Local Railway Photos Page 1

	Above Left : View from Peak Forest towards site of Bridge No. 90 Above Right : Remains of bridge abutment and new fencing Left : View from embankment heading towards Great Rocks JncAll dated 26/08/2004

A suprise to the eyes is the removal of the Occupation Overbridge between Peak Forest South and Great Rocks. This was Bridge No. 90 in the Midland Rly register and was locally known as Upper End Bridge but also nicknamed Pipeline bridge by virtue of the ICI pipeline which ran across it on framework. Two reasons for its removal firstly that it was no longer needed since the pipeline was seemingly disused and secondly that it was in the way of a scheme to bring the Up and Down Through Siding back into regular use. This line fell into disuse after it was discovered that a drainage culvert had collapsed beneath the track. The track had been renewed with steel sleepers several years ago as part of a scheme to improve this section of line which has suffered from flooding. So, by repairing the culvert and raising the trackwork to a higher level would mean that the line would be out of gauge and hit the bridge. So it was decided to remove it but it wasn't a straight forward plan from the start, since the bridge was actually owned by Tarmac/BLI who took over the land from ICI Mond. Eventually some agreement was made and the bridge was demolished sometime around 31st July/1st August weekend. The drainage repair and trackworks will start soon and last four weekends so it should be something to look out for. I will post some pictures of the site of the bridge. One advantage is that you can now see trains approaching from the Great Rocks or Peak Forest directions.

Below is a selection of recent images I have taken with my newly acquired 5MP Sony digital camera which is certainly giving excellent results. I have reduced the size from 2500 pixels to just 450 pixels to fit them on the page and reduce the file size down !

Chinley South Jnc. : 60074 with Drax-Tunstead empty EWS (ex-NP) JHA/JMAs. 18/08/04	Chinley South Jnc. : 60021 with 6H96 Tunstead-Bredbury stone in EWS JMAs. 18/08/04
Chinley South Jnc. : 60012 with 6M82 Walsall-Tunstead empty BLI cement JGAs. 18/08/04	Great Rocks Jnc. : 60047 with 6F67 Dowlow-Warrington Arpley 'Enterprise' service handing over single line token. 26/08/04
Nr Great Rocks : 60060 with 6H57 Ashburys-Dowlow empty MEAs. 26/08/04	Great Rocks Jnc. : 66610 on 6Z51 Dowlow - Earles Sgds trip with 4 HHAs in tow. 26/08/04
Great Rocks Jnc. Signalbox : 60084 with 6H96 Tunstead-Bredbury EWS (ex-NP) JMA hoppers. With permission from Great Rocks signalman. 26/08/04 /	Great Rocks Jnc. Signalbox : 66019 crosses over to gain the Tunstead line with West Burton-Tunstead empty JHAs/JMAs. With permission. 26/08/04
Hanson JHA hoppers in the loading bay at RMC Dove Holes. The wagons had recently arrived empty from Acton behind 66123 and will be loaded with aggregates for the White City project in London. 26/08/04