Old railway bridge near Thwaite Mills??

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Mon 03 Dec, 2007 1:59 pm

The pivot:

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Mon 03 Dec, 2007 2:00 pm

Another view:

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Mon 03 Dec, 2007 2:01 pm

View from the other side of the bridge, the end of the railway line where the stops are is at the right hand side of the pic:

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Mon 03 Dec, 2007 2:06 pm

I tried really hard to get a shot of the distance between the pivot and the remaining upright part of the bridge from the pic above, but I couldn't get a decent shot from the right elevation, so you can just make out the upright through the branches on the right. To my eye the distance between that and the pivot looks hugely different to the b&w pics posted earlier in the thread. Trick of the camera??

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Mon 03 Dec, 2007 2:08 pm

Now, on the old b&w pic, the pivot looks to be sat in the water, but on my pics it is clearly on dry land. Still very confused!

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Mon 03 Dec, 2007 2:16 pm

To me, the pic above looks to be on the opposite side to this:and that where the large section of the bridge is coupled to is where the uprights are of which one still remains.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 05 Dec, 2007 1:30 am

Hi blue smoke. Have you thought that the B&W pic is the 1900 picture of the structure been built or the canal was either drained or was under alteration? You can see how the retaining wall of the canal has been built around the stone pivot on one of your pictures. I know the course of the canal has changed down that way over the years. Don't forget there were 2 other stone supports, One at least on the middle dry land section as well. These have all been demolished so the swing bridge span wasn't as long as you think.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 05 Dec, 2007 1:34 am

Dave at 'West Yorkshire lost rails' website has a few pictures of the old swing bridge contributed here. They look very different to today as well, but it's the same structure.http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co ... %20gds.htm

BIG N · Post by **BIG N** » Thu 06 Dec, 2007 10:33 pm

Blue Smoke - if you look at the fifth picture you have posted you can see the abutment of the embankment as the line comes down from Neville hill to where the buffer stops are now.Beyond that is a pillar standing in the middle of the river, now on the black and white photo you can see both these items plus a second pillar that is much thicker than the one standing in the river and was, if I remember correctly (not been down there for a long time) built on the bank between the river and the canal footpath.This thicker pillar is the point where the bridge would have swung back to and in the black and white photo the canal runs to the right of the two pillars but does indeed appear to be drained at this time, perhaps this is due to construction of the bridge as this appears to be an official type of photo, maybe taken at the end of construction.The river runs either side of the two pillars on the left of the photo.

jf · Post by jf » Sat 08 Dec, 2007 6:26 pm

The river/canal has changed course several times in that area, I've some old maps at work showing different alignments. I wonder if they realigned it at the same time as the bridge was built?