More than just water under the bridge
CONTRACTORS for Network Rail recently carried out an inspection of the bridge that carries the railway over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Burscough in West Lancashire, writes Colin Wareing.
The bridge was made by Joseph Butler and Co at the Stanningley Iron Works near Leeds in 1848 ready for the railway opening in 1849. The company closed in the 1930s.
This part of the canal was opened in 1774. The railway it carries today is a single track rural branch line, running from Preston to Ormskirk, though at one time it was part of a mainline route from Liverpool to Scotland.
The bridge is inspected every year and can’t be a pleasant job with the amount of pigeons that nest on the girders under the deck.
The Canal & River Trust advised boaters that there may be delays to their journey while the pontoon the inspection team used was moved out of the way.