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Building the last Main Line Railway

Newton to the Oxford Canal: gcrcs147

View of two massive brick piers being built to carry the Great Central over low lying ground near Rugby

View of two massive brick piers being built to carry the Great Central over low lying ground near Rugby. This photograph is erroneously captioned on the Transport Archive and Leicestershire Council's websites as being 'thought to be two of the massive brick piers which were built to support the four span girder bridge (no. 448) north of Rugby that carried the GC's Main Line across the Oxford Canal'. Their height and shape are sufficient evidence to the contrary when compared to the complete structure seen in image 'gcrcs156'. They are in fact part of the structure built to the north of the Oxford Canal next to the River Avon. When the picture was taken, the railway's prodigious embankment appears to be little more than a spoil heap. Note the brick vaulting at the top of the piers which has been employed to help bear the weight of the girders and subsequent rail traffic.

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