Britannia Bridge - Before the Road Deck

The reconstructed bridge was designed to have a road deck, but this was not built as part of the initial reconstruction works. Between 1974 and 1978 the bridge was left in this half-finished state.

Lions Britannia Bridge 1975 (s0373.jpg)

The original bridge had a pair of stone lions guarding each entrance, part of the Egyptian style of the bridge. These were carefully protected during the reconstruction, but the design gave them no prominence and they are now pretty much obscured by the road deck. Here is one of the Caernarfonshire lions in 1975.

dmu Britannia Bridge 02/09/76 (s0689.jpg)

On the 2nd September 1976, Park Royal DMU M50403 approaches the bridge on a stopping service to Holyhead.

dmu Britannia Bridge 24/12/76 (s0866.jpg)

Christmas Eve 1976, and as the light fades a refurbished Metro-Cammell DMU crosses the bridge, trailing a small four-wheel van. This photograph was taken from the trackbed of the Caernarvon branch, closed 7 years earlier, but temorarily reopened for diverted freightliner traffic when the bridge was closed.

47481 Britannia Bridge 03/01/77 (s0870.jpg)

47481 heads onto the bridge with the 10:00 London Euston to Holyhead on the 3rd January 1977. Notable here are the large amounts of stonework removed from the towers and stored alongside the lions, and the foundations already in place in the foreground for the road deck supports.

47533 Britannia Bridge 02/09/77 (s1310.jpg)

On the 2nd September 1977, 47533 crosses the bridge with an Holyhead - Euston service. It would have been possible to add a second track, but the single line section, controlled from Bangor signal box, was able to cope with the intensive peaks of boat-train workings in the 1980s, and the space has since been used for water and gas pipelines.