The GCR bridge over the M45
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2024
- Join me as I explore this criminally underused bridge on the Great Central Railway. Opened in approx. 1959 when the M45 opened it served for just over 7 years (as an active line) before the GCR closed in 1966. Sat in the middle of the countryside near Rugby it is often referred to as 'the bridge to nowhere'. Join me as we look at the bridge and see what state it is in some 56 years after it was last used.
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This bridge was erected over several weekends in 1958/9 . The line was closed between Woodford Halse and Rugby Central with a substitute bus services in operation resulting in delays and inconvenience to rail passengers on Sundays up to and hour and a half as I recall..
The M45 was built to accommodate motorway traffic between London and Birmingham using M1,M45 and A45. The M6 was developed to link into the M1 much later on.
Yes, there was an ordinance depot at Barby sidings and as a result of the East Coast flood disaster in 1953 train loads of wagons were filled with sandbags to shore up the defences.
Also on a Sunday afternoon in 1955 .a Manchester to Marylebone express came off the rails at Barby , the engine was V2 60828 and came to rest alongside the Grand Union Canal.
Thanks for reminding me about this section of line.
Thank you for watching and your in depth comments always appreciated 👍
Badley needs trains. Thanks for posting. Love the GCR.
Thanks for watching more videos on the gcr coming soon.
should be doing stuff but can't resist watching (and re watching)
Thank you for watching! Your support is much appreciated and there is many more videos coming up 👍
Ive lost count of the number of times ive passed under that bridge as a HGV Driver, always wondered what it was like on top! another fine GCR video, all your GCR work is very much appreciated, seeing all the GCR stuff we dont usually get to see has been great recently, many thanks and please keep going!
Thank you and thanks for watching. Your kind comments are much appreciated and I am glad you are enjoying the videos. Plenty more coming up from the Great Central Railway. Thanks again 👍
What a waste of an amazing double track mainline to London . Been on the gcr on steam loved it
Been under that bridges a few time along the m45. Used to be my favourite for some reason
Thanks for watching. It's a relatively modern bridge on this old line and criminally underused.
An incredible amount of investment back in the day for a bridge that was only in use for such a short period of time. Great video.
Thanks for watching. It does seem like a lot of money for what use it had. A real shame
Should definitely have trains running over it again.
Another great explore. Thanks for sharing. A lot of the bridges I recognise as I followed the GCR on Google looking at all the bridges.
Thanks for watching and your continued support. It's a lovely old bridge and very easy to get to.
Absolutely fantastic video love the bridges like yourself many thanks for sharing 👍
Thank you for watching glad you enjoyed it
I remember walking over that bridge years ago with a friend, this would have been around 1994. I was a teenager at the time, so completely oblivious to concepts like trespassing and private property. We just went wherever the hell we felt like and explored the countryside. We found some way to scrabble up the embankment through all the undergrowth from the northern side. I reckon we must've been some of the first people to cross that bridge in decades, assuming no-one else uses it for anything. In fact, it's lucky we could get up it, because my friend's plan was to run across the motorway!
Thanks for watching. Everything was so different back then I used to wander everywhere I just wish I had took a camera with me!
Yet another example of British government planning designed to waste the maximum amount of taxpayers money. Now instead of being used as part of the HS2 route as the GCR was built to continental loading gauge to run through the 1900 version of the channel tunnel which was stopped by the government of the day its just rusting away. Talk about waste, waste and waste again! Thanks for the video from the top of the bridge which I've been under many times but only travelled over once on a steam train.
This bridge needs demolition. It will become a maintenance liability in the future.
Love seeing the bridges and train areas you explore on the line never been to the Rugby ones so great to see and learn more always 👏😄
Thank you and thanks for watching. Loads more coming up closer and further afield! And a few surprises as well. 👍
Absolutely loved that, who'd have guessed it was the M45 bridge?!!! Attacking it from the south is definitely the best way, on Google Maps and OS maps there appears to be a couple of public footpaths that lead to the trackbed. Those 'tiles' on the bridge look like they were laid on top of the ballast I think, may be wrong, after the rails were removed. The trackbed north from the bridge looks like a challenge, I may have a go when I pop down there.
Thanks for watching and excellent guess work yesterday. Years from the south it is very easy to get to. A real gem that is like new. The track northwards would be a real challenge.
It is fascinating that they knew the railway was closing when the M45 was built. UK's least used motorway, a precursor before the M6 it was built to disperse M1 traffic when it finished at Jcn 18 Crick.
Thanks for watching. It really is a quiet motorway and as always I struggle to comprehend the thinking behind shutting down infrastructure especially after spending money on it! I guess governments never really change..
That’s a great little bridge and, as you rightly say, it still looks like it has plenty of life left in it.
Thanks David. As is the case with a lot of the GCR it didn't achieve its potential. However little more than a mile from here it's hard to tell a railway even existed 👍
Brilliant. I never knew about this bridge.
Thanks for watching. It's a bit of a forgotten relic as it doesn't show the age of the rest of the line. Also it's over a very little used motorway so gets forgotten!
Interesting video, thank you very much ❤
Thank you for watching. Probably the quietest motorway I have ever seen!!
If you'd gone a bit further along the trackbed north of the bridge, you'd have come across an old colour light signal post which I think was either an intermediate block or the distant for Barby sidings. Still standing to this day!
Thanks for watching. Yes I have filmed it as well. It's a great find!
There are a pair of bridges on the M27 for a bucket line for a brick works.
The works closed before the motorway was completed so have never been used for their intended purpose
Thanks for watching. That sounds like my sort of thing 👍 I will look into that thanks 👍
When the M4 section was built between Maidenhead and Swindon they built a bridge over the Lambourn Valley Railway which by then had been truncated to Welford to serve the ordnance depot there.
