Loch nan Uamh Viaduct
| Loch nan Uamh Viaduct | |
| Inverness-shire | |
|---|---|
 The Jacobite crossing the viaduct | |
| Location | |
| Carrying: | West Highland Line |
| Crossing: | Allt a' Mhama |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NM728841 |
| Location: | 56°53’32"N, 5°43’50"W |
| Structure | |
| Main span: | 50 feet |
| History | |
| Built 1897-1901 | |
| Information | |
The Loch nan Uamh Viaduct is a railway viaduct in Inverness-shire that carries the West Highland Line across the beach and stream mouth of the Mama Burn, where that stream enters the sea in Loch nan Uamh.
Design
The viaduct has eight concrete arches of 50-foot span, four each side of a large central concrete pylon.[1] The reason for this design is not known.[1]
The viaduct crosses the Allt a' Mhama, or Mama Burn, just before it flows into Loch nan Uamh, a sea loch to the north of the Ardnish peninsula.[2]
Immediately to the north of the viaduct is a short tunnel.
Horse inside viaduct
A long-established legend attached to the Glenfinnan Viaduct was that a horse had fallen into one of the piers during construction in 1898 or 1899.[3][4]
In 1987, Professor Roland Paxton failed to find evidence of a horse at Glenfinnan using a fisheye camera inserted into boreholes in the only two piers large enough to accommodate a horse.[4] In 1997, on the basis of local hearsay, he investigated the Loch nan Uamh Viaduct by the same method but found the piers to be full of rubble.[3][4] Using scanning technology in 2001, the remains of the horse and cart were found at Loch nan Uamh, within the large central pylon.[1][4]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Loch nan Uamh Viaduct) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Loch Nan Uamh Viaduct
- ↑ CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Mama Burn, Bridge
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Jim Shipway". The Herald. 23 August 2013. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-35045158.html. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "The Horse in the Viaduct - a tale of Victorian engineering". moidart.org.uk. http://www.moidart.org.uk/justoutside/horseinviaduct/horseinviaduct.htm. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- Thomas, John (1971). The West Highland Railway. Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-02479-5.
