Rolling in the bridge

The construction of the Manchester Airport relief road between the A6 at Hazel Grove and the M56 near the airport requires a large bridge for the Stockport to Buxton railway to cross the new road. The bridge and its abutments had been erected in an adjacent field over the past few months and at Easter a four day possession was granted to get it all in. Good Friday saw the embankment removed entirely and around lunchtime on Saturday the big move commenced with the bridge and attached abutments jacked onto massive multi-axle self propelled platforms running on steel plates. Within three hours it was in position for lowering onto prepared concrete pads outside the width of the original embankment, which is where it is seen here. The bridge was already filled with ballast ready for the tracks to be laid. The new embankment ends were to be laid in stone in 150mm layers, each rolled just once before the next layer is added. Trains were running again at 6.00am on Tuesday.