Great Western Coffee Shop

How many of these bridges can you identify?   

Please choose which you feel is the ONE most obscure and tell us about it.
Sample answer - "I can identify 8.   Number 17 is Tucking Mill Viaduct which has a public right of way across it"

1. It has 21 arches, stands 30 metres tall and featured in four ‘Harry Potter’ books.

2. Tolls were collected for foot and cycle traffic up to 2013 but this has been voluntary since 2017.

3. The largest viaduct in Britain to be constructed of concrete blocks and has created a single track crossing approximately 800 ft long and 120ft high.

4. It opened in 1874 for a single track; in 1879 its width was doubled for a second track.  It is a scheduled monument, and is one of only two surviving railway bridges in the United Kingdom that use wrought iron lattice piers to support wrought iron trusses.

5. The viaduct consists of 16 spans of wrought iron, lattice truss girders, carried on 15 wrought iron piers which are not fixed to the ground but are supported by brick and ashlar bases.

6. While it was being constructed, the innovative low-rise arches of the structure attracted considerable criticism and controversy surrounding their alleged lack of stability; as a result, the centring for the arches was left in place until its destruction during a heavy storm in late 1839, yet the arches stayed up.

7. It has been claimed that it was officially opened by Queen Victoria on 6 August 1850, but she was reportedly so frightened of its height that she refused to travel across it and left the train, using a horse-drawn carriage to travel the length of the bridge on the ground.

8. The current bridge dates from 1902–3 prior to the doubling of the track. In a typical year, it is opened 1,300 times.

9. The bridge was designed by the chief engineer of the London and North Western Railway. It opened on 2 March 1863. It carries two tracks and consists of five 120 foot lattice girder arches set on stone piers.

10. Electrified with the (750 V DC) third rail system and electric services commenced on 28 February 1926. Early electric services were worked by early Southern Railway 3-car Electric Multiple Unit trains often built from old SECR carriages.

11. The headroom is 10ft (3.1m) - not enough room for a coach, let alone a double-decker bus, but that doesn't stop drivers trying the impossible.  Now officially the country's most dangerous bridge, it was hit by over 130 vehicles in the 1990s alone.  A figure that includes one double-decker on 15 October, 1996 which Railtrack deliberately rammed into the structure at 40 mph to publicise the danger of this bridge in particular and low bridges in general.

12. Its unique design consists of two 455-foot lenticular iron trusses 100 feet above the water, with conventional plate-girder approach spans.

13. This extremely unusual type of plate girder bridge, which features very tall girders that have overhead bracing, forming a giant hollow tube of riveted iron. Several examples were built, however this is the only remaining example. It also was one of the first examples built.

14. It is still in use, being the oldest railway bridge in continuous use in the world. It is a Grade I listed building.

15. Carries a river across a railway line above a station, which was opened in December 1868.

I think I can identify six of them: 2, 3, 6, 12, 13 and 15.  In addition I think I've seen some of the others in the excellent TV series 'The architecture the railways built', but I don't remember their names.

As for a feature of an obscure one, if 15 is Sloane Square on the London Underground, I believe it is the only station on the 'surface' lines (as opposed to the deep tubes) that has an escalator for access to the platforms.  Not that I've ever used the station, though I've passed through it many times - and wondered to myself who would ever  go to Sloane-land - presumably the 'Sloanes', of which I'm not one, though I did meet one at work in the 1990s.

I can identify four of them (I think)

I think six is the bridge over The Thames at Maidenhead

I woke this morning (4 hours behind you - 07:00 as I write from the Bermuda Triangle) worried I had made the mechanism of this quiz too complex by having a double-barrelled question.    Proud of both respondents so far that they have understood me, and correctly identified Maidenhead and Sloan Square too.

Now time here on "Ventura" for the heavy work of choosing and eating breakfast.

Think I can get four or five, No3 is Calstock Viaduct built when the line was extended from Bere Alston to Calstock and on to link with the East Cornwall Mineral Railway which ran from the quarries in the Callington area to Calstock Quay, reaching the latter by an incline.
When the viaduct was built it had a wagon lift down to the quay to service the lines of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway at the quay.

Without doing an internet search I can identify five of them.

