IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
McConnell Drive, MILTON KEYNES, MK12 5RJ

Taken from Stratford Road

Grade II* listed. Listing number 1246107. Railway Bridge. Built in 1834-5 for the London and Birmingham Railway, Chief Engineer, Robert Stephenson, widened probably in 1889 by the London and North Western Railway. Cast iron beams with brick and stone abutments. Sixteen cast-iron I-beams carry the track and these are supported on red and blue engineering brick abutments with a stone bearing. One girder is marked in relief lettering, BUTTERLEY (Butterley Iron Company of Derby). All the principal beams have a consistent concave-shaped bracing to the web, double bracing on some and single to others. One beam is faced with moulded timber infill panels that appear to be contemporary with the structure. This was the original eastern face girder. There are now two later face girders on this side. These are wrought iron or steel riveted girders; the bridge was probably widened here in 1889 to ease access to the new Lifting Shop (see Royal Train Shed). The bridge was built in two sections, each of eight beams width and with a space between in the centre. This space was filled by steelwork in the C20 and it is this part of the structure that carries the single railway line that crosses the bridge to give access to the works. The decking is mostly in the original cast iron plates. The bridge parapets consist of C20 timber boarding and steel railings, the original balustrades having been lost with the widening.

Beyond is the railway bridge for the track going into Wolverton works.

Carrying a railway line into Wolverton Works.

This apparently unremarkable bridge is actually of great historical importance. It was built in 1834 to 1835 by the London and Birmingham Railway to the designs of its Chief Engineer, Robert Stephenson, to take the new railway over the Grand Union Canal in Wolverton. As originally constructed the bridge had 16 cast iron beams, although the bridge was subsequently widened using more modern materials. In 1882 the main London and Birmingham railway was realigned along a new route some 150 metres away to the east, and the bridge was not used for passenger traffic again. Some of these cast iron beam bridges failed after the passage of time and most were eventually replaced. Because it was not used for passenger traffic this one survived and, it is thought, is the largest surviving one in the country. The bridge still carries a single track railway over the canal but this is supported independently by its own steel structure. The original bridge is a Grade II* Listed Structure.

Bridge Number 70 carries the trackwork into the Wolverton railway works. It post-dates the construction of the canal and must have therefore acquired its number when the original Bridge Number 70 was demolished. Please see Image

I believe this to be a new Bridge 70, as the railways came along after the canals, thus railway bridges are lettered (e.g. 70A, 71A) along the Grand Union Canal. There is also a site further to the west from here which seems to indicate the original site of Bridge 70, as seen here http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2712602

Looking West from Bates footbridge