on the overbridge could be returned to their normal locations whilst nothing is happening, but I guess that's nobody's job?!