Bath Spa Railway Bridges
The railway through Bath Spa railway station is elevated, necessitating a variety of bridges and viaducts.
Immediately west of the station is a heavily-skewed lattice girder bridge (see Figs 1 - 5). The riveted girders replaced I. K. Brunel's attractive 1840s arched bridge, which was of unusual construction, between 1875 and 1878. Illustrations of the original bridge show what appears to be a typical cast iron double span arch bridge. However, contractural problems prevented an iron bridge being procured, so Brunel designed a structure predominantly made of wood, having two 80 ft spans with six arches each, laminated from five layers of 6" Memel (Baltic) timber, treated by Kyanising. The spandrels above the outermost arches were ornamental iron castings with a Gothic theme, but elsewhere timber supports were provided between the arches and the deck. The ends of the ribs sat in cast iron 'shoes', and the whole structure was provided with wrought iron ties, the largest being horizontal tie bars set a short distance above the ends of the arches. These were provided with vertical tie bars to minimise sagging.[1]. The central masonry pier appears to be the original, which supported the wooden arches. The cast iron columns were introduced in 1875-8 to support the wrought iron girders which replaced the wooden arches. The bridge was extensively altered in 1959, with the insertion of structural steelwork. The outer lattice girders are probably those installed in 1875-8.
The cast iron railings under the west bridge, shown in Fig 6, are probably the 1840 originals.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 'Brunel's Timber Bridges and Viaducts' by Brian Lewis, Ian Allan Publishing, 2007, pp.33-5