Bridge Gone

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On my way to the Millennium Bridge you pass two Blackfriars bridges. In the top photo you can see, on the left, the modern Blackfriars rail bridge and on the right is the Blackfriars road bridge and between them are the red pillars of the original Blackfriars rail bridge, although at the time it was known as St Paul’s Bridge, after the rail station which in turn was renamed to Blackfriars in 1937, to avoid confusion with the St Paul’s Tube Station. Built in 1864 with room for four tracks. This proved insufficient and another bridge was built 20 years late. Joseph Cubitt designed both bridges. By 1985 it was decided that the original bridge was not strong enough to bear the weight of modern trains and the decking was removed. There are actually three pillars standing, in each row, but the ones closet to the newer bridge were incorporated into supporting new platforms alongside the tracks during modernisation work for Thameslink trains.