If you stand on the road bridge next to Plymouth Road McDonalds you get this view of the delightful little bridge just up the River Plym.
From the other side you get a closer look at the simple metal construction which looks very industrial in this quite serene location.
To get a clue as to what this bridge was for you need to look on the path leading up the the bridge next to the white cottage on the other side of the river:
As you can see this bridge was a railway bridge which used to carry a line into a goods yard. Until fairly recently the metal tracks were evident on the bridge itself, but the bridge was becoming dangerous so the Council added extra wooden planks to create a new raised platform above the tracks, which I assume are still in place underneath this new plain surface.
This is just one clue as to the industrial railway activity which was a feature of this area at one time. I am still investigating the path of the railways in this area which I will understand a lot more once I get my hands on the RA Cooke Track Guide for this section, as the Plymouth book I have stopping just before this point!
This bridge did not link into a goods yard as described but was the bridge that carried the rails of the famous 4ft 6inch gauge Lee Moor tramway over the River Plym - indeed the cottage behind is known as Weighbridge Cottage and is also a relic of the line. There is a good photo of the bridge when the line was still open in the Middleton Press book 'Branch Lines to Launceston and Princetown' - see photo 14.
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