Viaducts
 

Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Viaducts
 

On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:15:55 +0100, Basil Jet
wrote:

Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?


Because bricks were easily available, and long girders were not?

US viaducts also post-date the introduction of steel. At the time
most British lines were built, metal girders would have been made of
wrought and cast iron and could not span nearly as far as the later
steel girders could. So brick was the right choice.

Brick viaducts also allowed the arches to be let to produce rental
income. Many of the businesses that were displaced by railway viaduct
construction were relocated to the railway arches.

Viaducts
 

On Jun 26, 8:15*am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

Viaducts
 

"E27002" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 8:15 am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

================

Might it also be something to do with the very nature of the viaducts? If
you think about the "elevateds" in the US many of them were built over roads
and I'm not sure how practical it would have been to use brick for that.

Viaducts
 

On 27/06/2010 12:15, Graham Harrison wrote:

"E27002" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 8:15 am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

================

Might it also be something to do with the very nature of the viaducts?
If you think about the "elevateds" in the US many of them were built
over roads and I'm not sure how practical it would have been to use
brick for that.

I think you've put the cart before the horse. It's not that London
viaducts utilise brick because they are not over roads - they don't have
roads beneath them because they utilise brick.

Viaducts
 

"Basil Jet" wrote in message
...
On 27/06/2010 12:15, Graham Harrison wrote:

"E27002" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 8:15 am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

================

Might it also be something to do with the very nature of the viaducts?
If you think about the "elevateds" in the US many of them were built
over roads and I'm not sure how practical it would have been to use
brick for that.

I think you've put the cart before the horse. It's not that London
viaducts utilise brick because they are not over roads - they don't have
roads beneath them because they utilise brick.

Take your point but I'm still not sure that the "Els" would have been built
in brick.

Viaducts
 

On 26/06/2010 17:29, Bruce wrote:

US viaducts also post-date the introduction of steel. At the time
most British lines were built, metal girders would have been made of
wrought and cast iron and could not span nearly as far as the later
steel girders could.

Thanks.

Viaducts
 

On 6/27/2010 08:16, Graham Harrison wrote:

"Basil Jet" wrote in message
...
On 27/06/2010 12:15, Graham Harrison wrote:

"E27002" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 8:15 am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

================

Might it also be something to do with the very nature of the viaducts?
If you think about the "elevateds" in the US many of them were built
over roads and I'm not sure how practical it would have been to use
brick for that.

I think you've put the cart before the horse. It's not that London
viaducts utilise brick because they are not over roads - they don't have
roads beneath them because they utilise brick.

Take your point but I'm still not sure that the "Els" would have been built
in brick.

And I think that has the seeds for the answer.

"Viaducts" are often designed by engineers, who used to consider cost,
availability of materials, nature of problem, tectonics, geology, and
more that don't come to mind.

Lots of places have what amount to viaducts made of huge, long piles of
dirt (railroads, highways), naked steel (railroads, els [to minimize
airspace used]), reinforced concrete, concrete encased steel, bricks,
stone. At Center near Industrial it looks like they are widening the
railbed using steel-reinforced dirt.


--
Somebody should have said:
A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.

Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well armed lamb contesting
the vote.

Requiescas in pace o email
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Eppure si rinfresca

ICBM Targeting Information: http://tinyurl.com/4sqczs
http://tinyurl.com/7tp8ml

Viaducts
 

On 27 June, 14:06, Basil Jet wrote:
On 27/06/2010 12:15, Graham Harrison wrote:



"E27002" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 8:15 am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

================

Might it also be something to do with the very nature of the viaducts?
If you think about the "elevateds" in the US many of them were built
over roads and I'm not sure how practical it would have been to use
brick for that.

I think you've put the cart before the horse. It's not that London
viaducts utilise brick because they are not over roads - they don't have
roads beneath them because they utilise brick.

Plenty of narrow roads through the arches though, or where would they
film all the car chases in The Bill?

