Children witnessed the disused railway bridge begin to collapse 'like a deck of cards'
It was a complete shock to hundreds of residents when a hulking bridge looming above their street came crashing down in a cloud of dust and rubble.
It was reported in the Rochdale Observer, that three teenagers witnessed the terrifying moment things went disastrously wrong. Brothers Ralph and Alec Crossley, aged 16 and 14, were with their 13-year old sister Marie on top of the disused viaduct watching workmen demolish the first arch. The call had come over emergency services radios that the test explosion had gone awry, and disaster was imminent during the evening rush-hour. A section of the tumbling viaduct stretched across a busy residential street near Rochdale town centre.
With help from members the public, PC Reader was able to clear the archway and prevent pedestrians from passing under the tottering arch, which fell two minutes after he had ran underneath. The Rochdale Observer reported a few days later that people living in the area thought an earthquake was happening when the arches came crashing to the ground. Alice Earnshaw, 66, and her granddaughter Lesley, 17, were both at home on Entwisle Road when it happened.
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