Boythorpe Viaduct

Boythorpe Viaduct
Coordinates	53°13′56.3″N1°25′44.77″W / 53.232306°N 1.4291028°W / 53.232306; -1.4291028 (Boythorpe Viaduct) Coordinates: 53°13′56.3″N1°25′44.77″W / 53.232306°N 1.4291028°W / 53.232306; -1.4291028 (Boythorpe Viaduct)
Carries	Ex-Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
Crosses	Midland Railway's Brampton Branch Line
Locale	Chesterfield, Derbyshire
Characteristics
Design	2 brick arches and 2 spans
Width	Twin Standard Gauge Rail
History
Opened	February 1897
Closed	March 1957
Location

Boythorpe Viaduct was a railway viaduct in Chesterfield, England.

v t e Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway
Legend
Chesterfield (Market Place) Boythorpe Viaduct over MR Brampton Branch and Boythorpe Railway   Horns Bridge over Midland Main Line GCR Chesterfield Loop River Rother Duckmanton Tunnel Great Central Main Line Arkwright Town Arkwright Town Jct (1907) River Doe Lea Doe Lea Viaduct over MR Doe Lea Branch Bolsover South Bolsover Tunnel Scarcliffe Summit MML to St Pancras Sheffield Midland Attercliffe Road (MR) Rotherham Masborough West Tinsley (SDR) Catcliffe (SDR) Rotherham Masborough Treeton (MR) Woodhouse Mill (MR) Beighton (GCR) Beighton Junction Killamarsh West (MR) Beighton (GCR) Upperthorpe and Killamarsh Spinkhill Spinkhill Tunnel Clowne South Summit Markland Grips Viaduct Creswell and Welbeck Shirebrook North (Originally Langwith Junction) Langwith Junction shed Shirebrook South GNR to Nottingham Victoria (1901) Shirebrook West MR (now Robin Hood Line) Nottingham Midland to Worksop Warsop Clipstone Colliery Sidings Mansfield Railway to Nottingham Victoria (from 1917) Edwinstowe Ollerton Boughton Tuxford Central Tuxford Works Tuxford shed Dukeries Junction GNR (now ECML) Kings Cross to Retford Fledborough Fledborough Viaduct over River Trent Clifton-on-Trent Doddington and Harby Skellingthorpe GN&GEJR to Saxilby Pyewipe Junction Lincoln to Peterborough

Description

The viaduct had two spans and two arches, ^[1] which carried the LD&ECR's Chesterfield Market Place to Lincoln Central double track main line over the Midland Railway's "Brampton Branch" ^[2] and the industrial "Boythorpe Railway" ^[3] a few hundred yards East of Chesterfield Market Place Station.

Photographs of the viaduct are rare and mentions in the literature even rarer, the clearest are collected on a DVD, ^[4] repeated by Booth. ^[5] An image taken between closure and demolition is on the internet. ^[6] The viaduct lay approximately one third of the way between the Park Road brick arch bridge ^[7] and Horns Bridge with embankments separating the three structures.

History

The viaduct was opened in 1897 along with the rest of the line. ^[8]

The section between Chesterfield and Langwith Junction (by then renamed Shirebrook North), was closed to passenger traffic by British Railways in December 1951, due to the unsafe condition of Bolsover Tunnel ^[9] and concerns over the safety of Doe Lea Viaduct, both of which were affected by colliery subsidence. Bolsover South and Scarcliffe were closed completely.

Boythorpe Viaduct remained in use until March 1957 when goods traffic to and from Chesterfield Market Place Station ceased. Tracks were lifted over the structure in the next two years.

No trace remains of the viaduct, or indeed of any of the massive LD&ECR presence to the West of the Midland Main Line at what is now the Horns Bridge roundabout. The Brampton Branch outlived the LD&ECR, but is now no more, as is the Boythorpe Railway.

References

1. Cupit & Taylor 1984, p. 46.
2. Kaye 1985, p. 35.
3. Kaye 1988, p. 75.
4. DVD 2005, 18 to 20 mins from start.
5. Booth 2013, p. 14.
6. Boythorpe Viaduct at track level
7. Kaye 1986, p. 27.
8. Cupit & Taylor 1984, p. 16.
9. Cupit & Taylor 1984, p. 39.

• Booth, Chris (2013). The Lancashire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire Railway A pictorial view of the "Dukeries Route" and branches. Blurb. 06715029.
• Cupit, J.; Taylor, W. (1984) [1966]. The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway. Oakwood Library of Railway History (2nd ed.). Headington: Oakwood Press. ISBN   0-85361-302-8. OL19.
• DVD (2005). The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway - Memories of a Lost Route. Chesterfield: Terminus Publications. DVD, stills with commentary.
• Kaye, A.R. (1985). The Changing Face of Chesterfield, a Pictorial Then and Now Album. Chesterfield: Lowlander Publications. 271 of 1500.
• Kaye, A.R. (1986). The Changing Face of Chesterfield, a Pictorial Then and Now Album, Volume 2. Chesterfield: Lowlander Publications.
• Kaye, A.R. (1988). North Midland and Peak District Railways in the Steam Age, Volume 2. Chesterfield: Lowlander Publications. ISBN   0-946930-09-0.

Further reading

• Dow, George (1965). Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900–1922. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN   978-0-7110-0263-0. OCLC   500447049.
• Gilks, David (April 2002). Blakemore, Michael (ed.). "Mr. Arkwright's Railway". Back Track. Penryn: Atlantic Publishers. 16 (4).
• Little, Lawson (1995). Langwith Junction, the Life and Times of a Railway Village. Newark: Vesper Publications. ISBN   0-9526171-0-2.
• Ludlam, A.J. (March 2013). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet 1993 Publications. 283. ISSN   0269-0020.

External links

• "The viaduct on a navigable Edwardian 6" OS map". National Library of Scotland.