Ulverston Canal Rolling Bridge
Location type
BridgeName and dates
Ulverston Canal Rolling Bridge (1881-1994)Opened on the Bardsea Branch (Furness Railway).
Description
A Grade II listed structure, reportedly unique in Europe (see below). The rails cross the Ulverston Canal at an angle of 48 degrees. When operational the bridge deck could be slid hydraulically at right angles to the canal into a brick built recess on the south side to allow boats to pass through a deep channel. A model and display panel on the bridge illustrate how this worked. The engineer was Frank Stileman, engineer to the Furness Railway. Restrictions of the site, the public road and towpath on the north bank of the canal, meant the means of operation had to be on the south bank. The angle by which the railway crossed meant a swing bridge would be of prohibitively long length, and the elimination of other possibilities led to this unusual design. The design is described variously as a sliding bridge, rolling bridge, draw bridge or skew traverser. The metalwork was manufactured built by Westray, Copeland & Co of Barrow-in-Furness with construction beginning in 1878, opening to mineral traffic in 1881 and passengers in 1883. A signal box, engine house and hydraulic accumulator building were on the south bank.
The bridge carried the Bardsea Branch (Furness Railway), a cut back line which had been intended to replace the main line. As built the double track branch from Plumpton Junction ran south to the terminus at Conishead Priory and also served the 1874 North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Works (after closure this became a chemical works).
Canal traffic ceased in the 1940s and sometime after this the bridge was fixed in place across the canal and recess partly infilled. However, rail traffic from nearby Plumpton Junction to the adjacent Glaxo chemical factory (still operating today as GlaxoSmithKline), lasted until 1994 with a weekly oil train and caustic soda liquor being delivered to the antibiotic works. The rails have been lifted on the branch itself around 2000 but are still in place on the bridge and adjacent level crossing. The bridge still carries a public footpath and a water supply pipe for the adjoining works.
An extremely similar sliding railway bridge remains in operation, the Vazon Sliding Railway Bridge built by Sir William Arrol & Company, carries the Trent, Ancholme and Grimsby Railway over the Stainforth and Keadby Canal near Keadby. The 1925 bridge, which used batteries, was replaced with another electrically operating sliding bridge in 2004.
Tags
Rolling bridge Skew traverser Sliding bridgeAliases
Ulverston Canal Sliding Bridge12/01/2023
Facilities
Listing: Grade II
| Nearby stations North Lonsdale Crossing Ulverston [2nd] Ulverston Ulverston [1st] Conishead Priory Greenodd Ulverston Road Lindal Cark Haverthwaite Dalton Dunnerholme Gate Kirkby-in-Furness Askam Kents Bank | Bardsea Works Plumpton Junction Leven Junction Greenodd Junction Leven Viaduct [Cumbria] Ore Crush Mill Parkside Mine Mine Mine Mine Lindal Yard Mine Bercune Mine Tourist/other Ulverston Canal Foot Basin and Sea Lock Ulverston Canal Head Basin |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
An earlier lineThe Bardsea Branch was not the first railway to serve the North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Works. Seeking permission to close the swing section of the Leven Viaduct [Cumbria], the Furness Railway was obliged to make special arrangements for the port of Greenodd which would be hampered by the swing bridge becoming fixed. The railway company was obliged to make a siding to the Ulverston Canal (which it had owned since 1862) and another to the basin at Greenodd (on the then under construction Lakeside Branch) and carry between the two at low rates. The siding to the canal ran from a trailing connection with the westbound line just west of the mainline bridge over the canal. It dropped on a tightly curved approach to a new basin on the Ulverston Canal built just east of the mainline bridge. Assent was given in 1866 and the siding opened in 1869. In 1874, when the North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Works opened, the siding was extended east along the south bank of the canal. With the opening of the Bardsea Branch the connection to the main line was taken out and both the canal siding and iron works connected to the new line. FiguresWhen open, the bridge provided a 27 ft wide channel. The northern abutment is 24 ft 4 in long. The southern abutment is 29 ft 10.5 in long. The bridge weighs 39.25 tons (including rails) with a 6.5 ton counterbalance. |
