Frogmen Get Into The Goole Swing!

A Victorian bridge in the East Riding of Yorkshire has been falling under the eagle eyes of a diving team, commissioned by HBPW to check that the 1869 structure is still in good shape more than 150 years since it was first designed by Thomas Elliot Harrison.

The Skelton Viaduct, also known as the Hook bridge or Goole Railway Swing Bridge, is a large viaducted hogback plate girder bridge with swing span over the River Ouse, and was originally designed by Harrison for the Hull and Doncaster Branch of the North Eastern Railway.

HBPW Associate Paul Jacklin, said: “The structure, which carries a double-track railway, consists of four fixed spans, one central swing span and a smaller fifth swing span.

“In the latter part of the 20th century it became infamous for a number of incidents with ships striking the superstructure. I personally am aware of at least one such incident in which a vessel struck the bridge and later sank further up the Ouse!

“Needless to say, the Goole Railway Swing Bridge may be more than 150 years old but it is still rather robust!”

And it is that enduring strength that is now being formally checked as part of a Conditions Survey being carried out on behalf of Network Rail.

“AmcoGiffen are project managing the survey work in tandem with Hull based Northern Divers who have had a team of underwater experts checking out three of the five supporting piers. The ones in our remit are either side of the navigable channel of the River Ouse.

“We have also had rope access teams checking the structure above water level and, whilst a report will be prepared for Network Rail, I think it is a fair assumption to say that Thomas Elliot Harrison was a good engineer because, to date, the structure is still standing despite the various impacts it has had to endure over its chequered history!”