A303 Bridge with the 90 degree bend at Wylye

[Robbie George]

^ This seems to be the link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61521912@N ... 623325218/

Looks like some good stuff in there...

Pleased you like them ..I can remember most when they were in use especially Wylye and the A36 Thanks for looking..

[A303 is a Road]

Does anyone remember that infamous bridge with the 90 degree bend at Wylye.

You went up a ramp and turned 90 degrees at the top to cross the railway. It was a monumental bottleneck - not least the summer Friday evening my father broke down on the corner travelling westbound

Does anyone know if there are any photos of it anywhere, aerial or ground level

Also anyone know when it was demolished and all the stones piled up on the old A303 on the westbound side of the bridge. (it was several years after the bypass opened)

When was that then. I have been going down the A303 since 1978 as a 9 year old when my grandparents moved to Chard. Have always known the Wyle section as dual carriageway. You are given your years away there.

Apparently, the single carriageway section was there before 1975. The bridge was apparently demolished in 1976.

[A303 is a Road]

Does anyone remember that infamous bridge with the 90 degree bend at Wylye.

You went up a ramp and turned 90 degrees at the top to cross the railway. It was a monumental bottleneck - not least the summer Friday evening my father broke down on the corner travelling westbound

Does anyone know if there are any photos of it anywhere, aerial or ground level

Also anyone know when it was demolished and all the stones piled up on the old A303 on the westbound side of the bridge. (it was several years after the bypass opened)

The old bridge is seen in a railway book called Salisbury to Westbury...Middleton press Also the bridge was gated when first closed in the summer of 75 and demolished in 1976 i can remember the bridge and the long slow clime up the A303 I have lots of photos of the old route as it is today on Flicker..

Watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFKny-lZDD4

[Berk]

Thanks, but the video only shows the old road stubs as they are today. Does anyone have any pics of the old bridge when it was still there??

[SteveA30]

Pity there are no captions, although I recognised some locations. Wiltshire archive does have many packets of improvement photos of A303 and A4 amongst others.

[A303 is a Road]

Wow. Seriously, wow. Roads in Britain in before motorways were at such a low standard that you might as well complain to the Government about how all of the roads in England were rubbish. Bend after bend, hill after hill, you would probably be moaning in the driver's seat about how LONG this journey is. Thankfully, we now have motorways and expressways and often, those sections of poor-quality road have been bypassed!

[Berk]

Wow. Seriously, wow. Roads in Britain in before motorways were at such a low standard that you might as well complain to the Government about how all of the roads in England were rubbish. Bend after bend, hill after hill, you would probably be moaning in the driver's seat about how LONG this journey is. Thankfully, we now have motorways and expressways and often, those sections of poor-quality road have been bypassed!

People wouldn’t likely have complained - because that was what they were used to back then. Except at the very worst bits - in the 60s and 70s, trips to the West Country took around 12-13 hours, because of the volumes of traffic, and the poor quality of the roads trying to cope with them. We’ve easily halved that now.

[A303 is a Road]

I read somewhere that travelling from east to west in the summer holidays would take a few days. They would sleep in the cars and be greeted by policemen in the morning.

[WHBM]

I read somewhere that travelling from east to west in the summer holidays would take a few days. They would sleep in the cars and be greeted by policemen in the morning.

Bit of an exaggeration but certainly one night, over Friday night westbound.

The National Express predecessor, Royal Blue, used to have a series of departures though the 1960s from London Victoria coach station at 10pm on summer Friday nights to the West Country, which I have written about here previously. They didn't have enough of their own vehicles so used to hire from our local Somerset coach hirer, Hutchings & Cornelius (H&C, alias the "Hot & Cold buses") in South Petherton.

They used to set off empty, a couple of coaches together, from South Petherton (near Ilminster) via the A303 to London Victoria at about 4pm. Hopefully there by 9.30pm. Cup of tea, load up, off at 10pm, they would hopefully turn off the A303 the mile or so to South Petherton at about 4am, after some 12 hours driving (no driver hours restrictions then). Change drivers, refuel (with sleeping passengers on board), new man took them on to Newquay, hopefully there by 10am. Immediate turn round, load up with return passengers, back at South Petherton by 4pm on a Saturday. This one was the challenge. Change drivers again, on to Victoria, hopefully getting there in time for the last Underground for people to get home. Back through the night empty to Somerset. It's 250 miles London to Newquay, so average 21mph, including stops.

