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D0 NOT LIFT. The Derby Road Bridge in Ipswich, over the Ipswich to Felixstowe railway line, England (opened 1877).
I see this sign every time I travel by train from Felixstowe to Ipswich and have wondered about it for years.
Someone I know, who works on the railways, tells me that, when it was built, the loading gauge (the bridge profile) would have allowed passenger carriages and freight wagons of the time to pass without any problem. The introduction of container traffic in the 1960s (with square section 'boxes', as containers are known in the trade) reduced the clearance significantly between the top edges of the box and the bridge roof. The painted instruction therefore warns track maintenance gangs to not 'lift' the track and so cause the boxes to strike the roof.
Standard boxes were 8' 0" wide by 8' 6" high until the turn of the new century when 9' 6" high boxes were introduced. It became clear that international freight would rely on these new boxes and that without bridge and tunnel alterations, rail freight business from the port of Felixstowe would gradually decline. So it was decided to lift the roof of this and other bridges on the line - the modern concrete structure allowing these taller boxes to pass through is clearly visible in the photo.
At the same time (about 2004) the Ipswich tunnel, under Stoke Hill on the main line to London, had the track bed lowered to allow the new boxes to pass through.
So, the instruction 'DO NOT LIFT' [the track] is as valid today as when originally painted on the bridge brickwork.
D0 NOT LIFT. The Derby Road Bridge in Ipswich, over the Ipswich to Felixstowe railway line, England (opened 1877).
I see this sign every time I travel by train from Felixstowe to Ipswich and have wondered about it for years.
Someone I know, who works on the railways, tells me that, when it was built, the loading gauge (the bridge profile) would have allowed passenger carriages and freight wagons of the time to pass without any problem. The introduction of container traffic in the 1960s (with square section 'boxes', as containers are known in the trade) reduced the clearance significantly between the top edges of the box and the bridge roof. The painted instruction therefore warns track maintenance gangs to not 'lift' the track and so cause the boxes to strike the roof.
Standard boxes were 8' 0" wide by 8' 6" high until the turn of the new century when 9' 6" high boxes were introduced. It became clear that international freight would rely on these new boxes and that without bridge and tunnel alterations, rail freight business from the port of Felixstowe would gradually decline. So it was decided to lift the roof of this and other bridges on the line - the modern concrete structure allowing these taller boxes to pass through is clearly visible in the photo.
At the same time (about 2004) the Ipswich tunnel, under Stoke Hill on the main line to London, had the track bed lowered to allow the new boxes to pass through.
So, the instruction 'DO NOT LIFT' [the track] is as valid today as when originally painted on the bridge brickwork.