No 1 is Glenfinnan Viaduct.  It is the photo on my desktop and my wall.

No2 Barmouth bridge

People might already know the top of that incline. Even after many years disuse, it's still the most evocative of incline tops. Google Streetview has it well.

Mark

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.5048515,-4.2219709,3a,75y,151.91h,84.14t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sI32ERVqwSB4Bb3jfZ9t8eQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DI32ERVqwSB4Bb3jfZ9t8eQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D96.07306%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192 (https://www.google.com/maps/@50.5048515,-4.2219709,3a,75y,151.91h,84.14t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sI32ERVqwSB4Bb3jfZ9t8eQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DI32ERVqwSB4Bb3jfZ9t8eQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D96.07306%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192)

So we have ...

1 - Glenfinnan - BobM
2 - Barmouth - TonyN
3 - Calstock - bradshaw
6 - Maidenhead - Witham Bobby
15 - Sloane Square - PrestburyRoad

Anyone attending a concert or gig at Cadogan Hall

14 - Tanfield Arch?

(Sorry - amend to say to complete the required answer - before I read the answers above I think I knew were 1, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13 & 14. I think the Tanfield Arch is the most obscure simply because it receives remarkably little publicity for an important structure)

13 is the Conway Bridge in North Wales and the views of the nearby castle from it are terrible. The Menai Bridge was similar but longer, and taller and comprising more tubes, but that was burned down in 1970.

Or a play at the Royal Court.

I’ll name 11 if no one else does once restrictions are lifted. 

I think I can put a name to seven of them but may not all be correct.

I thought at first no. 4 was Bennerley Viaduct with the description and the mention of it being a scheduled monument, but I wasn't aware of it having originally being single track.

In fact, I think no. 5 is Bennerley Viaduct.

8. Reedham Swing Bridge.

I could name ten on the list.

I can name 9 I think.
No. 4 is Meldon Viaduct (a close cousin of 5. )

Actually NOT Tanfield Arch; an important structure, but the clue asks for continuous use and in the case of the arch, "The line was later diverted, and no longer uses the bridge".  The answer that I'm looking for is (!) even more obscure.

Open to all now to bridge the gaps - as many as you can -  :D

1 - Glenfinnan - BobM
2 - Barmouth - TonyN
3 - Calstock - bradshaw
4 - Meldon Viaduct - DR7835
5 - Bennerley Viaduct - Merthyr Imp
6 - Maidenhead - Witham Bobby
7
8 - Reedham Swing Bridge - JayMac
9
10
11
12
13 - Conway Bridge - Oxonhutch
14
15 - Sloane Square - PrestburyRoad

Without some research - AKA searching t'interweb - I doubt if I would have been able to identify more than 4 of them.

So I think 7 is Welwyn Viaduct, which is apparently also known as the Digswell Viaduct.

(And it is about time this section of the ECML was 4-tracked!)

Came across this view of Calstock Viaduct from this link
https://imagearchive.royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk/transport/railways/calstock-viaduct-cornwall-2nd-march-1908-12419298.html

Sloane Square may have had a bridge, but, more importantly, in my student days was notable for having a very acceptable bar on the clockwise platform.

11 is Whitehouse Bridge just to the east of Swindon Station.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/swwhi.jpg)

Has no one landed 12 as Saltash?

Mark

14: Skerne Bridge, Darlington?

Mark

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5336778,-1.5510578,3a,75.4y,20.59h,82.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srDF6YAv4U50tFogu9oCogw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DrDF6YAv4U50tFogu9oCogw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D252.62285%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

10: Ramsgate viaduct.

Mark

7: Digswell viaduct.

Answers coming thick and fast - and (as I write) the others all look correct. But Ramsgate was not electrified until 1961/2, and clue included 1926

Just 2 to go:


10. has me musing - it seems that there's nothing new in adding new motive power to existing stock;  I find myself thinking of 769s and D76 conversions.

