Maidenhead Railway Bridge

• The layout of the flood arches: four semicircular arches a side, one of 21 ft and three of 28 ft (the Life of Brunel, 1870; the Buckinghamshire HER and Wikipedia agree except that the HER says 25 ft for the small one, which would be 24 ft 11 in (7.6 m) against the 21 ft 0 in (6.4 m) Wikipedia gives, so 21 ft is drawn). Which way round they run (the 21 ft arch beside the river arch, drawn from three photographs) and every pier between them (8 ft; the pilastered pier beside each river arch 14 ft) are estimated. The BRG39 re-check (9 November 2026) read the pilastered pier as perhaps about 25 ft wide on one photograph (Geograph 2070890); drawn at 14 ft until a second reading settles it (Kyle, BRGR, 9 November 2026).
• The length and the ends: OSM's bridge way is 743 ft (226.5 m), drawn; the published lengths differ (the HER 700 ft, a 1929 survey 778 ft, Wikipedia 771 ft (235 m)). The abutments (96 ft west, 74 ft east) are what the length leaves after the arches and piers, placed so the central pier stands where OSM's pier polygon centres it (382.5 ft from the west end); the wing walls and the embankments are not drawn.
• The river arches' rise: 24 ft 3 in (the Life of Brunel, Grace's Guide via Wikipedia) is drawn; Network Rail and the infobox say 24 ft, the HER 25 ft 3 in. The arches are drawn as true half-ellipses (the radius at the crown is then 169 ft against the Life's 165 ft); the 1890s arches' soffit is 'a few inches higher' than Brunel's (HER) and is not distinguished.
• The central pier's width at the springing (30.7 ft) is read off the Life's Fig. 1 woodcut at its printed scale (4.95 px a foot; 40 ft at the foundation); the HER and the Life give no pier width. Its sides are drawn battered 1 in 40 below the springing; the foundations are under the water.
• Heights over the water: the river arches' crown 31.1 ft over the water line (Fig. 1 woodcut; the infobox's unlabelled 32 ft 2 in is close), their springing 6.9 ft; the flood arches' crowns 29.6 ft, 1.5 ft under the river arches' (BRG39 re-check, 9 November 2026: the coping's top to the flood crown over the coping's top to the river crown reads 1.13 on Geograph 2070890, and 14.5 and about 13.5 ft under the top on Geograph 7692921 and Flickr 31030846385 by the parapet's own layers; first drawn at 25 ft), the banks 3.5-4.5 ft over the water (perhaps 5-7 ft higher, as the BRG39 re-check read on one photograph; left as drawn, Kyle, BRGR, 9 November 2026) (the Thames path photographs; EU-DEM reads 13 ft 1 in to 18 ft 1 in (4-5.5 m) but includes trees and buildings, so it was not used); the water line itself is 'normal' only by assumption.
• The parapet: 13.1 ft from the river arches' crown soffit to the coping's top, read on the Fig. 1 woodcut (the far parapet beyond the cut) and on Geograph 2070890, 5893373 and 7756993. Its layers, re-read on 2070890, 7756993 and Flickr 31030846385 (BRG39 re-check, 9 November 2026): ring and spandrel brick 4.8 ft, a pale gritstone band 0.8, the dark weathered gritstone cornice 3.3, the parapet's brick 3.4, the coping 0.8. The photographs differ by up to about 1 ft a layer (the near ones look up at it), and the line between the cornice and the frieze is not drawn.
• The rail: drawn 4.2 ft under the parapet's top (3.3 ft over the pale band's top), set from a photograph of a High Speed Train crossing (Commons: Maidenhead Bridge - FGW 43009), where the train's windows and roof show over the parapet. No drawing gives the deck or track levels; the deck line in Fig. 1 is 6.3 ft over the crown's soffit.
• The ring (4.0-4.5 ft of brick, drawn the same on the flood arches) and the imposts (a 1.5 ft gritstone band 0.4 ft proud): estimated; no thickness is published.
• The corner pilasters (2.5 ft wide) on the central pier and on the two pilastered piers: the pilasters' positions follow the HER's description ('the central pier ... projecting and articulated by corner pilasters'; Wikipedia: Doric pilasters between the river and bankside arches), their width and height (to the cornice's foot) are estimated from photographs.
• The colours: medians read off Geograph 2070890 (sunlit) and 7756993 (overcast) in the BRG39 re-check (9 November 2026): the brick a muted red (drawn #B26655 between the two), the parapet's brick darker and browner (#8F5547), the cornice a dark weathered grey (#5F5A55; also 5893373), a pale gritstone band at its foot, the coping mid grey (#77746C); the first drawing's orange-red brick, red frieze and buff coping were set by eye.
• The widening: the original arches are drawn nowhere (Brunel's own face is behind the 1890s one on both sides); the 1890s chamfered step between old and new, seen from below, is not drawn. Which of the two faces is Fowler's south or north work is not published (the HER: 'on the south side'; the HER's own 'north (up) elevation identical').

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