Recent content by SteveT

Kielder, also skew arches and with decorated spandrels and castellated parapets. And fancy having one of these in your garden – Charlton viaduct (S&DJR) from the grounds of Kilver Court.

There was a mix of rail and bus services when I used the line in October and November. These were advertised on the NR website journey planner a week or more in advance. This weekend (29/30 Jan), the line is closed for engineering works with all services replaced by buses. Does anyone know...

The Rhondda tunnel and the proposal to reopen it as a cycle path were mentioned in this thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/long-tunnels-with-no-ventilation-shafts-vice-versa.216447/ The plans have been approved. This was in the Daily Telegraph yesterday...

There are confirmed engineering works on the Midland route on Dec 18/19. Nottingham-St. Pancras trains run via Corby with a reversal at Leicester, journey time 2h 25m. NR timetable offers plenty of alternatives via Grantham to KX with shorter times.

Goodness. Who'd have thought there'd be so many lovers of boring old concrete in the country. And so many readers of the minds of the dead as well. As for Glenfinnan viaduct...there's just something about it that distinguishes it from that stark little bridge near Bicester. I wonder what that...

Thank you, Alf, for support (of a sort). I have finished digging the bullets out of the living room wall...

Perhaps not the flatter ones (some of the MML bridges were elliptical). A bit better certainly but still a bit stark. Would a bit of brick dressing really add that much to the cost?

Just search 'concrete arch' on Google. Plenty of curved, pre-cast arches there. It's the plates on the wingwalls (rectangular at Launton, hexagonal on some other examples) that are so jarring to the eye (well, my eye at least!). 1626350962 And given an answer like that, I never could. You've...

Only just! They are rather washed-out looking grey rather than the older blue brick.

You beat me to it. I was going to suggest that if it were in a national park, AONB or even perhaps a conservation area that planners might have their say on appearance.

The pettiness of this is depressing. I would never have imagined that a simple observation on the ugliness of some modern civil engineering could invoke such dismissiveness, even contempt. Plain, cheap and simple doesn't have to be ugly. Try considering it.

No. Just not what they are.

The piles of concrete didn't have to be so lumpen.

Yes. And?

Thanks for the condescending lecture. Try considering that I understand the need for the raising of overbridges and the practical problems involved. And I wasn't suggesting that the Launton underbridge be arched. However limited its use might be, unpainted palisade fencing is still an eyesore...