Combined Weighbridge

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steve howe
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Combined Weighbridge

Postby steve howe » Sun Dec 13, 2020 4:21 pm

Does anyone know if combined road/rail weighbridges were (are?) ever used? and if so any pointers as to what the plate arrangement looked like?

Steve

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barrowroad
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby barrowroad » Tue Dec 15, 2020 10:35 am

Hi Steve,

The short answer is yes. As a retired Trading Standards Officer I have tested a great number of weighbridges during my career including road/rail ones.

The long answer depends on which period you are looking at. ICI on Severnside had combined a road/rail weighbridge which had a concrete deck with rails embedded in it which allowed both road and rail transport access. This bridge operated using strain gauges to measure the load on the bridge but there were older mechanical weighbridges with metal plates that were road/rail. A lot of rail weighbridges had a pair of tracks leading to the weighplate - one crossed the plate to permit weighing, whilst the other pair of tracks were routed so the weight was removed from the plate and hence the weighbridge levers to prevent damage from trains crossing the bridge when weighing was not required.

Robin

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steve howe
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby steve howe » Tue Dec 15, 2020 1:35 pm

Thanks for that Robin, I thought that would be the case, it seemed to make sense particularly for heavy industries ie. quarries or aggregate dealers (in my case a pre-War sand quarry) where goods were being dispatched by both rail and sold ex. yard to local customers to have some sort of combined measuring system. I am working on adapting an etched Pooley weighbridge plate to suit, when its a bit more advance I'll post a couple of images on here and then run for cover!

Steve

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Tim V
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby Tim V » Tue Dec 15, 2020 2:07 pm

Only some rail weighbridges I've seen have inset rails - the one at Tywyn (NG) has those. Here's the one at Heathfield showing the more usual raised rails. And bridge rails at that!
Mortonhampstead Branch Heathfield 7-May 1975 (6).jpg
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Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby Paul Townsend » Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:43 pm

That picture seems weird. Whichever position the switch is set to, only one rail carries the weighing load.

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grovenor-2685
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby grovenor-2685 » Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:59 pm

I think the weeds masking the rail joints on the left side are fooling you, the first and third rails from the left are fixed, the second and fourth are on the weighbridge. Blow it up to full size (2 clicks) and you can see the rail gaps at the far end.
PS. The chequerplate in the centre is also fixed, only the foot or so under the measuring rails is the moving weighbridge.
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings

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barrowroad
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby barrowroad » Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:24 pm

Spot on Keith. You beat me to it.

Robin

ted.stephens
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Re: Combined Weighbridge

Postby ted.stephens » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:23 pm

Pooley's Weighing Apparatus catalogue, 1901, doesn't show any examples of combined road/rail weighbridges. It looks like their designs bolted the rail to the top surface of the weighbridge plate rather than inset.

However, it does show the Double Rail weighbridge type as per the photo above and the associated text confirms how they operated.

A PDF copy of the catalogue can be found on the Southwark Bridge Layout website. Lots of interesting bits of equipment to model and in some cases drawings with dimensions for weighbridges.

https://www.southwarkbridgelayout.org.uk/weighing-apparatus
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