Truck attempts to take down rail bridge

[northwichcat]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2013384207782&set=o.126390330715076&type=1&ref=nf

The bridge is the freight spur from the Mid Cheshire line to Brunner Mond's Winnington plant.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I still find it stunning how often bus drivers manage to hit bridges, imagine if trains were hitting road bridges once a week, there would be outrage.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Still, it is keeping the mid-Cheshire line in the news, as the location was from a link to it.

 

[43067]

still no doubt it will be referred to as a "Rail Accident" as opposed to a "Road Accident" as per normal.

 

[HST Power]

I've seen this happen on quite a few occasions. It's very tricky for the lorry drivers.

 

[Ploughman]

Question.
How can air increase the height of the vehicle?
That is in the write up.

 

[northwichcat]

Question.
How can air increase the height of the vehicle?
That is in the write up.

If the truck had flat tyres it would have slumped.

 

[GearJammer]

Are you seriously telling me you don't know about air suspension?

 

[CosherB]

Are you seriously telling us that a load is measured (for bridge clearance) BEFORE the air suspension is inflated?

I've seen this happen on quite a few occasions. It's very tricky for the lorry drivers.

Why? Because they are too stupid? If you drive a high vehicle it's your job to know whether it is too tall for the bridge!

 

[HST Power]

Why? Because they are too stupid? If you drive a high vehicle it's your job to know whether it is too tall for the bridge!

Are you calling lorry drivers stupid?!

I was merely saying that getting an articulated lorry through certain turns and along bridges cannot be easy. Trucks are massive, and turning them can be a tricky business (I'm not a driver, but I have driven them)

 

[Ploughman]

"but once the trailer had filled with air it measured higher"
That is the quote, no mention of suspension.

 

[route:oxford]

"but once the trailer had filled with air it measured higher"
That is the quote, no mention of suspension.

Perhaps the trailer was full of goods at the start of the day, which had been replaced with air as deliveries were made.

Could this perhaps have caused a slight rise?

 

[LE Greys]

Whatever happened to the old railway idea of Load Gauges? You used to see them at sidings, to check that wagons were within gauge (especially loads on flat wagons, I presume). Surely it must be possible to put some kind of load gauge near bridges that get hit a lot, so that the lorry hits that and not the bridge.

 

[HugePilchard]

You do get various things at bridges that are commonly hit. Like this one, for example:
http://www.dambach.co.uk/Over Height Sign & System.jpg

 

[LE Greys]

You do get various things at bridges that are commonly hit. Like this one, for example:
http://www.dambach.co.uk/Over Height Sign & System.jpg

Something like that, only using an actual gauge rather than an infra-red beam. It does not need to be very strong, just has to make a loud noise when it gets hit, enough to make the driver stop. Ideally, there should also be a turning space between it and the bridge.

 

[GearJammer]

Well those infa-red beams are'nt that good, they fail an awfull lot, theres one on A36 at Salisbury/Wilton where the Salisbury-Exeter route passes over, now half the time it does'nt work, when it does work it says my truck with a standard 40/20ft container is overheight yet when you go under the bridge the is considerable room between the bridge and the truck, in fact i have been told that you can fit a 40ft highcude container under it, which going by the gap seems quite possible to me but i'll refrain from trying it untill i physicly see someone else do it!

 

[thelem]

Surely it must be possible to put some kind of load gauge near bridges that get hit a lot, so that the lorry hits that and not the bridge.

They are quite common at car parks, don't see any reason they couldn't be put in front of most bridges either.

http://www.avon-barrier.co.uk/Height-Restrictors

 

[talltim]

There's a bridge on Station Road in Harpenden, Herts that used to get hit often, it now has sacrificial girders so that if an idiot who doesn't know how tall their lorry is tries it it doesn't effect the bridge itself. I think the clearance must be a few inches less than one of the standard heights of vehicle, often they would make it under the downhill side of the bridge but then get wedged under the girder at the uphill side!
There's one in Chesterfield that has recently been pretty much coated in yellow retroreflective material with 'Low Bridge' in two foot high letters. The next person to hit that is going to feel really stupid!

 

[HugePilchard]

There is this arrangement, too:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1015424

On my travels, I've seen only one bridge that has something similar; if memory serves, it's somewhere near Worksop, and there are a load of chains hanging down above the road, which I'd guess will make a right old racket if they hit the top of a lorry!