Bourne End Railway Bridge is a railway bridge carrying the Marlow Branch Line, and a footpath over the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

in Bourne End,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

, England. It crosses the Thames on the reach between Cookham Lock and Marlow Lock. The bridge was originally constructed in wood by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

as part of the

Wycombe Railway The Wycombe Railway was a British railway between and that connected with the Great Western Railway at both ends; there was one branch, to . History The Wycombe Railway Company was incorporated by an act of Parliament passed in 1846. The act ...

, opened in 1854 and operated in broad gauge until 1870. The narrow spans were unpopular with river traffic and the bridge was reconstructed in steel in 1895. A

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

ed out from the railway bridge was added in 1992, to take the

Thames Path The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996. The ...

across the river; this substitutes for the historical towpath crossing point at Spade Oak ferry, about 1 km upstream of the bridge. In 2013, the bridge was restored and repainted in green, and a large number of rivets which had rusted away were replaced. The restoration took nearly a year to complete, being finished in December. There was a plan to electrify the line, but due to cost overruns during electrifying the GWR main line, this has apparently been postponed indefinitely.

References

Railway bridges in Berkshire Railway bridges in Buckinghamshire Pedestrian bridges across the River Thames Bridges across the River Thames Bridges completed in 1895 Cookham {{UK-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References