Lambley Viaduct
| Lambley Viaduct | |
| Northumberland | |
|---|---|
 Lambley Viaduct | |
| Location | |
| Type: | Railway viaduct |
| Carrying: | railway lien |
| Crossing: | River South Tyne |
| Location | |
| Structure | |
| Length: | 860 feet |
| Type: | Railway viaduct |
| History | |
| Information | |
Lambley Viaduct is a railway viaduct by Lambley in Northumberland, and was built to carry the Haltwhistle to Alston railway line over the dale of the River South Tyne. It no longer serves the railway but is preserved as a heritage monument.
The Lambley Viaduct crosses the River South Tyne as a series of elegant stone arches, the whole being eight hundred and sixty feet long.
History
The railway opened in 1852 to haul coal and lead from the Alston mines, was closed in 1976, and the viaduct allowed to decay. In 1991 the British Rail Property Board agreed to repair the viaduct and hand it over to the North Pennine Heritage Trust who would maintain it in the future.
The viaduct may have been designed by George Barclay Bruce, an eminent Victorian engineer who was involved in the Alston line before leaving for India to pioneer railway construction there. It is a particularly elegant example of Victorian engineering: the river is crossed by nine 56-foot wide arches which support a deck 105 feet above the river but, as it carried a single rail track, only twelve feet wide. The piers to the arches are built of massive rough-faced stones each weighing up to 250 lb, with similar-sized stones in ashlar to the main arch voussoirs. The spandrels and piers to the 19.7-foot wide approach arches are built of coursed rubble masonry. One end of the viaduct has been fenced off to stop people straying into Lambley railway station which is now a private house.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Lambley Viaduct) |