Unique swing railway bridge over the Thames saved after decades of neglect

An historic railway swing bridge in Oxford that was falling into disrepair after decades of neglect has been saved. The one hundred and seventy year old Rewley Road bridge in the heart of the city hasn’t been operational since the eighties, and had suffered extensive damage. But now, after a one million pound refurbishment, it works, and can take its place as an important part of Oxford’s industrial heritage.

[@ianhudson2193]

Remember riding over that bridge on the 08 and helping the shunting crew swing the bridge back in the very early 80s...

[@JanoJ]

Great Videos, but some inaccuracies (very important for a historical point of view) it was not built by the LMS (which was formed in 1923) but by the Buckinghamshire Railway (later incorporated into LNWR). Secondly it is NOT a crossing of the Thames, but the Sheepwash Channel, a manmade channel connecting to the thames, and as such a cannot be considered one of only two moveable crossings over the thames.

[@leplessis8179]

Accurate! I'm old enough to have walked across the bridge way back, before Rewley Road became a University!

[@GilmerJohn]

Well, that partly explains why it cost so much to restore it.

[@musoseven8218]

Well written👍✌️😊 - typical MSM misreporting AFAICT, they never get things right🙄🙄

[@532bluepeter1]

I have kayaked past this bridge several times and was very surprised to see work proceeding on it this summer. Given the level of corrosion that I thought I was witnessing in passing it is surprising to see how swiftly the restoration has been completed. Thank you very much for posting this. Oxford Model Railway Club built a superb model of Oxford Rewley Road railway station in the seventies which I believe may still be extant. This featured a working model of the swing bridge.

[@rachelcarre9468]

I have passed it many times on the train and it’s fantastic to see it restored to illustrate just how industrial the once was.

[@1chish]

This formed part of the approach into Rewley Road which was about 200 yards from Oxford station itself. It became a goods shed and sat in what became the car park. The trains ran parallel to the GWR line north out of Oxford on the Varsity Line from Cambridge, Bedford, Bletchley, Winslow, Bicester and through Wolvercote tunnel into Oxford. The line that is now East West Rail although it uses a different alignment where this bridge is located. Lovely to see my old home City preserving its industrial heritage. My Grandad drove steam engines out of Oxford for GWR so may or may not have taken trains across this bridge as it was another railway company until after WWII when it all became British Railways.

[@Gigidag77]

I remember seing this in a Geoff Marshall Video in utter neglect. Glad to see it preserved now.

[@lewis72]

Time for Geoff Marshall to visit it again !

[@ocsrc]

This is absolutely incredible

[@timbounds7190]

I remember seeing this bridge when I lived not too far from Oxford in the 1980s. Never thought I'd see it restored!

[@brickleyyard4966]

Looks cool but the 1m could have help struggling Heritage railway lines Like the reunification project Or canal infrastructure restoration

[@fredbloggs8816]

Seems a peculiar use of public funds unless it has a future re-use as you suggest - or is it Levelling up for Oxford?

[@brickleyyard4966]

@@fredbloggs8816 I get that it's good publicity for the town but it's a bit like in my home town thay spent 80k on a statue that was of a random person that had no historical relevance whilst it's looks nice and gives something to look at it's still 80k that could have gone to something that could have better helped people that needed the help and I see this as the same on the one hand it's not harmful or hurting anyone It's not exactly helpful either?

[@whitesapphire5865]

Take a look at Selby Swing Bridge, originally built to carry the ECML. It's still in service, but the ECML no longer runs through Selby. The bridge still carries traffic on the Hull and Manchester line.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@whitesapphire5865 . . . . or the Hull and Liverpool, or the Hull and Leeds, or Hull and Selby Railway . . .

[@nigelpearson6664]

I remember it in use circa 1967. A class 08 shutter working all day. I suspect hump shunting as it's called. If I remember another man had a braking pole. It looked impossible.

[@DC-yt2kf]

Great work.

[@Graeme_Lastname]

I'd imagined the Thames as being slightly larger than that.