No toilets on their coachs. No mobile phones. They stopped at a cafe each way about 2 hours before South Petherton to phone the office and let them know how they were doing.

[doebag]

My father used to keep notebooks of vehicle servicing, fuel bought, holiday timings
The only one I still have is from 1975. We travelled from London E18 postcode to Helston in Cornwall with an on the road time of just under 7 hours.
Now, Google maps gives for the same route, 5 hours 40 minutes.
In the earlier years we would have left London a lot earlier, and in later years when I had left home, he took great delight in telling me how he had bettered the previous year's time.

[DavidB]

I read somewhere that travelling from east to west in the summer holidays would take a few days. They would sleep in the cars and be greeted by policemen in the morning.

I can remember travelling from Reading to Dawlish for a family holiday in 1967. My Dad was concerned about traffic on the Exeter bypass so we left home in the evening and he stopped the car somewhere to get a few hours sleep before reaching Exeter in the early morning to avoid the queues. All I can remember is falling asleep while the car was moving and then waking up to find my Dad driving through Exeter city centre. I don't know where he stopped to sleep but I can definitely remember coming back in the daytime along the A303 so I assume he took the same road on the outward journey.

[Fenlander]

I read somewhere that travelling from east to west in the summer holidays would take a few days. They would sleep in the cars and be greeted by policemen in the morning.

In the 80s dad used to drive overnight Friday night from south Lincs to Cornwall for our family holiday, we'd load the car up early evening and set off midnight-ish, me & my sister asleep in the back and mum asleep in the front. Dad would drive all the way with only fuel stops (mum wasn't a driver in those days), when we arrived dad would get a few hours sleep while mum entertained us that first day before we could check in to our accommodation. Looking back I don't know how did it and still had the energy for the holiday.

[SteveA30]

We left Fleet at dawn on Saturday and always went through Exeter city centre via a new inner ring road, in the late 60's. Arriving at Launceston about tea time, this was an anti-climax for me, the journey was the holiday, although a slice of saffron cake with clotted cream on arrival helped.
The Wylye bend was identical in layout to the old A38 bridge near Cullompton, which gives a good idea of how it was. here in a recent M5 diversion.

July 1968 was after severe storms caused flooding at Fenny Bridges on the A30, making the A38 even worse than usual.

[A303 is a Road]

Where is this location on Google Maps?

[SteveA30]

B3181 south of Cullompton, next to M5.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.83765 ... bfov%3D100

Not quite a right angle so, easier than the old A303 but, still narrow enough.

[Berk]

More than narrow enough - although the footpaths seem to make it worse; have they always been there??

[SteveA30]

No footpaths on the railway bridge, only the M5 bridge, which would date from 1969, as the A38 Cullompton bypass. Unusual, as the A38 bypassed itself then disappeared completely.

[Berk]

I was just thinking about this earlier. For example, if folks had wanted to avoid the queues in those days, but not set off mega-early, just kept on driving, was there another route they could’ve taken??

And I came to the conclusion that, maybe there is - but only up to Exeter. Beyond there, you’re stuck (you have to stick with the A30, or A38).

If you were coming from the Midlands, you could go as far as Cirencester, and Bath, then across to Midsomer Norton/Shepton Mallet, run on down the A37 a bit to Podimore.

But then you start to run out of options - unless you want to drive miles and miles out of your way. You could’ve ploughed on to Yeovil, but you’d still have had to move over to Crewkerne, Chard or Blackdown in order to get to Honiton. And on the other side, not much point ploughing on to Torbay, unless you were also staying there.

So there really was nothing for it, except the build the M5 and A30 bypasses.

Coincidentally, the other day I noticed Cornwall Council are launching a feasibility study for a business case as to whether the A38 in Cornwall should be improved, as it (still) is a strategic route to the south and east of the county.

If you can build a new route from Bodmin to Liskeard, and a bit more to Saltash, it’d be job done, really.

[SteveA30]

Advice from 1962 and 1971 below. Not much difference in nearly 10 years. Heading west from Bridgwater on A39 was one option for A38 drivers. Tiverton and Crediton as well. A4 drivers usually took A361 down to Taunton.

......good views over the Mendips, is the end of the sentence.

[Berk]

Ah yes. If I no longer worked, I’d probably enjoy taking a spin down the old holiday routes.