ABSTRACT
Three engines, 200 tons of coal and 30 to 40 packed railway carriages passed through saluted by a wild burst of 'Rule, Britannia' from an array of Liverpool seamen on the towers, and so to Holyhead at the rate of 35 miles an hour. For economy, railway tracks needed to be as near to ground level as possible and low gradients were essential, especially on the early railways. To give the required clearances, which had to be maintained over the full span, bridges with minimum structural depth were needed. About thirty bridges were built in iron on the London & Birmingham Railway, little more than one-tenth of the total number of crossings, the rest being masonry arches. There was a pronounced emphasis on appearance in the design of these structures, something that was lost in later iron railway bridges. This was especially noticeable on those in prominent positions.
