Croft Viaduct | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 54°28′39″N1°33′09″W / 54.4774°N 1.5526°W |
OS grid reference | NZ290092 |
Carries | East Coast Main Line |
Crosses | River Tees |
Locale | Croft-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England |
Other name(s) | Tees Railway Bridge |
Owner | Network Rail |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 7 chains (460 ft; 140 m) |
No. of spans | 4 |
Rail characteristics | |
No. of tracks | 2 |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
Electrified | Overhead catenary (1990s) |
History | |
Construction start | 1837 |
Opened | 1841 |
Location | |
Croft Viaduct is a railway bridge carrying the East Coast Main Line between Northallerton and Darlington in Northern England. The viaduct crosses the River Tees, the border between North Yorkshire and County Durham. Although it was an early example of a stone viaduct in the railway system, it is not the first true railway viaduct, however, it was the first railway viaduct in the United Kingdom to have been built with an oblique arch (or skew-arch). It was grade II listed in 1988, and had overhead line equipment installed in the early 1990s.
The viaduct was designed by Henry Welsh, and built by Deas and Hogg, [note 1] for the Great North of England Railway (GNER) between 1837 and 1840, costing £14,481 (equivalent to £1,663,000in 2023). [2] [3] [4] Digging for the foundations started on 25 November 1837, and the formation of the line northwards from the viaduct would go on to use the trackbed of the old Croft branch of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. [5] The trackbed was later purchased by the Great North of England Railway. [6] The viaduct is 471 feet (144 m) long, (7 chains (460 ft; 140 m) according to Trackmaps [7] ), 49 feet (15 m) above the water of the River Tees, and each of the four arches is 45 feet (14 m) across, (59 feet (18 m) if the 49 degree skew of the arches is taken into consideration). [8] [9] The height of the viaduct from the normal water level to the top of the stone parapets is 58 feet (18 m) and the width of the bridge is 27 feet (8.2 m). [10]
Croft Viaduct crosses the River Tees about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) east of Croft Bridge (which carries the A167), and curves slightly to the south east. [11] The viaduct is the most significant engineering structure built on the section of line between York and Darlington, and was opened to traffic in 1841. [12]
During construction, the building of the viaduct was beset by labour disputes, with the engineer being authorised to hire more men to complete the building phase at the contractors' expense. [13] It is one of the oldest viaducts on the railway network, and was the first railway viaduct in the United Kingdom to be built with a skew-arch. [14] [15] Apart from some re-inforced concrete, the viaduct is largely composed of the original stone; dressed ashlar cream sandstone, with late 20th century parapet railings. [16] [17]
A tradition of newly-appointed bishops arriving into County Durham being presented with a falchion which slew the Sockburn Worm, is normally associated with the road bridge at Croft-on-Tees, which in railway terms, is 35 chains (2,300 ft; 700 m) upstream. [18] However, in 1860, Henry Montagu Villiers arrived by train, and so the locomotive was stopped on Croft Viaduct to allow the ceremony to take place. [19] [20]
The viaduct is registered with Historic England as a grade II listed structure. [17] It had overhead line equipment installed in the early 1990s, with the first electric train north from York, reaching Edinburgh in June 1991. As Croft Viaduct was listed as Grade II in 1988, consent had to be sought from the local authority to alter the structure with the catenary. [21] Historic England list the name of the bridge as being "Tees Railway Bridge". [17]
The original Croft Branch of the Stockton & Darlington Railway had a proposal to cross the Tees to venture 1-mile (1.6 km) into Yorkshire, but the cost of building a bridge was found to have been prohibitive. [22] The Croft Branch was also further north (upstream) of the position of Croft Viaduct. [23]
Sir Thomas Bouch was a British railway engineer. He was born in Thursby, near Carlisle, Cumberland, and lived in Edinburgh. As manager of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway he introduced the first roll-on/roll-off train ferry service in the world. Subsequently as a consulting engineer, he helped develop the caisson and popularised the use of lattice girders in railway bridges. He was knighted after the successful completion of the first Tay Railway Bridge, but his reputation was destroyed by the subsequent Tay Bridge disaster, in which 75 people are believed to have died as a result of defects in design, construction and maintenance, for all of which Bouch was held responsible. He died within 18 months of being knighted.
The River Tees, in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for 85 miles (137 km) to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries on Teesside in its lower reaches, where it has provided the means of import and export of goods to and from the North East England. The need for water further downstream also meant that reservoirs were built in the extreme upper reaches, such as Cow Green.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton in County Durham, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port at Middlesbrough. While coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from the start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833.
The South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) built a railway line linking the Stockton and Darlington Railway near Bishop Auckland with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Tebay, via Barnard Castle, Stainmore Summit and Kirkby Stephen. The line opened in 1861 and became known as the Stainmore Line.
