Cow Lane Bridge Takes Shape

Today, it was bright and sunny, but also somewhat cold, so I decided to go for a local walk along Cow Lane in Grove. This is a popular green corridor for local residents, dog walkers and horse riders and will become an even more important amenity once all the future housing development is built. Using this route, I have walked all the way from Grove to the Hanneys a number of times and it it a great rural walk amongst the local wildlife. At the moment, however, you can only walk a limited distance along the lane because it is blocked due to a new bridge being built over the railway. This is, of course, all part of the electrification of the Great Western route and the old bridge was too low to accommodate the overhead lines.

Anyway, the photos above give an idea of how the new bridge is taking shape and what it looks like. One of the photos also shows the foundation for one of the supporting masts for the overhead line,  although it looks like most of the piling still remains to be done with pipes scattered along the side of the track. The latest status of work on the Oxfordshire section can be found at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/great-western-route-modernisation/oxfordshire/.