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Trowse Bridge

Bridges completed in 1845Buildings and structures in NorwichEngvarB from June 2017Railway bridges in NorfolkSwing bridges in England
Trowse Bridge
Trowse Bridge

Trowse Bridge is a single-track railway bridge which carries the Great Eastern Main Line over the River Wensum just outside Norwich in England at grid reference TG245076. The bridge was originally built in 1845 by George Parker Bidder, was rebuilt in 1905 and again in 1987. Like many swing bridges, the structure first lifts on hydraulic jacks before swinging open to allow the passage of water traffic. The bridge has frequently caused problems with navigation on the river due to its unreliability, leaving it unable to open.It is notable for being the only swing bridge in the United Kingdom to carry an overhead electrified railway track (25 kV 50 Hz). Other examples can be found along the Northeast Corridor in the United States; see for instance Portal Bridge, and the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul. The power supply to trains is provided by an overhead conductor rail instead of a wire, and there are short lengths of overhead conductor rail either side of the bridge on the fixed approaches. There is a 40 mph (64 km/h) speed limit over the bridge in both directions as trains are about to arrive at, or have just departed from, Norwich Station. The bridge is also the home of Trowse Signal Box, which controls most of the Bittern Line from Whitlingham Junction to Sheringham. The line was resignalled in 2000, leading to the closure of a number of mechanical signal boxes with control moving to Trowse. The resignalling saw the end of one of the few remaining sections of single track main line controlled by tokens.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Trowse Bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Trowse Bridge
Hardy Road, Norwich Thorpe Hamlet

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Wikipedia: Trowse BridgeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.61998 ° E 1.31571 °
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Trowse Swing Bridge

Hardy Road
NR1 1GP Norwich, Thorpe Hamlet
England, United Kingdom
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Trowse Bridge
Trowse Bridge
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Trowse railway station
Trowse railway station

Trowse was a station on the Great Eastern Main Line just south of Norwich. It was opened around the same time as Norwich Thorpe, and was intended to provide a short commute from the outer suburbs of Norwich. The bill for the Norwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) received Royal Assent on 10 May 1844. Work started on the line in 1844 and the line and its stations were opened on 30 July 1845. Trowse station opened with the line and was situated west of Hethersett station. The line temporarily terminated at Trowse. The link into Norwich was delayed due to the need to build a bridge over the River Wensum that kept the river navigable. One month before the N&BR opened a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway with the N&BR came into effect and so Trowse station became a Norfolk Railway asset. On 15 December 1845 a swing bridge over the River Wensum was opened so Trowse ceased to be a terminus and the line from Brandon entered Norwich Station five months after the original line had opened. The Norfolk Railway also opened a line from Trowse towards Yarmouth so freight trains could avoid Norwich Station.Trowse closed and re-opened several times before closing permanently in 1939. It was briefly re-opened in March 1986 when Norwich was closed for electrification works and it served as the line's northern terminus. It closed again when the works finished.It is still largely in place, and could be re-opened should it ever be desired. Its close proximity to Norwich station makes this unlikely at present, though discussions regarding a possible re-opening have taken place.