The motorway opened in late 1971 and the line closed in 1972. So just over a year in use!!
Thanks for watching. That is crazy! Imagine the cost of putting that in for just 12 months. Madness.
@@MiddyExplores Yep, and to rub salt in the wound, when the A38 Buckfastleigh section was built around the same time a bridge over the Dart Valley line was refused due to cost, thus severing Ashburton from the preserved Dart Valley Railway.
@@12crepello unbelievable. It never ceases to amaze me how some of these decisions are made.
I can't understand why the preserved GC didn't look at buying these bridges and the M1 bridge to use in the ' bridging the gap' project they are presently doing. Surely cheaper than the cost of building new ones and would have given a twin track bridge over MML rather than the single they opted for, presumably on cost grounds.
Thanks for watching. I guess the logistics of moving these could be a factor but I see your point for the mml bridge.
Ah I saw that on Google maps when was looking at your signal video. Looks like it is not far south of the start of the Great Central Walk on the trackbed into Rugby so wonder if could connect the two albeit with some nettles.
Yes you could but it would be a hard walk! Much easier to approach it from the South.
The M 45 has the lowest volume of traffic than any other motorway in England so it wouldn't have been a major inconvenience to remove it as would the M 1 bridge at Cosby. Not sure of this but I think the M 45 is somehow listed and all it's infrastructure so that could be a reason for it's survival. When you think of the cost of both GCML bridges over motorways for only 7 years service you have to question BR decisions to build them when the GC's fate had all but been sealed but as it was still an operating railway they didn't have much choice.
Thanks for watching. Apparently there is some sort of preservation order on the M45 which seems odd. Short sighted all round I think
@@MiddyExplores I thought the whole "heritage motorway" thing was an April Fool's joke? There was even claims that only classic vehicles would be allowed to use it.
@@MadBiker-vj5qj I must agree with you! I thought it was misinformation when I first read it. Apparently it's all to do with the architect who designed it and it's crossings! Very odd
The M45 was very busy once. The M1 terminated at Rugby, until they extended it northwards. The M45 traffic continued up the A45 to Birmingham, and was the main route from London to Birmingham. Very heavily used.
At the very least, it would be nice if Sustrans could negotiate with the landowners to open that stretch up for cycle traffic, as the route still exists almost all the way into Rugby, while, heading South, the Draycote and Offchurch sections already have parts of Route 41 on them. Most of the Daventry line also looks as though it hasn't been redeveloped.
Thanks for watching and I totally agree that areas should be opened up for footpaths and cycleways especially when it is relatively easy to do. Great examples are rugby and Leicester where large parts of the old GCR is now very usable and popular.
Thanks for that; you are right it IS a shame but what chance of ever seeing trains over it again?
Thanks for watching. I sadly don't think it will ever see trains again . The infrastructure either side is barely there and as you will see on my other videos there are large sections missing. A real shame.
Nice one mate. I did note a little bit of music at the end 😉👍. Was that you singing lol
Thanks you and no if I was singing then TH-cam would shit me down😄
@@MiddyExplores shut 😆
This was my penultimate port of call today, it's a great structure, however, the track bed is far more overgrown since you went - bloody nettles everywhere!!!
Good bridge though! The nettles were just coming through when I went but I imagine it's a lot worse now. Glad you got to see it.
@@MiddyExplores Cracking bridge. I climbed down the side to get a shot of the bridge going over the M45, but the ballast gave way and I ended up skidding down the bank into a sea of nettles, I'm still stinging five hours later!!!!
another goodun mate 😀
Thanks buddy was a great little explore.
Totally agree, should have trains running over the bridge.
Thanks for watching. A sad waste of a criminally underused line and bridge that hardly got used.
Wonder if the Heritage GCR could put it to use on its reunification project?
Thanks for watching. I am sure they could but I don't think it's allowed to be lifted as there is a preservation order on the motorway? Lovely old bridge tgough
I wonder if it could be connected to the Heritage railway
Thanks for watching. Unfortunately where it is it would be nigh on impossible. However if they needed a new bridge it would be ideal as a replacement!
I wonder if it will end up being wrecked by HS2 like the other stretches you showed? For the price of HS2 they could finish east west rail including the Bedford to Cambridge tunnel and the Aylesbury link and still have money to spare.
Thanks for watching. Totally agree there are so many 'useful' projects that could have been completed for a fraction of the price if HS2.
The whole of the GCR should have been 'HS2'!
Not the busiest motorway 😂😂 last time I went along the M45 it had weeds growing on it.
Thanks for watching. I filmed this in the middle of the week and saw about 20 vehicles all the time I was there! Probably the quite road in the area.
Live near the M45, travel a lot along it. Never seen a weed. It is not that quiet, takes fair few lorries, foreign and otherwise. If problems on M6 it takes all the traffic!
Bridges which are too low get demolished, this one isnt any lower than the other bridges on the M45 so they let it be.
M45 served the purpose of the M6 before M6 was built.
Thanks for watching. Yes it's a solid bridge shame it doesn't get used
Looking at those square tiles, my asbestos alarm would be going off,, they look like some biteuomenos waterproofing.. I wouldn't recommend anybody touching them or kicking loose bits about....
Thanks for watching. They looked mor ceramic when I was there but like all older structures I am always careful and like you wouldn't recommend moving stuff.
How about the bad boy spanning the M1 at Leicester…?
Thanks for watching. I filmed the M1 bridge and released it a while back if you look through my videos it is there!
@@MiddyExplores brilliant, I will … I’m a GCR junkie, I just can’t get enough …
@@thoughtsonnarrowboatingwit3882 well I hope you have subscribed I have loads more from the GCR coming up on the channel, in fact one should upload later today...