Sliding Bridge

The sliding bridge at Keadby was constructed in 1925 by Sir William Arrol of Dalmarnock (Glasgow) and rebuilt in 2004. The original rail crossing here was a swing bridge with its pivot located at the other side of the canal to the drawbridge. Its replacement with a sliding bridge was to minimising disruption to rail services during construction. It is battery operated using a set of 64 submarine type batteries which are trickle charged when not in use. The railway passes over the Stainforth & Keadby Canal on a skew. In the railway opened position it is supported on the nose abutment, the front wedges and the rear wedges. Control of the bridge is by the signalman from the adjacent signal cabin. An interlock with the railway signalling system ensures that the bridge cannot be opened unless rail traffic is prevented from crossing the bridge. The main actuators of the bridge are a set of hydraulically driven lifting jacks, two sets of electrically driven wedges and an electrically driven winch haulage drive which operates through an open gearbox with a six foot diameter differential gear.