The restoration of a historic rail bridge in Oxford is almost complete and can be seen back in action this weekend.
Rewley Road swing bridge will turn again after almost £1m was raised by conservationists to bring the bridge back to life.
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Oxford Preservation Trust has been working with Railway Heritage Trust, Historic England, Network Rail, Chiltern Railways and others this year as part of the huge restoration project.
Over the past few weeks, repair work and cleaning of the bridge deck took place as well as painting – which was a hands-on job as over 80 per cent of the painting had to be done by hand.
The bridge, built in 1851 to a design by the engineer Robert Stephenson, the man behind the pioneering locomotive Rocket, started to deteriorate in the 1950s and was last used by a freight train in 1985.
The paint has dried just in time for the dismantling of the white tent and scaffolding which has shrouded the structure from the public gaze since the beginning of the year prior to the Oxford Open Doors weekend.
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You can see the stunning workmanship, together with some sense of just how much the Trust has achieved so far with the restoration at 2-4pm on Saturday and Sunday.
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