(All 6 February 2013)
It's not all glamour and kudos restoring closed railways - sometimes it gets quite technical! One of our neighbours at Midford has issues with the large concrete support that is on our land but abuts right up to his house (bottom picture). I spent a fun hour on Wednesday clambering up ladders and grassy knolls to take a closer look at some of his concerns. The concrete is beginning to crumble on the surface in places, which is of course a worry for them. It seems that nothing has happened here since the line closed.
Obviously we'd like to address this as soon as possible. We're more than happy to pay for a professional structural engineer to look at this and advise on the best way to tackle it but we are charged as a voluntary group to first check whether we can do this ourselves by falling back on our own resources - so is there a member or supporter out there qualified to do this, who can provide an official written statement as to the situation at this point? We're happy to pay reasonable travel expenses of course, but are trying to avoid the professional fee if possible. If you can do this or know of someone who would be willing to please contact me directly on leysiner@aol.com or telehone 0117 3738973.
It does seem a minor issue so shouldn't be prohibitively expensive and as responsible landlords we've always been aware that issues like this will arise all along the route. Once repaired we'll put in place a regular repair schedule for this particular spot in partnership with the owner of the house.
2 comments:
Could be a major potential liability-as you infer,best to get professional view ASAP.
I think we're talking a few hundred rather than a few thousand, and once we schedule a two-yearly check up it should be fine, and a dry run for many of the liabilities we'll have along the route. The area survived 40+ years of neglect with no major issues. Obviously once trains are running there'll be far more stress on this bank, but remember fourteen coach double headed trains and heavy freights used this route for decades with no problems. The odd bike is hardly a worry!
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