Viaducts
 

On 27/06/2010 20:09, MIG wrote:

Plenty of narrow roads through the arches though, or where would they
film all the car chases in The Bill?

Selsey?

Viaducts
 

In article ,
"Graham Harrison" wrote:

"E27002" wrote in message
...
On Jun 26, 8:15 am, Basil Jet wrote:
Why are American cities full of open girdered viaducts whereas British
cities are full of brick viaducts?

Availability of materials.

================

Might it also be something to do with the very nature of the viaducts? If
you think about the "elevateds" in the US many of them were built over roads
and I'm not sure how practical it would have been to use brick for that.



Also the era in which the lines were built.

Many of the open girded steel viaducts in the USA were built 1900s to
1920s, when mass produced steel beams and columns were fairly
commonplace. They also had to be painted to keep from rusting into
oblivion quite quickly.

My impression is that many of the British brick viaducts date from a
much earlier era.

In that same era, and indeed up until fairly recently in a number of
places in the USA, we would have used wooden bridges.

Today, it's all steel reinforced poured concrete, no matter where you go.

--
Please note this e-mail address is a pit of spam due to e-mail address
harvesters on Usenet. Response time to e-mail sent here is slow.

Viaducts
 

Basil Jet wrote:
On 27/06/2010 20:09, MIG wrote:

Plenty of narrow roads through the arches though, or where would they
film all the car chases in The Bill?

Selsey?

Watching repeats of "The Sweeney" I've seen at least one scene that was
obviously in St Albans, which has often impersonated other locations,
from "Softly Softly" to "Morse". As for "The Bill", it is shot in every
part of London and adjacent areas except for the East End, where the
script is set.

Viaducts
 

"Martin Edwards" wrote in message
news:Xv1Wn.69606$x15.42661@hurricane
Basil Jet wrote:
On 27/06/2010 20:09, MIG wrote:

Plenty of narrow roads through the arches though, or where would
they film all the car chases in The Bill?

Selsey?

Watching repeats of "The Sweeney" I've seen at least one scene that
was obviously in St Albans, which has often impersonated other
locations, from "Softly Softly" to "Morse". As for "The Bill", it is
shot in every part of London and adjacent areas except for the East
End, where the script is set.

Isn't the Bill largely fimed in the Wimbledon area, where the studio is?
You often see SWT trains, which don't quite fit the supposed East End
location.

Viaducts
 

On 28 June, 14:32, Martin Edwards wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:
On 27/06/2010 20:09, MIG wrote:

Plenty of narrow roads through the arches though, or where would they
film all the car chases in The Bill?

Selsey?

Watching repeats of "The Sweeney" I've seen at least one scene that was
obviously in St Albans, which has often impersonated other locations,
from "Softly Softly" to "Morse".

Are these all produced at Elstree Studios by any chance? St. Albans
would be quite conveniently close for location shots if it's got
somewhere that looks right,

As for "The Bill", it is shot in every
part of London and adjacent areas except for the East End, where the
script is set.

They quite often used to film in Croydon for that, but I haven't seen
any crews working recently. Quite a few other things have also been
filmed in Croydon, and it was also quite a major centre of film
production in the early years of the industry, pre-WW1.

Viaducts
 

Recliner wrote:
"Martin Edwards" wrote in message
news:Xv1Wn.69606$x15.42661@hurricane
Basil Jet wrote:
On 27/06/2010 20:09, MIG wrote:
Plenty of narrow roads through the arches though, or where would
they film all the car chases in The Bill?
Selsey?
Watching repeats of "The Sweeney" I've seen at least one scene that
was obviously in St Albans, which has often impersonated other
locations, from "Softly Softly" to "Morse". As for "The Bill", it is
shot in every part of London and adjacent areas except for the East
End, where the script is set.

Isn't the Bill largely fimed in the Wimbledon area, where the studio is?
You often see SWT trains, which don't quite fit the supposed East End
location.


Largely, yes, but you do see scenes shot elsewhere.