Gainford Railway Bridge

Gainford Railway Bridge
County Durham, Yorkshire
Location
Type:	Stone arch
Crossing:	River Tees
Location
Grid reference:	NZ16511697
Location:	54°32’52"N, 1°44’47"W
Structure
Type:	Stone arch
History
	Built 1856
Information
Owned by:	Durham Council

Gainford Railway Bridge once carried the Darlington to Barnard Castle branch of the North Eastern Railway over the River Tees, between County Durham on the north bank and the North Riding of Yorkshire on the south.

This is a pleasant, low stone bridge It was bought by the local council in 1990. The Teesdale Way runs along the north bank of the Tees here past the end of the bridge but does not cross it.

The bridge is now disused, the line having closed on 30 November 1964. The line from Barnard Castle going west across Stainmore to Kirkby Stephen had been closed earlier, in 1962. The line was originally built as an independent line, though worked by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in July 1856, and extended westwards by the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway to Kirkby Stephen to link the Durham coalfields with the ironworks and iron-ore deposits to the west of the Pennines. The Tees Valley Railway branch from Barnard Castle to Middleton opened in May 1868 and was worked by the North Eastern Railway. The original plan had been to drive the line along the north bank of the river through the park of Selaby Hall, rousing opposition from the owner, Lord Cleveland: this forced the railway to build the Gainford Railway Bridge and the West Tees Railway Bridge, carrying it over the river and back again.

References

• Gainford Railway Bridge: Bridges on the Tyne