How many railway swing bridges are there?

WolvertonWorks · 4 Jul 2026

Please merge or close if this is already being discussed elsewhere.

BBC article about boaters being marooned as swing bridges which carry railway lines, and which are the responsibility of Network Rail, fail and this got me wondering how common these bridges which cross navigable waterways are.

Boaters say they are being left "marooned" in the Broads due to repeated problems with swing bridges breaking down. The river crossings at Reedham, Norfolk, and Somerleyton, Suffolk, are nearly 125 years old and both carry railway lines linking Norwich with Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Currently, Reedham crossing is out of action due to a mechanical failure, leaving larger boats stuck in the waterways, while Somerleyton frequently cannot operate in hot weather. Network Rail has apologised for the issues which have left boaters having to scrap holiday plans, and Broads firms say are harming the economy.

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Lucy1501 · 4 Jul 2026

There is additionally Banavie, Clachnaharry, Selby, and possibly Hull?

MadMac · 4 Jul 2026

Keadby Canal?

Magdalia · 4 Jul 2026

Trowse
Oulton Broad
Goole

cool110 · 4 Jul 2026

Preston if we include non-NR lines

John Webb · 4 Jul 2026

MadMac said:
Keadby Canal?

Strictly speaking it's a sliding bridge:
The sliding bridge at Keadby Junction

© Copyright John Slater and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
(Click on photo to go to the larger original on the Geograph website)
But this too has given boats problems in recent years, so in the context of this thread I think should be included! See This Thread for an occurrence in May this year.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jul 2026 ==

cool110 said:
Preston if we include non-NR lines

Boston, Lincs likewise.

marks87 · 4 Jul 2026

The Clachnaharry Swing Bridge just outside Inverness carries the Far North/Kyle lines across the Caledonian Canal.

eastwestdivide · 4 Jul 2026

Are you including lifting bridges as well as swing and sliding ones? The King George V Bridge, the big one over the Trent at Althorpe (near Keadby), used to lift, but is now fixed. It also carries the A18 road.

MadMac · 4 Jul 2026

marks87 said:
The Clachnaharry Swing Bridge just outside Inverness carries the Far North/Kyle lines across the Caledonian Canal.

I had heard that the “bridge box” there was now essentially switched out and only opened as an “as needed” basis. Anyone able to confirm?

DelW · 5 Jul 2026

eastwestdivide said:
Are you including lifting bridges as well as swing and sliding ones? The King George V Bridge, the big one over the Trent at Althorpe (near Keadby), used to lift, but is now fixed. It also carries the A18 road.

Kingsferry Bridge between Kent and the Isle of Sheppey carries road and rail over a navigable sea channel via a lifting span. It was the sole route on and off the island until 2006, when a high level road bridge was opened nearby.

On the other side of the country, Barmouth Bridge originally had a swinging section at its northern end, but it's been fixed for many years.

The Foghorn · 5 Jul 2026

The bridge over the Witham to gain access to Boston docks swings and also features a GN summersault signal.

LNW-GW Joint · 5 Jul 2026

DelW said:
On the other side of the country, Barmouth Bridge originally had a swinging section at its northern end, but it's been fixed for many years.

And also Hawarden Bridge over the River Dee at Shotton, whose central section swung.
The swing bridge section was last used in 1960 and is now fixed.
Built by the MS&L/GC and apparently had the largest swinging span in the country at 85m.

Hawarden Bridge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Buzby · 5 Jul 2026

MadMac said:
I had heard that the “bridge box” there was now essentially switched out

I was there a few months ago and can confirm it was manned with all bells audible. However the box didn’t control the bridge itself (remotely). There is a small control cabin (a metal box, really) which has the bridge controls and requires a NR staff member in hi-vis to remove a track linkage at each side before the swing occurs. Once complete the same process operates in reverse. The box may be just a bothy of course, but marine traffic use radio to request an opening but I’m not clear if it is the users or Scottish Canal staff that do this.

Rescars · 5 Jul 2026

Stephenson's Rewley Road Swing Bridge at Oxford is no longer in railway use, but is a listed structure and has been preserved.

class 9 · 5 Jul 2026

Lucy1501 said:
There is additionally Banavie, Clachnaharry, Selby, and possibly Hull?

Yes, On the Hull Docks branch over the river Hull, no longer opens to river traffic I believe.

chris53 · 5 Jul 2026

There are apparently around 2,400 movable bridges in the British Isles but how many of those are Railway ones I cannot find out

eastwestdivide · 5 Jul 2026

The site dedicated to movable bridges has a search facility, but not apparently by what goes over the bridge.

