Work at height innovator Planet Platforms has installed a 75-foot suspended Spandeck aerial walkway to provide easy access for maintenance of carriage roofs at Oxenhope. Maintaining and repairing carriage roofs can become a challenge if ladders and powered access towers are used. They have to be constantly repositioned, with ladders often not being the safest solution for this type of task and doing nothing to motivate volunteers that work on them.

Backed by generous funding by Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) Trust, the Oxenhope Carriage & Wagon workshop now has a 75-foot suspended aerial walkway. Designed and built by Planet Platforms, the access platform is at carriage gutter height, which provides safe and easy access to the entire side of the carriage roof. As the Spandeck walkway is suspended as opposed to ground level, this also allows work on the carriage sides and unrestricted freedom of movement for the KWVR Trust volunteers.

Project Manager Toby Pemberton of Planet tells us why this project was so challenging: "Overhead clearances and the architectural restrictions of the workshop wouldn't allow for an easy solution where we could position a walkway on either side of the carriage. The solution was a single walkway between two carriages, with shunting to the other side of the carriage when work on one side is finished."

Planet's solution also needed to consider the architecture of the roof and the workshop as both tracks enter the workshop straight but then begin to curve towards the east. Furthermore, the shed apex isn't central to the concrete apron between the tracks, with the apron narrowing by 9 inches over a carriage length. Planet Platforms' clever solution to overcome this was to construct a 'carrying' support that not only fitted the apex of the shed but also allowed for the walkway to be offset to match the space between tracks.

This challenge was taken to the next level as installation took place in the week of the big freeze. After initial installation of the aerial platform, a very careful shunt was performed to position carriages alongside to measure the exact adjustment of the vertical supports. This results in precise clearance between the walkway and a carriage, with the smallest distant measuring less than an inch.

Furthermore, access ladders at the ends of the walkways can be removed easily when bulky items have to be shipped down the workshop and safety railings protect workers if a carriage occupies just one track.

Spandeck is lightweight aluminium walkway, bridging and staging system in one versatile unit. It has a unique reversible design, which allows it to be used individually as a walkway or side by side as staging. Completely modular and available off the shelf as a prefabricated unit, the Spandeck walkway system provides a simple, cost-effective and safe solution for even the most bespoke access requirements.