Grosvenor Bridge

Grosvenor Bridge
Middlesex, Surrey
Grosvenor Bridge with Battersea Power Station behind
Location
Carrying:	Railway
Crossing:	River Thames
Location
Grid reference:	TQ28747781
Location:	51°29’5"N, 0°8’50"W
Structure
Length:	930 feet Main span: 175 feet
Design:	Arch bridge
History
Information

Grosvenor Bridge, originally known as, and alternatively called Victoria Railway Bridge, is a railway bridge over the River Thames, between Chelsea and Pimlico on the Middlesex bank and Battersea on the southern, Surrey bank. Immediately upstream stands Chelsea Bridge, while further downstream is Vauxhall Bridge. Originally built in 1860, and widened in 1865 and 1907, the bridge was extensively rebuilt and widened again in the 1960s as an array of ten parallel bridges.

History

The original bridge was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century in two stages: the first bridge was built by the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway between 1859 and 1860 at a cost of £84,000 to carry two tracks into Victoria Station; it was the first railway bridge across the Thames in central London. The engineer was Sir John Fowler.

The bridge was widened by four tracks on the eastern side for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway between 1865 and 1866, at a cost of £245,000. Sir Charles Fox was the engineer.

In 1907 the bridge was widened again with a further track, on the western side, for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.

The bridge was rebuilt in 1963–67: the foundations were extended; the original piers encased in concrete; and the spans replaced with ten steel spans and a tenth track added. To avoid disrupting traffic, the bridge was re-built with a separate span for each track. The designer for this work was Freeman Fox & Partners, and the project engineer was A. H. Cantrell, chief civil engineer of the Southern Region of British Rail.

It was said to be the busiest railway bridge in the world with 1000 trains crossing a day in 1968.

Location

On the north bank is Pimlico to the north and east and Chelsea to the west; the Lister Hospital and the Royal Chelsea Hospital lie immediately to the north-west. On the south bank is Nine Elms to the east and Battersea to the west. Battersea Power Station is immediately to the south of the bridge, and Battersea Park to the south west.

See also

• Crossings of the River Thames

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Grosvenor Bridge)

• Grosvenor Bridge - Southern E Group
• Grosvenor Bridge at Structurae
• Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide

References

Sources

• Wilson, W. (1868). "Description of the Victoria Bridge, on the Line of the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway. (Includes Plate and Appendix)". Minutes of the Proceedings 27 (1868): 55. doi:10.1680/imotp.1868.23117. https://archive.org/stream/minutesofproceed27inst#page/54/mode/2up. 
• Fox, C. D. (1868). "On the Widening of the Victoria Bridge and Approaches to the Victoria Station, and on New Railways at Battersea. (Includes Plates and Appendix)". Minutes of the Proceedings 27 (1868): 68. doi:10.1680/imotp.1868.23118. https://archive.org/stream/minutesofproceed27inst#page/68/mode/2up. 
• Kerensky, O. A.; Partridge, F. A. (1967). "The Reconstruction of the Grosvenor Railway Bridge. (over the River Thames)". ICE Proceedings 36 (4): 721. doi:10.1680/iicep.1967.8471. 
• Reconstruction of the Grosvenor Bridge - The Railway Magazine August 1963, pages 533–4, 542
• Railway Bridge Across the Thames - YouTube (British Railways Board), video of 1960s reconstruction
• Grolier. The Year Book 1968. p. 41.