MovableBridges

As of March 2026 we had over 2,400 sites listed around the British Isles where there is or has in the past been a movable bridge. So far we have photographs on the website of 1,763 of those sites...

Lucy1501 · 5 Jul 2026

Buzby said:
I was there a few months ago and can confirm it was manned with all bells audible. However the box didn’t control the bridge itself (remotely). There is a small control cabin (a metal box, really) which has the bridge controls and requires a NR staff member in hi-vis to remove a track linkage at each side before the swing occurs. Once complete the same process operates in reverse. The box may be just a bothy of course, but marine traffic use radio to request an opening but I’m not clear if it is the users or Scottish Canal staff that do this.

The box is staffed most days with varying opening times depending on the season and the same person operates both the signalling and the bridge. It has an actual signalling function with its own signals and slots over Inverness SC's signals. One of the levers releases a key to unlock bolts either end of the bridge.

dk1 · 5 Jul 2026

Magdalia said:
Trowse
Oulton Broad
Goole

Trowse hasn’t effectively been a swingbridge since around 2020. Only Reedham, Somerleyton & Oulton Broad do the honours this way now.

Magdalia · 6 Jul 2026

dk1 said:
Trowse hasn’t effectively been a swingbridge since around 2020. Only Reedham, Somerleyton & Oulton Broad do the honours this way now.

Trowse is still shown in the Sectional Appendix, including the June 2026 version updated for Cambridge South.

When you say "effectively", do you mean that there's no longer any river traffic big enough to need it to open?

leezer3 · 6 Jul 2026

Essentially at the minute it can't be opened. There are mechanical issues which prevent this, along with new bridges further along which effectively make it poitless and there's a rumbling ongoing closure proposal.

https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/124010/Trowse_Rail_Bridge.pdf

Basically, everyone pretends it can't open. I've got no idea what'd happen if you turned up with an appropriately sized boat and demanded it open....

ikari2006 · 6 Jul 2026

According to Google AI, Network Rail owns and operates six active railway swing bridges that span over major navigable waterways across the UK.

Reedham Swing Bridge: Crosses the River Yare.
Somerleyton Swing Bridge: Carries the railway across the River Waveney.
Oulton Broad Swing Bridge: Carries the track across Oulton Broad/Lake Lothing.
Trowse Swing Bridge: Crosses the River Wensum near Norwich.

Goole Rail Bridge: Spans the River Ouse in East Riding of Yorkshire. It is one of the largest railway swing bridges in the country.
Keadby Rail Bridge: Crosses the River Trent in Lincolnshire. It operates as the country's only sliding bridge (a type of movable bridge).

Apparently bridges like Selby get excluded because they no longer regularly swing for river traffic.
It admits it did miss Banvie though so no gold star for AI afterall.

I wonder how the AI compares to this forum's knowledge.

Having worked on Keadby (NR) and Banavie (BEAR Scotland) among others, biggest issue was trying to explain to people that the bridges get stuck because when metal gets hot in the summer it expands so the bridges don't close unless with a hammer or the sensors go out of alignment meaning the signals wont change.

Harpo · 6 Jul 2026

Swing bridges always stuck out like a sore thumb on long term signalling control centre strategies - Unless a cunning plan has been devised for remote operation?

Buzby · 6 Jul 2026

Clearly AI has no interest in the Caledonian Canal where 2 exist - admits to missing Banavie but not Clachnaharry!

dk1 · 6 Jul 2026

Magdalia said:
Trowse is still shown in the Sectional Appendix, including the June 2026 version updated for Cambridge South.

When you say "effectively", do you mean that there's no longer any river traffic big enough to need it to open?

At one time Network Rail welded the rails each side and the bridge was unable to swing. It was deemed cheaper to pay fines to the river authority than the train operators. Then around 2019 it was swung for one last time along with raising Carrow Road bridge to allow the last of the larger vessels between it and Foundry fixed bridge to leave the Wensum. Since then it doesn’t perform any movements.

WestCountry · 6 Jul 2026

Selby still has a legal requirement to open, and so far as I know still works? There have been various plans to restart commercial traffic on the Ouse, sadly without success yet.

An 1834 rail-over-canal lift bridge, originally from Leicester, has recently been restored at the Mountsorrel museum. No canal under it in its new location sadly.

There are some moving bridges formerly shared between road and rail that still operate but no longer carry trains, e.g. Sutton Bridge.

How many railway swing bridges are there?

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