Tuesday 1 May 2012

The wacky world of Elfin Safety

16st 3lb, 4.6 units. Puffing up Dean Street after a most agreeable lunch with a friend at the excellent Broad Chare pub, I was finally moved to take a snap of what has long struck me as one of the more fantastic flights of Elfin Safety lunacy: the apparently obligatory “What to do if you see a vehicle strike this bridge” notice screwed to the side of the bridge that carries the East Coast Main Line over the valley of the former Lort Burn.


For those unfamiliar with Newcastle upon Tyne, I append the following picture of the Dean Street Railway Arch, originally constructed in 1849 and, I find to my disappointment, only listed as Grade II by English Heritage, the same category as my own humble house. (I have been misinforming visitors for years that the Arch is listed Grade I, but now find that this honour is reserved for Robert Stephenson’s adjoining High Level Bridge, of the same vintage.)


As you can judge from the single decker bus helpfully included in the photograph for scale purposes, it will require a vehicle of some spectacular scale to strike the bridge before it will imperil any passengers on the railway line above. A starship, perhaps.

But, hey, in the wacky world of Elfin Safety you can never be too careful, can you?

3 comments:

Ian said...

Looking to see if the Broad Chare would offer me decent hospitality on my next visit to Newcastle, I visited their web site and noticed that one of the brews on sale was 'The Writer's Block'. Does it provide it or undo it? And did you try it yourself?

Ian

Keith Hann said...

I enjoyed two pints of Writer's Block with my lunch at the Broad Chare that day, and would have enjoyed several more if I had not had to drive almost 40 miles back home later in the afternoon. I think that any adverse impact on the writer's output can only be of a very short term nature. I can testify that it is a very fine ale and the perfect complement to their excellent food - and, no, I don't have any connection to the place other than being an occasional customer.

Ponteland Historian said...

The design of the Dene Street arch is also credited to Robert Stephenson