Over The Top

This was the main A635 Manchester Road through Bottom Mossley last weekend. The road was closed off for 24 hours while a giant crane was set up to help put a replacement footbridge into position across the railway.

The railway lines runs behind the houses, which is why such a large crane, which was capable of lifting 80 tonnes, was needed.

The old and new bridges were not lifted over the houses, though. At around 3.00 am the old bridge was lifted down onto bogies on the railway track and moved along to the station yard 300 yards away, where a smaller crane lifted it off.

On Sunday afternoon the new bridge (which had arrived at the station yard by lorry) was lifted onto the bogies and moved along the track to the bridge site. The large crane in the photo then lifted it from the bogies, rotated it and placed it onto the bridge piers.

The railway line was closed to trains through much of the weekend, although some freight trains moved through very slowly late on Saturday night. The road closure caused disruption to cars and bus services. Some of the drivers of the rail replacement coaches seemed uncertain as to which way they should go to get to the next station at Stalybridge!

Hopefully the new bridge will last another 150 years!

See Google Aerial View of this location.