| Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by Red Squirrel at 13:28, 26th November 2025 |     |
Thanks all; very useful.
There a some lines around Bristol (and Wiltshire!) which could benefit from re-doubling, and I have always assumed that if an alignment once had two tracks it should be piossible to re-double it without needing to acquire land.
I can see now that this may not always be the case -although thanks to Brunel, we may have more wiggle room than some!
| Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by johnneyw at 14:20, 26th November 2025 | |
Thanks all; very useful.
There a some lines around Bristol (and Wiltshire!) which could benefit from re-doubling, and I have always assumed that if an alignment once had two tracks it should be piossible to re-double it without needing to acquire land.
I can see now that this may not always be the case -although thanks to Brunel, we may have more wiggle room than some!
There a some lines around Bristol (and Wiltshire!) which could benefit from re-doubling, and I have always assumed that if an alignment once had two tracks it should be piossible to re-double it without needing to acquire land.
I can see now that this may not always be the case -although thanks to Brunel, we may have more wiggle room than some!
I've been having a ponder over any problem points for redoubling on The Beach Line, a line that I'm reasonably familiar with and which is relatively short but which may need additional passing loops for a more "metro like" frequency.
Pleasingly, I'm hard pushed to think of any, save perhaps the railway arch over the A38 Gloucester Road (or is it Cheltenham Road there?). Could there be gauge or weight restriction issues there?
| Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 16:48, 26th November 2025 | |
Pleasingly, I'm hard pushed to think of any, save perhaps the railway arch over the A38 Gloucester Road (or is it Cheltenham Road there?)
It is Cheltenham Road there - hence the term 'Cheltenham Road arches'.
The A38 northbound doesn't become Gloucester Road until the junction with Zetland Road.
CfN (used to live in Kingsdown)
| Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by Red Squirrel at 09:17, 27th November 2025 | |
With apologies for continuing the thread drift (does this warrant its own topic? Not sure...) Cheltenham Road Viaduct does look to be reasonably capacious (see Google Maps image). Clause 18 of The Great Western and Midland Railways (Clifton and Bristol) Act of 1871 implies that part or all of the line was originally built to broad guage, so I suspect they at least allowed for this - even though the iron spans of the bridge were cast in Derby, which suggests the contract may have been let by the Midland.
| Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 11:59, 27th November 2025 | |
With apologies for continuing the thread drift (does this warrant its own topic? Not sure...)
It probably does: I'll look into that this afternoon. CfN.
| Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by Noggin at 13:53, 27th November 2025 | |
With apologies for continuing the thread drift (does this warrant its own topic? Not sure...) Cheltenham Road Viaduct does look to be reasonably capacious (see Google Maps image). Clause 18 of The Great Western and Midland Railways (Clifton and Bristol) Act of 1871 implies that part or all of the line was originally built to broad guage, so I suspect they at least allowed for this - even though the iron spans of the bridge were cast in Derby, which suggests the contract may have been let by the Midland.
Apologies too for thread drift. AFAIK Cheltenham Road Viaduct is double-track as-built (standard not broad gauge). Assuming it's structurally sound, the problem is that if you redouble, you have to rebuild Montpelier and Redland stations which will mean lifts etc. and I suspect £10m+ each by the time you are done (not to mention they are tight sites very close to housing). IIRC, there is a plan being progressed by WECA and NR to redouble up to (St Andrews?) tunnel east of Montpelier Station with a revised junction onto the mainline which would give a significant capacity uplift for less money and minimal disruption.
| Re: Cheltenham Road Viaduct - scope for possible redoubling (split topic, ongoing discussion) Posted by Western Pathfinder at 16:17, 27th November 2025 | |
As well as the previous noted items, the bridge over the port entrance at Sea Mills needs replacing badly.
