Bottomley: Stone House Clough footbridge
An idyllic, mainly midge-free day saw Andy, Angus, Frank H and Jerry working on right-of-way Todmorden 145 that heads south from Bottomley to cross Stone House Clough and pass near Stone House (see Map). The latter section of this path has been recently strimmed by the landowners. Many thanks.
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| 1. Map: The blue 'pin' marks the worksite. |
The clough is crossed by a footbridge which, last week, had some repair work done to the cross-treads. The stringers for this bridge are substantial (250 mm x 100 mm), cut from good quality timber and held in place by large right-angle brackets. The handrail posts and the side rails, however, are in very poor condition as the following pictures show:
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| 2 Before: The top left-hand side rail is missing, All six handrail posts are loose and decay in these posts is widespread . . . |
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| 3 . . . just like this! Which is why it all wobbles! |
The plan was to remove all the structure above the walkway and then reconstruct with double-fastened posts carrying three rails on each side. The walkway has a very slight dip towards one corner which, because of the nature of the original anchorings could not be corrected.
The Details:
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| 4. Stage 1: Old shaky rails being removed. |
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| 5. Stage 2: New end handrail posts being bolted into the original stringers. |
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| 6. Stage 3: New handrail posts in place. Walkway side-trim being prepared. |
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| 7. Stage 4: Trims in place and new handrails being fixed to the posts. |
This job proceeded much more smoothly than expected. Accessing the bridge from the stream was straightforward as water levels were very low and the technique for positioning posts so they could be aligned and fixed vertically worked well. The main 'problem' was drilling into the stringers; old they may have been but the close-grained, high density timber was an excellent test for our battery drill. The drill won!
Some time later . . .
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| 8. End of session: North to South view of footbridge. |
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| 9. End of session: South to North view of footbridge. |
We were pleased with the end result. The footbridge is now safe, secure and completely wobble-free. Access is easy . . . walkers enjoy . . . and the 'Beast of Bottomley' too! . . .
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| 10. Earlier in the day: On the prowl! |
Today's work was funded by Calderdale Council Highways. Many thanks.
