WORK STARTS ON WOLVERHAMPTON WISHBONE BRIDGE The will they won’t they saga of the Wolverhampton Wisbone Bridge (used by Midland Metro on the approach to the St Georges terminus) has seen the work commence and Metro services terminate firstly at Priestfield and then at The Royal – as was originally planned. You may remember that despite publicity released by Midland Metro about the work taking place through September the local media were saying the work may not go ahead, but it is now well underway.
The plan is for the flyover to be repainted over four weeks after complaints that it gives a bad impression to visitors. It will be repainted grey – despite some locals wanting a different colour. Cladding has been installed on the bridge but this is not to protect the workers from the elements but is rather to prevent any sand from the sand blasting from escaping!
With the work being undertaken on the bridge Midland Metro services (as previously reported) have been disrupted and from 30th August to 2nd September all trams were terminated at Priestfield and then from this date until 28th September services were extended through to Priestfield.
The initial Priestfield service proved problematic on the operational side as there were gaps of up to 16 minutes in the service at times. This was because although nine trams would have been sufficient to run the service, a long layover was allocated meaning an extra tram would be required to maintain the frequency. Unfortunately, only nine trams were used leading to a gap of 16 minutes in the service every 80 minutes.
Terminating at The Royal has seen what is believed to be the first long term operational use of the crossover at this location mainly because the point motor has not been working. For this operation they have resorted to hand operation with a pointsman used for this purpose.
Source: Michael Averill, Graham Sidwell (Editor, Tramfare) & Wolverhampton Express and Star
Midland Metro – Sunday 21st September 2008
Two trams meet at The Royal. 08 waits to head back to Birmingham whilst 13 has just arrived and waits to use the crossover further north.
Having moved away towards Wolverhampton St Georges, 13 heads back towards The Royal over the rarely used crossover.
Another image of 13 on the crossover.
No way through! The blocks on the tracks preventing the trams from heading any further towards Wolverhampton St Georges.
Because the point motor does not work Midland Metro had to employ a points man (in this case Mike Walters) to change The Royal crossover points. Here 06 waits to pass over the points whilst they are changed.
With the points now changed 06 passes over the points to return to Birmingham.
Work underway on the bridge/flyover with cladding not to protect the staff undertaking the work but to prevent any sand from escaping during the sandblasting!
All Photos: Graham Sidwell (Editor, Tramfare)