Barton Swing Bridge (road)

[StephenA]

Apparently it got stuck open today because it expanded in the heat and they couldn't close it.

 

[AndrewIC]

Happens to the Warrington swing bridges most years, although I've not seen any reports this year yet.

[ditchcrawler]

We get this with the railway bridges on the Broads,Reedham and Somerleyton but they tend to stick shut blocking the navigation. At one time BR had summer rails which were a little bit shorter that they fitted each year. the idea being the bigger gap at the ends but not so smooth for the train

[Mac of Cygnet]

So how does continuously welded track work, then? Why doesn't it buckle?

[Robbo]

3 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

So how does continuously welded track work, then? Why doesn't it buckle?

The put it under stress .. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_stressing

[AMModels]

It does at times...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/11707973/Travel-chaos-forecast-as-35C-heatwave-could-buckle-train-tracks-and-melt-roads.html

[Cheshire cat]

My train was delayed on monday because they were restricting speeds on parts of the west coast mainline due to expanding track. 

[Richard10002]

There was an article on a news programme the other day where they suggested that a whole new approach to building and materials would be needed as climate change increased temperatures over the course of the century.

e.g. roads melting, metal structures deforming, and so on.

my own immediate thought was that, in the U.K., even if our temperature were to rise by a few degrees on average, it wouldn't come close to some of the norms that already exist in the developed world, so I am not sure why a problem is foreseen here?

[Pluto]

11 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

We get this with the railway bridges on the Broads,Reedham and Somerleyton but they tend to stick shut blocking the navigation. At one time BR had summer rails which were a little bit shorter that they fitted each year. the idea being the bigger gap at the ends but not so smooth for the train

Selby railway bridge over the Ouse used to have water pipework to cool the bridge in hot weather. In the 1890s, one of the designs for boatlifts on the proposed Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal was for a large circular revolving lift to take the 1000 ton standard German boats of the time. It was rejected as it was thought that with the sun on one end only, the other being in the shade, it would seize up due to differential expansion.

[captain birdseye]

15 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

So how does continuously welded track work, then? Why doesn't it buckle?

the rail is stretched so that its elasticity is the same as it's expansion. so as it gets cooled it becomes more stretched as it contracts, but not enough to snap. As it heats up and expands it becomes less stretched but not enough to "go slack" and buckle.

[Alway Swilby]

The swing bridge at Keadby too apparently.  NB Alchemy blog.

[Chewbacka]

Most summers one or two of the G&S bridges get stuck shut when the sun is at it's hottest.