Provision was made for public
access (including disabled
access) by the construction
of a new footpath to the site,
funded by the Common Good
Fund of Aberdeen City Council.
The turntable restoration was
funded by Historic Scotland
(40 per cent), the Railway
Heritage Trust (40 per cent) and
the Association for Industrial
Archaeology (20 per cent). The
upgrade of the trackwork was
funded by Network Rail.
To date, steam locomotives
hauling three charter trains
have been turned. Fourteen
more charter trains have been
planned for 2019 and 2020. The
public have been able to safely
observe the coaling and turning
operations, with a dedicated
viewing area being protected
by crowd control barriers.
Buckingham Group
Contracting was highly
commended for its work on the
three-span Runcorn Railway
Bridge, also known as the
Queen Ethelfleda Bridge, which
was first opened in 1868 and
carries the West Coast main
line over the River Mersey and
the Manchester Ship Canal.
Now grade II* listed, it required
extensive maintenance after
150 years of service. The
project designer, Arcadis,
highlighted the deteriorating
condition of the structure plus
concerns over the articulation
of the structure, caused by the
bearings all being seized so that
articulation was made through
flexure of the piers, which had
cracked and flexed seasonally
as the temperature varied.
Buckingham refurbished the
bridge, using both recovered
and remade parts, and replaced
the bearings so that the bridge
should be safeguarded for the
next 100 years.
The other team highly
commended was Construction
Marine, working with Arcadis,
David France and Metalock
Engineering. Following
examination and inspection by
Network Rail’s LNE Structures
Route Asset Managementteam, the footbridge at Thickley
Wood, Shildon, was deemed
weak in several key structural
areas and without intervention
would have had to close. The
multi-span listed structure
carries pedestrian traffic over
the Darlington to Eaglescliffe
railway as well as the redundant
sidings that, when laid down in
1875 had a total length of 27
miles, making them the largest
in the world at that time. While
refurbishing/remodelling the
bridge in compliance with its
listed status, close liaison was
required with Durham Council
and the adjacent rail museum
‘Locomotion’ in designing and
planning the works to achieve
the required outcome.SME
To recognise the work of
its smaller suppliers, often in
second or third-tier roles, this
award recognises outstanding
SME suppliers with annual
turnovers of less than £25
million. It was judged by
Eoin O’Neill, Network Rail’s
commercial and development
director, who also presented
the award, and Darren Caplan,
chief executive of the Railway
Industry Association.SME of the Year was
awarded to Senceive.RAIL PARTNERSHIP AWARDS 37