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

I saw this in the '70s, and it looked derelict even then. Glad to see it has survived. It doesn't cross the Thames, though. Or even the Isis...

[@jaygatz4335]

After all that work and expense, it's a shame it can't be a functioning bridge.

[@JohnSmith-bx8zb]

There is one on the outside of Ulverstone in Cumbria, sadly I suspect that the Cumbrian one will continuing decaying. Even that it is Grade 2 and it is the only C 19 type ‘sliding bridge’ in the uk it is in a non working condition. The video about it is on the ‘Thomas Edward’ KZbin channel titled Lost Bridges of Ulverstone.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Sliding bridge at Bridgwater docks, but no longer working?

[@JohnSmith-bx8zb]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad is it a C 19?

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@JohnSmith-bx8zb I have no idea - why does it matter to you?

[@JohnSmith-bx8zb]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad these are rare industrial artefacts that need listing and recording. What’s been done with the bridge in the video is an example to others.

[@petermostyneccleston2884]

The original station that this bridge served, is where the Said Business School is now, but the building is at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, at Quainton.

[@aA-ye1cf]

My father for a while had repsonsibility to maintain the bridge when the line still served served a caol depot. He got annoyed one day when some idiot threw the operating handle in the canal. When responsibility passed to another sector its maintenance all but stopped

[@surreyscouse2873]

A million is a lot, but hey, we need to keep our diminishing heritage alive.

[@robnewman6101]

Wow. Interesting.

[@jimpikoulis6726]

Unique swingers Bridge

[@ronnyvonallmen6892]

Will the Bridge be placed back in Operation again?…Or is it simply a Static Display…

[@robertgardner4637]

Interesting but rather annoying that the video has been uploaded with just the left speaker sound......

[@andyw7875]

Classic broadcast technique, commentary and interviews on track 1 and clean effects on track 2 it means you keep the natural effects should you need to use the footage in the future with a different commentary or as a piece of clean pictures under a studio voice over. Would be played in mono from the studio to mix the tracks.

[@robertgardner4637]

@@andyw7875 Fair enough but it's rather annoying as a non techie viewer when you're just wanting to listening to it through headphones!

[@josephturner7569]

Walked past it often.

[@manchesterukabriefvideooftime]

I want it ❤️ ..

[@robinfryer479]

Ha Ha! I was cross that it was inferred that the LMS built it. There was NO LMS to be, for another 72 years, or so. But the mistake and scant focus on the actual bridge itself, jarred my nerves, and made me feel limp for hours. Particularly as the mediocre LMS morphed into the dreadful, re-badged version of itself, called BR. After which it was never run by railwaymen. Just politicians and civil servants. Who in turn closed down as much as possible, and built noisy, ugly motorways instead. To encourage people to buy and use motor vehicles, which can be heavily taxed, as well as the dwindling amount of fossil fuels we are obliged to use, to run them.

[@royfearn4345]

I take it you're a fan of the Great Way Round? Never mind, you'll get over it. Most of us do!

[@robinfryer479]

@@royfearn4345 Good Lord No! L&SWR! But, really all the pre-grouping Railway Companies. Nevil Shute Norway, despite being a socialist, firmly iterated, in effect, that the job of governments is only to legislate but not to run businesses. The Germans miserably failed to cripple GB during the war, through bombing railways, because, Pre-Beeching, Pre-“Nationalisation”, Pre-“Grouping” (quasi-nationalisation), there were so many paths that trains could and did get everywhere.

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

@@robinfryer479 Nevil Shute Norway, despite being an aircraft designer...

[@richardbradley1598]

A million pounds spent refurbishing a bridge to nowhere? And yet we have food banks.

[@lutomson3496]

we have a histoirc bridge to no where? why not run some rail lines, for that kind of money

[@map3384]

It was built by men and takes 4 men to turn it.

[@brian.7966]

it cost a million £ and there's I can`t afford to heat my home.. what a waste.

[@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt]

A million pounds!? You have got to be joking right? Meanwhile a homeless kid goes hungry tonight..