Railway Swing Bridge

As we set off from Oxford this morning we passed this relic of railway history. Built in 1851 by Robert Stephenson for his London and Northwestern Railway this Rewley Road Swing Bridge carried trains across the Sheepwash Channel (which connects the Oxford Canal to the River Thames). It weighs 85 tons and is 22 metres long; it took 4 men using crank handles about 5 minutes to open or close it. The last passenger services to use it were in 1951 and the last train ever to run over it was in 1984. In 1985 it was locked in open position and abandoned, but in 2002 efforts began to preserve it and by 2019 it could once again be opened and closed. It's looked after by the Oxford Preservation Trust.

After passing by and taking photos we continued with our 12 mile walk today as far as The Ferrymans Inn at Bablock Hythe. After all the recent rain the Thames was very high and overflowing in places, requiring care to pass the flooded parts - on one occasion in order to cross a large puddle in the middle of a field we had to take off our boots and socks and wade across!