Trackside at Ashburys

Image: © Gerald England Taken: 26 Sep 2009

In the distance is the City of Manchester stadium in Image I was asked if I knew what the contraption on the left was used for. I threw the question open on the Geograph Discussion Forum. It was suggested that it was possibly used by the travelling post office for dropping off mail bags and picking them up, but that was severely disputed. Martin Addison http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/4942 had a feeling that it was a surviving piece of catenary from the original 1500v dc electrification of the 1950s. The attachments in the top left corner carried the support wires, similar fittings on the catenary were seen on the Woodhead line. http://www.derbysulzers.com/woodhead.html Nigel Cox http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/2798 suggested that it was more likely to be a gantry that used to hold a height restriction cradle to warn goods train operators with open freight of an overhead restriction ahead, but on reflection agreed with Martin's suggestion, having thought the electricity cables on the gantry were far too over-engineered for what he'd suggested. Andy F http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/32299 also agreed that the gantry is part of the ex-GC lines Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electrification scheme. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester-Sheffield-Wath_electric_railway

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