The Cleveland Railway was a railway line in north-east England running from Normanby Jetty on the River Tees, near Middlesbrough, via Normanby and then via Guisborough through the Eston Hills, to Loftus in East Cleveland. It carried minerals from numerous iron ore mines along its route to the River Tees for shipment to Tyneside and elsewhere. The line was jointly proposed by the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway (WHH&R), who provided half its capital, together with various landowners. The WHH&R lay on the north bank of the Tees, to which it had a cross-river connection via a jetty at Normanby.
A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of a regular, or "square" arch.
The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway as well as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interests controlled by George Hudson, the so-called Railway King. In collaboration with the York and North Midland Railway and other lines he controlled, he planned that the YN&BR would form the major part of a continuous railway between London and Edinburgh. At this stage the London terminal was Euston Square and the route was through Normanton. This was the genesis of the East Coast Main Line, but much remained to be done before the present-day route was formed, and the London terminus was altered to King's Cross.
The Tees railway viaduct was a railway bridge in the county of Durham, England, which carried the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway over the River Tees west of Barnard Castle.
Swin Bridge is the local name for a skew arch bridge in County Durham. It was built in 1830 for the Haggerleases branch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, crossing the River Gaunless at Cockfield. It is important as an early example of the masonry arch skew bridge, and the first used to carry a railway.
The Clarence Railway was an early railway company that operated in north-east England between 1833 and 1853. The railway was built to take coal from mines in County Durham to ports on the River Tees and was a competitor to the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). It suffered financial difficulty soon after it opened because traffic was low and the S&DR charged a high rate for transporting coal to the Clarence, and the company was managed by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners after July 1834. An extension of the Byers Green branch was opened in 1839 by the independent West Durham Railway to serve collieries in Weardale.
The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (N&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between Blaydon and Hexham, and passengers were carried for the first time the following year. The rest of the line opened in stages, completing a through route between Carlisle and Gateshead, south of the River Tyne in 1837. The directors repeatedly changed their intentions for the route at the eastern end of the line, but finally a line was opened from Scotswood to a Newcastle terminal in 1839. That line was extended twice, reaching the new Newcastle Central Station in 1851.
Yarm Viaduct is a railway viaduct carrying the railways above the town of Yarm in North Yorkshire, England. It crosses the River Tees which forms the boundary between North Yorkshire and County Durham. The railway runs between Northallerton and Eaglescliffe, and was opened in 1852 as part of the extension of the Leeds Northern Railway to Stockton-on-Tees. The line and viaduct are currently owned and maintained by Network Rail and carries passenger traffic for TransPennine Express and Grand Central train operating companies. It also sees a variety of freight traffic.
Kilton Viaduct was a railway viaduct that straddled Kilton Beck, near to Loftus, in North Yorkshire, England. The viaduct was opened to traffic in 1867, however in 1911, with the viaduct suffering subsidence from the nearby ironstone mining, the whole structure was encased in waste material from the mines creating an embankment which re-opened fully to traffic in 1913. The railway closed in 1963, but then in 1974, it re-opened as part of the freight line to Boulby Mine carrying potash traffic.
The Gelt Bridge or Gelt Viaduct is a skew arch railway viaduct in the parish of Hayton, east of Carlisle in Cumbria, north west England. Built from 1832, it is one of the earliest and largest skew bridges in Britain. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Lockwood Viaduct is a stone railway bridge that carries the Huddersfield to Penistone Line across the River Holme, in West Yorkshire, England. The viaduct is noted for its height,, leading one journalist to describe it as "One of the most stupendous structures of ancient or modern times." One local challenge has been to "lob" a cricket ball over the viaduct, with some claiming that they have. The viaduct was completed in 1848 and is now a grade II listed structure.
Wheatley Viaduct is a former railway bridge straddling the Hebble Brook on the northern side of Halifax, in West Yorkshire, England. The ten-arch viaduct was built as part of the Halifax High Level Railway that connected with the Queensbury lines complex of the Great Northern Railway between Halifax, Keighley and Bradford. The line was opened in 1890, and closed to all traffic in 1960.
Huddersfield Viaduct is a railway bridge to the north-east of Huddersfield railway station in West Yorkshire, England. The viaduct carries the Huddersfield Line connecting Huddersfield with Dewsbury, Leeds, and York eastwards, and Manchester and Liverpool westwards. The viaduct was built to carry two lines, but was widened in the 1880s to take four tracks, and then reduced to two tracks in 1970. Huddersfield Viaduct is less well-known than other viaducts in the Kirklees area as they are higher, but Huddersfield Viaduct is the longest in the Kirklees district.
Croft Bridge is a road bridge over the River Tees, straddling the border between North Yorkshire and County Durham, in the north of England. The road over the bridge is now the A167, previously a second branch of the Great North Road, meeting the old road in Darlington. The bridge dates back to Medieval times, and is the setting for the awarding of a sword to the incoming Bishop of Durham.
Blackwell Bridge is a masonry road bridge spanning the River Tees between County Durham and North Yorkshire, in Northern England. The bridge was built in 1832, and widened in 1961. It carries the A66 road, which stems from the A66(M) spur off the A1(M) motorway. It used to be the main route north on the A1 until a bypass was opened in 1965.
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