Stop & Examine

Oxford swing bridge revisited.

thanks to all the RAIL readers who wrote in offering more information on Peter Dace’s picture of the battered and bruised rails at Oxford station ( Stop & Examine, RAIL 837).

“Actually, these rails are on a rail swing bridge that took the railway over the Oxford Canal, and the line terminated at Oxford Rewley Road station (end of the LMS Cambridge- Oxford line),” writes Bob Driscoll.

“While Rewley Road passenger station closed as early as 1951 (with trains diverted to the GWR station), the goods yard continued at least up until the early 1970s.

“In 1969, a group of friends and I hired an ex-working narrowboat and took it from Rugby to London via the Grand Union Canal, then to Oxford via the River Thames, and then back to Rugby via the Oxford Canal.

“To access the Oxford Canal from the River Thames, the recommended route was to use a channel called ‘Duke’s Cut’, which was a few miles north of Oxford. There was an alternative channel further south and nearer the centre of Oxford, but this involved a railway swing bridge, which was always left open to rail and closed to the canal.”

Bob’s waterways guide advised that in the event of requiring the bridge to be opened for passage of a boat, a minimum of three weeks’ notice must be given to the Area Manager, British Rail, Oxford.

“This was too tempting, so the letter requesting the bridge to be opened was duly sent. When we arrived in Oxford, we moored up near the bridge and could see it was being used, as rail wagons were being shunted across it. We went to report to the Area Manager, whose clerk denied ever receiving our letter. He suggested we use the recommended route of the Duke’s Cut.

“However, we produced a carbon copy of the letter, together with our waterways guide. After lots of telephone calls it was agreed that BR would swing the bridge and we were told to be ready three hours later.

“The operation was very interesting - a number of rail staff, with a transport policeman, attended; the fish plates were removed, then after a real struggle the bridge began to swing. They told me later that they thought this was the first time the bridge had been swung in seven years!”

Tim Naylor, from Penzance, recalls a narrowboat trip he and some friends took in 1984.

“We had a look at swinging the bridge back across the canal when in Oxford, but said bridge had been chained up,” he writes.

“The rails over the bridge had up to the late 1970s and early 1980s served a coal yard, but must have been much more important in early days as it’s a double-track swing bridge. I understand the Bridge has been listed, hence the track remains in place.”

Mike Hanscomb, from Taunton, recalls that in 1975 he made a cine film of the old swing bridge over the Sheepwash Channel in operation, “complete with station staff hand- winding the bridge and a diesel shunter with wagons, plus an irate boat owner who arrived just as the bridge was being closed across the canal to enable shunting in and out of Rewley Road goods Yard (the bridge was normally left open for canal traffic)”.

Mike was “greatly saddened” to see the photo of the derelict tracks, but Noel Newson might be able to cheer him up. “These are no ordinary rails,” he confirms. “The photo is of the swing bridge that was installed to provide access to the former LNWR station (closed in 1951) and goods yard across a watercourse linking the Thames and Oxford Canal, which had to be opened periodically to allow boats to pass. It has been out of use for over 30 years.

“The good news is that although it will no longer serve any rail function and most of the adjoining rail land has been redeveloped, there are plans to restore it ( https:// www. oxfordpreservation. org. uk/ content / lmsswingbridge).”

Final ly, Humphrey Gi l lot t, from Berkhamsted, also sent us the accompanying photograph of the swing bridge rails, taken in April.