Somerleyton Swing Bridge

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Somerleyton Swing Bridge
Somerleyton swing bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1506014.jpg
Coordinates 52°30′44.50″N1°38′48.75″E / 52.5123611°N 1.6468750°E / 52.5123611; 1.6468750
Carries Wherry railway line
Crosses River Waveney
Locale Somerleyton, Suffolk, England
Maintained by Network Rail [1] [2]
Characteristics
Design Swing bridge
Width54 feet (16.5 m) [2]
Clearance below 8.5 feet (2.59 m) [2]
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks 2
Track gauge 1,435 mm (56.5 in)
History
Inaugurated1905
ReplacesPrevious single-track bridge
Location
Somerleyton Swing Bridge

Somerleyton Swing Bridge is a railway swing bridge over the River Waveney on the Norfolk-Suffolk border.

It was built in 1905 to carry the double tracked Norwich to Lowestoft Line over the river, replacing a previous single tracked bridge. [3] It is 400 metres (1,300 ft) west of Somerleyton railway station and near to the Suffolk village of Somerleyton. It is one of only four remaining railway swing bridges crossing rivers in The Broads.[ citation needed ]

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Somerleyton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet, in the East Suffolk district, in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north-west of Lowestoft and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south-west of Great Yarmouth. The village is closely associated with Somerleyton Hall and was largely rebuilt as a model village in the 19th century at the direction of Samuel Morton Peto. The parish was combined with Herringfleet and Ashby to create the parish of "Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet" on 1 April 1987.

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Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet is a civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Lowestoft and the same distance south-west of Great Yarmouth and is in the East Suffolk district. The parish is made up of the villages of Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet and at the 2011 United Kingdom census had a population of 427.

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References

  1. "Swing bridge renewals". www.networkrail.co.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bridge heights and openings". www.broads-authority.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  3. "Somerleyton Swing Bridge". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 15 June 2015.