Conwy Railway Bridge

The Conwy Railway Bridge carries the North Wales coast railway line across the River Conwy between Llandudno Junction and Conwy town. It is a wrought-iron tubular bridge built in the 19th century and now Grade I listed. The bridge was designed by Robert Stephenson with William Fairbairn and Eaton Hodgkinson. It is the last surviving example of Stephenson’s tubular design after the Britannia Bridge was rebuilt. The bridge stands beside Thomas Telford’s 1826 suspension bridge and Conwy Castle. The bridge was built to carry trains across the Conwy, replacing an earlier plan for a suspension bridge. Stephenson invented the box-girder tube to provide the stiffness needed for rail traffic. Construction began in May 1846 and the bridge opened in 1849 after tests by Fairbairn. In 1899 the tubes were reinforced with cast-iron columns to support heavier trains. The bridge is now protected as a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument. Visitors see the bridge’s two decorated towers at either end of the river. The architect Francis Thompson designed the pylons to resemble castle defences with turrets and arrow slits. The iron tubes, each 129.2 metres long, were built on shore and floated into place by pontoons. The bridge carries trains between Llandudno Junction and Conwy town. It stands beside Conwy Castle, a 13th-century fortress on the promontory.