Staines Railway Bridge
Staines Railway Bridge crosses the River Thames between Penton Hook Lock and Bell Weir Lock.
The bridge, completed in 1856, was designed by John Gardner for the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Railway. It has three 87 ft wrought iron plate girder spans, supported on two groups of cast iron columns in the river.[1]
The contractors were Messrs Kennard of the Crumlin Viaduct Works.
The bridge was described by William Humber in 1861. See here for description, and here for illustrations. The top chords of the girders were of triangular cross section, with the apex at the bottom. The 'base' of the triangle was at the top, and was slightly convex. This was similar to the arrangement previously used by Isambard Kingdom Brunel on a number of the bridges.
At some point the bridge was strengthened, and the work included augmenting the top chords by superimposing inverted versions of the original top chords.
The bridge carries the South West Trains Waterloo to Reading Line and the London Waterloo to Weybridge service (via the Chertsey Branch) and lies between Staines and Egham stations.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [2] Wikipedia