And solutions to date:

1 - Glenfinnan - BobM
2 - Barmouth - TonyN
3 - Calstock - bradshaw
4 - Meldon Viaduct - DR7835
5 - Bennerley Viaduct - Merthyr Imp
6 - Maidenhead - Witham Bobby
7 - Digswell / Welyn Viaduct - Mark A
8 - Reedham Swing Bridge - JayMac
9
10
11 - Whitehouse Bridge just to the east of Swindon Station - BobM
12 - Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash - Mark A
13 - Conway Bridge - Oxonhutch
14 - Skerne Bridge, Darlington - Mark A
15 - Sloane Square - PrestburyRoad

No. 9: Battersea Railway Bridge. The LNWR connection had me musing over the Runcorn bridge until I realised it didn't have enough spans.

Aaaarrrgh. The London Bridge to Greenwich viaduct.

Mark

Or lots of others, for that matter. I suspect 10 is Catford Bridge. By name, perhaps ironically, as it's a station on an embankment, as opposed to Catford station which is a station on an embankment and also in part on a bridge.

You clearly share my perverse sense of humour - yes, Catford Bridge it is.   I tried to research what the bridge was there that the station is named after, and drew a blank.  Famous as one of the few stations where you could NOT buy a ticket to any other station, as they did not sell ticket to Catford.

Can I clear the last ball off the metaphorical snooker table - no 9  - Battersea Bridge (I had to look it up!)

There is a small bridge near to Catford Bridge station, where Stanstead Road crosses the River Ravensbourne, and the station is a little way out of the centre of Catford - hence perhaps the name to help people find it - at least it's close enough to Catford to not be called in GWR style as Catford Road.

Incidentally the Ravensbourne is emphatically not a major river, though it did cause enough flash flooding in the area in the 1970s to have considerable work done to improve its flow.

It certainly flooded badly in the early 1960s when our garden, close to one of its tributaries, was under 3 feet of water, which lapped around our back door. Clock House station, which was nearby, was also badly flooded.

"Catford Bridge, Lewisham" (also "near Sydenham") was a place name in use in the 1810s-40s, so before that railway was built. It was associated with Ravensbourne Park, which I guess was the big local estate but by then bits had been sold off for city gents to build big "country" houses . The other railway (through Catford) was built later still.

Catford didn't rate as a place in itself until later, so it was really named after the stations that were named after the bridge and the road that crossed it. There was a cluster of buildings around what's now Catford Broadway, but that was called Rushey Green.

As to whether the ford that was there before the bridge was named Catford on the same basis as Oxford ...  somehow I doubt it.

No 10 - Three Bridges

Yes, the Catford Bridge there gave its name to the station. A schooldays geography teacher of mine lived in Catford and would have caught the train every day from one or other of those two stations.

maps.nls.uk has a georeferenced map dating from before the railways there, it's thin on detail and doesn't name the bridge, but later maps do just that - and then the name transferred to the composite bridge across both the Ravensbourne and the railway line. You can pull the slider to reveal the present day landscape - and then display the map once more, scroll around to find the lines that were being built at the time, and discover that, disappointingly, the surveyors didn't extend themselves to make a record of odd loops of the Croydon Canal, some of its route having just been usurped by the then-new rail line.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.5&lat=51.44440&lon=-0.02512&layers=250&b=1

Mark

That map series was produced for the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers, to support their work, and subject to a lot of harassment from John Wyld (a mapmaker and MP) who objected to the cost of detailed mapping. Thus it does have heights, public roads, and watercourses, but not much else - not even buildings. The Croydon Canal was by then largely dismantled, so its remnants weren't included except up past new Cross where it was still intact.

This is all documented by NLS (https://maps.nls.uk/os/townplans-england/london-1056-info.html); I didn't find that page via their own links, though I guess it must be possible.

Wow, thanks for this, didn't find the background to that mapping on the maps site. Perhaps the canal at the time would have been a mixture of 'Obliterated' and 'Discarded'.

Mark

The bar at Sloane Square station is featured in Iris Murdoch's novel A Word Child (1975), along with a similar bar on the tube platform at Liverpool Street: both are regular haunts of the main character. I remember wanting to visit them, but they'd already closed by the time I read the novel. There's an article about the history of bars on the London Underground in My London (https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/london-underground-platform-bar-drink-21047256), including a photograph of the Sloane Square bar with the station cat.