Footbridge,West of Rayners Lane.

[mandgc]

For many years an overbridge was situated West of the Buffer stops of the Reversing Siding at Rayners Lane and before Cannons Lane overbridge. It appeared to be disused and did not seem to have any apparent access from the street.
I see now from a recent Street Plan it is shown as 'FB' connecting Village Way and Torbay Road. How long has this been a Footbridge and what access has been provided for pedestrians?

[Deleted]

Look at this from Google maps...

tinyurl.com/tvfl4

No footbridge shown..

BUT

The Ordnance map shows one...

tinyurl.com/ymwddj

It's a mystery! Where is seniorpiccdriver or a met driver?

[Deleted]

What sort of place has a street called "High Worple"

[Harsig]

On the one occasion I went to try and use this foot bridge I found the path so over grown it was unusable. In fact the bridge was removed during engineering hours on the night of 2/3 November 2002 and the bridge abutments cut down a bit although they are still clearly recognisable.

[Hutch]

I suspect it is an old accommodation bridge rather than an old public footpath. There is no right-of-way shown on the OS maps (1:50k or 1:25k) and the 1868 map shows only fields www.old-maps.co.uk/. No development and certainly no railway!

Interesting from the old map to see how the old country lane was inherited by the suburban side streets.

[mandgc]

Being an early Surface laid Electrified Line with Current Rails at ground level the Metropolitan's Uxbridge branches seem to have spared little expense to provide for the safety of the public. The earlier Ealing and South Harrow Line of the District appears fortunate in the location favouring the layout of access roads.

There are some interesting bridges on the Met. - the overbridge near Ickenham with particularly long approach embankments , the bridge in question here at Rayners Lane and the Girder Bridge to the West of the South Harrrow viaduct with the brick steps giving access. ( Was ths intended to be converted to a Road Bridge later if required?)

My favourite was the 'Cattle Brige"' as we called it during my time at School at West Harrow. It was an old dirt road then but has now been modernised into the Ridgeway. From the OS Maps this appears to have been an old established Right of Way.

I enjoyed travelling down the Uxbridge Line - it had its own style, even to the special Mile Posts, though it has probably lost a lot of its charm over the years.

[stanmorek]

harsig said:

On the one occasion I went to try and use this foot bridge I found the path so over grown it was unusable. In fact the bridge was removed during engineering hours on the night of 2/3 November 2002 and the bridge abutments cut down a bit although they are still clearly recognisable.

That was Bridge U6. The main span girders were lifted off their bearings on the abutment using two road railers in a tandem lift. The deck and cross members had been gradually removed over a number engineering hours shifts.

Handrail barriers were erected on the remaining abutments afterwards.