The Wolverton Works canal bridge, or Bridge no. 171C, is a bridge over the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

Wolverton Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and G ...

, Milton Keynes in south-eastern England. It carries a spur from the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

into

Wolverton Works Wolverton railway works, known locally as Wolverton Works or just The Works, was established in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, by the London and Birmingham Railway Company in 1838 at the midpoint of the route from London to Birmingham. The line w ...

. It was built in 1834–1835 for the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

under the supervision of

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father ...

and has been little modified since. It is a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Background

, opened in 1838, was built by the

as its main locomotive maintenance depot.

, now part of Milton Keynes, was chosen because it was the approximate half-way point of the line.

Design

The bridge carries the tracks across the

. It consists of 16 cast-iron

I-beam An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian and German), is a beam with an or -shape ...

s supporting the track, with a stone bearing. The

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s are in a combination of red and blue brick. One of the girders contains the manufacturers' mark "Butterley" in relief, referencing the

Butterley Company The Butterley Company was an English manufacturing firm founded as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. Its subsidiaries existed until 2009. Origins This area of Derbyshire had been known for its outcrops of iron ore which had been exploited at ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. The original girders are all cross braced; one, probably the original eastern face, is decorated with moulded timber. When the bridge was widened, steel or wrought iron girders were added on the eastern side. The deck was built from cast iron plates, most of which survive. As built, the bridge had two sections, each eight beams wide, with a gap between them, but the gap was later filled with steelwork. The original balustrades were replaced in the 20th century with timber parapets and steel railings.

History

The bridge, designed by

, opened in 1838 when the LBR began running train services. The section of line carried by the bridge was originally four tracks wide and part of the LBR's main line. The main line (now known as the

) originally passed through Wolverton works but in 1882, a new section of line was built to allow trains to bypass the works. Thereafter, traffic over the bridge reduced and it ceased to carry passenger services, possibly explaining why it was never replaced. The bridge was widened in 1889, by which time the LBR had been amalgamated into the London and North Western Railway, using

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

instead of cast iron. Following several failures, many cast-iron beam bridges were replaced and Wolverton's is now a rare survivor, and possibly the only such bridge of its size remaining. The bridge now carries a single track, which is supported on the steel plate across the centre of the structure which was added in the 20th century. Although modified and widened the bridge is still substantially the same structure as when it was built. The bridge, along with the adjacent reading room building, is the oldest intact part of the works. It is a grade II*

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed railway bridges and viaducts Bridges in Buckinghamshire Grade II* listed buildings in Buckinghamshire Bridges completed in 1838 Wolverton Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes

Background

Design

History

See also

References