Cannon Street Railway Bridge - London, UK
N 51° 30.447 W 000° 05.566
30U E 701746 N 5710265
This railway bridge connects Cannon Street station, on the north side of the River Thames, to the south side of the river.
Waymark Code: WMGYJ4
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/24/2013
Views: 11
Wikipedia tells us about the bridge:
"Cannon Street Railway Bridge is a
bridge in central London, crossing the River Thames. Downstream, the next bridge
is London Bridge, and upstream Southwark Bridge. It carries trains over the
river to Cannon Street station on the north bank. It was originally named
Alexandra Bridge after Alexandra of Denmark who was the wife of the future King
Edward VII.
The bridge was designed by John
Hawkshaw and John Wolfe-Barry for the South Eastern Railway. It was opened in
1866 after three years of construction. In its original form, it carried the
railway over the Thames on five spans standing on cast-iron Doric pillars. It
was subsequently widened between 1886–93 by Francis Brady and extensively
renovated between 1979–82, which resulted in many of its ornamental features
being removed and the structure taking on an even more utilitarian appearance
than before.
It was the scene of the Marchioness
disaster in 1989."
The Engineering
Timeline website further tells us:
"Cannon Street Railway
Bridge
River Thames, east of Southwark Bridge, London
Associated engineer:
Sir John Hawkshaw
Date: 1863 - 1866
Era: Victorian
| category Bridge | reference TQ324806
ICE
reference number HEW 2251
In 1861, the South Eastern Railway
Company was responsible for the trains running into London Bridge Station. They
wanted to extend their line across the Thames so that trains could reach the
City of London.
In that year, they obtained permission to do this, and set
about building Cannon Street Railway Bridge, which takes the line to Cannon
Street Station on the north bank. The bridge was designed by Sir John Hawkshaw,
then engineer to the South Eastern Railway. Construction began in
1863.
Each pier of the bridge consists of
four cast iron cylinders sunk through the river bed to the London Clay below.
Each is filled with concrete to the level of the bed and then lined with
brickwork above. The cylinders are shaped like Doric columns — all are fluted
and the outer ones have Doric capitals.
The spanning part of the bridge is
made of horizontal wrought iron plate girders, each 2.5m high. The two outer
girders have double web plates.
In 1886-93, the bridge was widened
by the addition of two further cylinders to each pier on the western side.
Further work was done in 1910-13, when the bridge was strengthened to carry
heavier class locomotives.
In the early 1980s, the bridge underwent major
strengthening work, which included pressure grouting to fill the voids between
the inner surface of the iron cylinders and the the brick lining, the addition
of reinforced concrete collars at the top of the cylinders, and the replacement
of the original wrought iron crossheads with reinforced concrete
beams."
The photographs for this submission
were taken from the South Bank riverside footpath. The co-ordinates are for a
point just to the west of the southern end of the bridge. Good views are also
possible from Southwark Bridge that is for vehicles and
pedestrians.