NO BRIDGE TOO FAR FOR DOWDING & MILLS
30 October, 2002

When British Waterways found a leaking hydraulics cylinder on the Wykewell Lifting Bridge in Thorne, near Doncaster, it called upon the specialist services of Dowding & Mills to carry out a complete overhaul and restoration of the bridge.

The canal bridge needed refurbishment work to its hydraulic cylinders and bridge nose shock absorbers. The two hydraulic cylinders measuring 150mm bore x 120mm rod x 2.5m stroke were completely stripped down and all parts went through non-destructive testing (N.D.T.). This investigation found that the clevis ends were cracked and needed renewing and that the pistons also required attention.

John Dixon, senior mechanical and electrical engineer for British Waterways, said: “I have worked with Dowding & Mills on other engineering projects and they have a good reputation within the industry. At tender they put in the lowest price and I trusted them to deliver a top quality job on time.”

Ian Barker, sales engineer for Dowding & Mills, explained: “We were delighted to be able to assist British Waterways with this job. It required specialist hydraulics skills that we were able to access through our national branch network.

“At Dowding & Mills we understand the importance of getting jobs like these completed as quickly as possible. We had permission to close the road for two weeks however we managed to get the bridge working and the road reopened four days ahead of schedule. A great result for everyone.”

Dowding & Mills offers a comprehensive round-the-clock hydraulics support service both on and off-site. On-site services include everything from routine contract maintenance to trouble-shooting and on-site repairs. A consultancy, design service is also available as well as project management for upgrade, overhaul and installation of hydraulic systems.