View source for Caledonian Railway Bridge

{{Infobox bridge
|name=Caledonian Railway Bridge
|county=Lanark
|picture=King George V Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 628011.jpg
|picture caption=The Caledonian Railway Bridge (left) and<br />George V Bridge (right)
|carries=Railway
|crosses=River Clyde
|city=Glasgow
|maint=
|architect=
|material=Steel
|length=702 feet 6"
|width=
|height=
|mainspan=
|spans=
|opened=1905
|inaugurated=
}}
The '''Caledonian Railway Bridge''' carries the railway over the [[River Clyde]] in the middle of [[Glasgow]].  It reaches north across the river to the Broomielaw district of the city to bring the railway line to Glasgow Central station, which is close to the bridge.

==First bridge==
[[File:First Caledonian Railway Bridge.jpg|left|thumb|200px|The first bridge]]
The first bridge here was built between 1876–1878 for the Caledonian Railway Company, and opened on 1 August 1879<ref name=canold/> It was engineered by Blyth and Cunningham and built by Sir William Arrol & Co.<ref name=canold/> It consisted of wrought iron lattice girders linked at the top by a light arched lattice girder, and carried on a cast iron arch over twin piers in the river.<ref name=canold/> The piers are formed of cast iron cylinders sunk to bedrock and filled with concrete, and then extended above the river with Dalbeattie granite.<ref name=canold/>

The approach span over Clyde Place to the south was 60 feet long, and over Broomielaw to the north of the river was 90 feet long.<ref name=canold>{{canmore|91763|Glasgow, Central Station, Old Approach Viaduct}}</ref> The navigation spans were 164 feet, 184 feet and 152 feet long.<ref name=canold/> The bridge carried four tracks into the new Glasgow Central station.<ref name=b1>{{cite web |url=http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=8394 |title=1st Caledonian Railway Bridge |publisher=glasgow.gov.uk |accessdate=11 September 2014}}</ref>

In 1966–1967, the girders and tracks were removed, leaving the pillars in the water, after resignalling meant it was no longer needed.<ref name=cannew>{{cite web |url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/79857/details/glasgow+central+station+new+approach+viaduct/ |title=Glasgow, Central Station, New Approach Viaduct |publisher=rcahms.gov.uk |accessdate=11 September 2014}}</ref>

==Second bridge==
[[File:First Caledonian Railway Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 628004.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The piers of the first Caledonian railway bridge, with the second bridge next to it]]
The current, second bridge was built in 1899–1905 during the expansion of Central Station, to a design by D. A. Matheson, chief engineer of the Caledonian Railway, <ref name=cannew/> Arrol and Co. was the contractor for this bridge as well.<ref name=cannew/> 

The foundations for the bridge are rectangular sunk caissons, sunk by the compressed air chamber method used on the [[Forth Bridge]] to a depth of up to 48 feet below the river bed.<ref name=cannew/> The central span is 194 feet long with Linville truss girders 15 feet 9 inches deep.<ref name=cannew/> The parapet girders are around 10 feet deep, and suspended on curved brackets.<ref name=cannew/> There are a minimum of eight parallel main girders in the width.<ref name=cannew/> The spans are of lengths 160 feet, 200 feet and 178 feet, and the structure contains 11,000 tons of steel.<ref name=cannew/> The total length of the bridge between the abutments is 702 feet 6 inches.<ref name=ice/>

The bridge varies in width from 115 feet to 205 feet, and carries up to ten tracks.<ref name=cannew/> It leads immediately into Glasgow Central Station on the north bank of the river. At the time of its opening, it was believed to be the widest railway bridge in existence.<ref name=ice>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1680/imotp.1910.16924| title=The New Clyde Bridge of the Caledonian Railway at Glasgow. (Including Appendix and Plates)| journal=Minutes of the Proceedings| volume=182| issue=1910| pages=4| year=1910| last1=Matheson | first1=D. A. | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449144/files/article.pdf}}</ref>

==Outside links==
{{commons}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Clyde bridges}}