Geograph - photograph every grid square

The odd-looking bridge was in fact the middle span of a 3-span viaduct that carried the GWR's Limpley Stoke to Camerton branch. The 2 outer spans were steel plate girders that had been removed in June 1960. The missing 24ft span to the right was over the B3110 to Upper Twinhoe, that to the left was longer at 51ft & crossed the Cam Brook. Passenger traffic had ceased as long ago as 1925 but goods traffic, mainly serving the collieries of the Cam valley, lasted until February 1951. The branch is famous for its 'starring role' in 2 films: 'The Ghost Train' of 1931, & most famously 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' of 1952.

The viaduct dominating the scene is that of the Somerset & Dorset Railway. The missing signal arm on the bracket signal-post can only mean one thing - it too had closed, about 3 months previously. A few months previously I recorded the view looking along the viaduct & showing the complete signal: ST7660 : Midford Station & viaduct. For a broadside view of the viaduct with the Camerton branch's embankment beneath it see ST7660 : Midford Viaduct - a broadside view from the east.