Kingsferry Bridge closures in August

Thanks for letting us know, the button pusher will have a couple of restful days, not having to wear his finger to the bone pushing that big button.
Fingers crossed the commercial trafiic keeps using the Swale, or Railtrack will just weld the bridge in the down position!
 
Possible one or two of the button-pushers will miss the happy hours spent prevaricating with skippers on the VHF while refusing to give a specific time for a lift....
 
Thanks for that, every possibility I may have been around there that week. I will have to watch the times if I do. They are strange times, presumably to fit around train times and commercial traffic.

I had a very helpful "button pusher" Friday evening when I called up. He was very apologetic that he couldn't lift for about another 35 mins, which was ideal as I had only just gone around long point west of Queenborough. It turned out, an hour earlier one of our club members couldn't get a reply on channel 10, so complained to Medway VTS.
 
I've had a mixed bag of helpful (mostly) and the occasional bridge keeper that seems to dislike opening it. To be honest I telephone to check it's working then just arrive 10 minutes before and wait listening in on the VHF.

I've wondered why the reluctance when I've experienced it, it's not like it has a manually operated winder to open the bridge that's a bugger to use....or has it??
 
Some do, the bridges on the Broads have a manual back up winch. Generally, bridge opening times are governed by the rail timetable with Network Rail heavy penalised for delaying trains. Most operators are also the signaller for that section of line so have other duties as well.....or they could be in the crapper :) by and large I have found to be understanding of the needs of river users and some have boats of there own. Don't have much experience of Kings ferry though.
 
I don't think there would be manual backup for Kingsferry, carrying a road and a railway...!
There is a 25-minute gap between trains. The operator has to get permission from a distant signalman to lift. In the last couple of years things have generally been better but before that there were a couple of operators who were just bl***ing awkward.
 
Cantata said:
I don't think there would be manual backup for Kingsferry, carrying a road and a railway...!
There is a 25-minute gap between trains. The operator has to get permission from a distant signalman to lift. In the last couple of years things have generally been better but before that there were a couple of operators who were just bl***ing awkward.
Click to expand...

I wonder what other duties the bridge operators have other than answer the phone and radio. If the poor bloke is lying underneath the bridge lifting motor in the pouring rain with a spanner in one hand and a VHF in the other, trying to multi task fixing it and letting pleasure craft through between trains I could understand the problem.

More likely we've interrupted his web surfing/sleeping!
 
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