"Martin Underwood" a@b wrote in message
...

So why have the supports of the old bridge been left behind?

The bridge was of cast-iron construction and would have had scrap
value. The masonry supports had no value and, presumably, there was
no funding at the time to remove them for aesthetic reasons.
However, I
like ruins like this and hope they will stay as they are.

See my other post, the easternmost piers are to be used by the new
Blackfriars station, so must be in reasonable condition - IIRC the
tops are properly capped off to waterproof them as well.

Paul

Before the old part of the bridge was demoloished, was the station wider
(ie did it extend west towards the road bridge) or did the extra tracks
merge into the existing ones just south of the roofed section? Likewise on
the south bank, did the tracks merge into the existing ones before the
start of the long north-south building, or was that built after the bridge
was demolished?
The new bridge was built 20 years after the older bridge (1862) , to provide
space for additional tracks, the older bridge went out of use when heavier
trains became the norm in the 1950s, but the deck wasn't removed until 1984.

Paul