'I was a signal box lad when the first Clifton rail bridge was built'

22 hours ago

Pamela Tickelland

Duncan Hodgson,North East and Cumbria

News image — The rail bridge at Clifton was almost 60 years old when it was demolished at the start of the year

Cumbria Railways Association An old colour photograph of a blue and yellow train passing over the old Clifton Bridge. The grey concrete structure rises over a grassy valley. A cow is grazing on the nearside, behind a wooden fence. — The rail bridge at Clifton was almost 60 years old when it was demolished at the start of the year

While all eyes may have been on the new Clifton bridge being installed over the M6 last weekend, one man recalls the original being slid into place, almost 60 years ago.

Ken Harper has always had an interest in trains. Within a fortnight of leaving school, he was offered his first job in the rail industry when he was just 16, as a signal box assistant at Penrith Station.

"I spent that much time [there], I was asked if I wanted to join them," he said.

"I met the stationmaster, we had a few words of safety and how things were going to work out and then he escorted me along the line up to the signal box, left me there and that was it basically."

Ken Harper is standing on a railway station platform and looking directly into the camera. He has short grey hair and is wearing a dark blue coat. Behind him, the station has circular designs on the arches holding the roof up. — Ken Harper said he starting working during the "age of steam"

It was around the same time that plans were taking shape to build a bridge, over what would become the M6 in Cumbria.

Harper worked in the signal box overnight while they constructed it next to the railway track, over a period of two years.

Now 76, he remembers working nights as the concrete bridge was built in a field nearby.

It was moved into position over a weekend from April into May in 1967, which closed the railway.

Cumbria Railways Association A black and white image of a train going over the old Clifton bridge, while the M6 motorway is being constructed underneath it. There is a smooth layer of concrete that will become the road. The inclines either side are dug up, with piles of mud dotted around. — The M6 was constructed under the rail bridge at Clifton

Harper recalled when the bridge was "cast on a frame and then slid into position", and that during preparatory works the line had to be blocked by signallers on each side at Penrith and Clifton.

He said it was "quite delicate work" for his team.

The bridge was completed first, and then the M6 was constructed underneath it, with the Lancaster to Penrith section officially opening in October 1970.

Network Rail A seven diggers are demolishing a bridge over the M6. A dust cloud is hanging over the construction sire and construction vehicles are waiting to carry rubble away. — Part of the motorway was closed when the old concrete bridge was demolished

Last weekend, the new Clifton Bridge, which spans the M6 near Penrith and weighs about 3,000 tonnes, was moved into place.

It ended weeks of disruption on the West Coast Main Line, which is one of the UK's busiest rail routes. Work also saw the M6 closed for consecutive weekends, with some trains diverted to the historic Settle to Carlisle line.

The first train crossed the new steel bridge on Thursday and Harper hopes to be on board in the near future.

"The view will just be the same as the old bridge, but everybody will keep an eye on it when you travel over it, just out of interest, I think, and I'll be one of them."

Having seen the industry change, Harper said he thought the £60m project to demolish and replace the bridge was a "great feat".

"Oh it's amazing and they did an amazing job," he said.

"I actually started in the age of steam, so to see all the steam engines go, and then the diesels take over, and then we had the overhead wires put up and the electric [trains] started running," he said.

"Not to mention the signalling - all the old manual signal boxes, pulling levers on the main line, they have all disappeared."

Watch the new Clifton railway bridge being installed over M6 in Cumbria

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