Bridges No.29 - Richmond Railway Bridge

Richmond Railway Bridge today carries trains on the South West Trains network out towards Reading and Windsor. It is on a stretch of track between Richmond and St Margaret's stations. The line from Richmond to Waterloo, via Clapham Junction opened in 1846, but the ambition has always been to run passenger services from Waterloo, direct to Royal Windsor. A year after the Richmond line opened, and Act was passed permitting the extension of the line to Windsor via Staines. The Windsor, Staines and South-Western Railway Company had the honour to go ahead and build the line.

To get to Staines and Windsor the bridge had to cross the river, and a new railway bridge was designed for this purpose by Joseph Locke. The bridge was constructed from cast iron and consisted of three 100 foot spans formed of six iron ribs bolted together. On the Richmond side of the river, a brick viaduct were built to carry the line across the sloping ground of the Old Deer Park.

The line opened in 1848 and Locke's bridge continued in service for 60 years. In 1891 a cast iron railway bridge at Norbury Junction, near Croydon, collapsed. The design was similar to Richmond Bridge and concerns arose regarding the safety of the bridge. By 1906 the railway company instructed the Horseley Bridge Company to replace Locke's bridge. The new bridge was designed by J.W. Jacomb-Hood, the chief engineer at the London & South Western Railway.

The bridge was complete in 1908 and is still in use today. Like other railway bridge, it is effectively more than one bridge, with each line being supported on a separate crossing. The only significant work on the bridge was in 1984 when the main girders and decking were replaced.