Fledborough Viaduct

Fledborough Viaduct
Fledborough Viaduct in 2008
Coordinates	53°14′7.0″N0°46′43.5″W / 53.235278°N 0.778750°W / 53.235278; -0.778750 (Fledborough Viaduct) Coordinates: 53°14′7.0″N0°46′43.5″W / 53.235278°N 0.778750°W / 53.235278; -0.778750 (Fledborough Viaduct)
Carries	Ex-Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
Crosses	River Trent
Locale	Fledborough / North Clifton, Nottinghamshire
Maintained by	Sustrans
Characteristics
Design	59 brick arches; 4 trussed steel girder spans
Total length	814 metres (890 yd)
Width	Twin Standard Gauge Rail
History
Designer	Robert Elliott-Cooper
Opened	1897
Closed	21 February 1980
Location

The former rail line is now part of National Cycle Route 647 which takes cyclists over the river Trent

Fledborough Viaduct is a former railway viaduct near Fledborough, Nottinghamshire which is now part of the national cycle network.

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

History

The viaduct is a substantial structure which carried the double-track LD&ECR's Chesterfield Market Place to Lincoln Central main line over the River Trent. ^[1]

It is situated between the former stations of Fledborough and Clifton-on-Trent, but nearer the latter.

Opened in 1897, it consists of 59 arches spread either side of four metal girder spans which cross the river itself. Nine million bricks were used in its construction which cost £65,000. ^[2]

Timetabled passenger services over the viaduct ended in September 1955, though summer weekend excursions from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to Cleethorpes and Mablethorpe and from Manchester Central to Yarmouth Vauxhall continued until 1964. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

From the 1960s traffic east of Langwith Junction was overwhelmingly coal, much of which went straight from collieries to High Marnham Power Station which opened in 1959, this traffic therefore turned off about half a mile before the viaduct. The Grimsby to Whitland express fish train ran until at least 1962 via Fledborough ^[6] and through Mansfield Central.

The four original steel truss spans over the River Trent were replaced with steel plate girder spans of single track width in 1965. These were positioned within the existing spans before the old spans were removed. ^[7]

Traffic continued to run over the viaduct until 21 February 1980 when a goods train derailed at Clifton-on-Trent seriously damaging the track. Reinstatement was deemed uneconomic and the line from Pyewipe Junction over the viaduct as far as High Marnham was closed and ultimately lifted. ^[8]

Coal traffic continued from the west to High Marnham power station until this closed in 2003. Since 2009 that stretch of line has become Network Rail's High Marnham Test Track.

Modern Times

Today the railway trackbed eastwards from the site of Fledborough station, across the viaduct, through Clifton to Doddington & Harby forms an off-road part of National Cycle Route 647 which is part of the National Cycle Network.

From Harby onwards through the site of Skellingthorpe almost to Pyewipe Junction the trackbed forms an off-road part of National Cycle Route 64. ^{[9] [10]}

See also

• List of crossings of the River Trent

References

1. NoAuthor 2011, p. 16.
2. Cupit & Taylor 1984, p.22 and centrepiece.
3. Walker 1991, inside front cover.
4. Working Timetable 1964 (Up): via flickr
5. Working Timetable 1964 (Down): via flickr
6. Walker 1991, Plate 120.
7. "Trent Viaduct Reconstructed". Notes and News. Railway Magazine. Vol. 112 no. 777. January 1966. p. 50.
8. Ludlam 2013, p. 144.
9. Harby to Lincoln NR64: via sustrans
10. Fledborough to Lincoln by Bike: via cycle-route

Sources

• Booth, Chris (2013). The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway A pictorial view of the "Dukeries Route" and branches. Two: Langwith Junction to Lincoln, the Mansfield Railway and Mid Nott's Joint Line. Blurb. ISBN   978-1-78155-660-3. 06884827.
• Cupit, J.; Taylor, W. (1984) [1966]. The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway. Oakwood Library of Railway History (2nd ed.). Headington: Oakwood Press. ISBN   978-0-85361-302-2. OL19.
• Dow, George (1965). Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900–1922. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN   978-0-7110-0263-0. OCLC   500447049.
• Ludlam, A.J. (March 2013). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet 1993 Publications. 283. ISSN   0269-0020.
• NoAuthor (2011) [1948]. British Railways Atlas 1947: The Last Days of the Big Four. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7110-3643-7.
• Walker, Colin (1991). Eastern Region Steam Twilight, Part 2, North of Grantham. Llangollen: Pendyke Publications. ISBN   978-0-904318-14-2.

External links

• Fledborough Viaduct on old OS map npemaps
• Fledborough Viaduct signalling and trackwork plus High Marnham Power Station signalboxes
• Fledborough Viaduct resumee and photo forgottenrelics
• Fledborough Viaduct photos and bibliography transportheritage
• Fledborough Viaduct photos oldminer
• Fledborough Viaduct and High Marham Power Station neolithicsea
• Fledborough Viaduct and Dukeries Trail nottinghamshire