Wylam Railway Bridge

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Wylam Railway Bridge
Points Bridge Wylam.JPG
Wylam Railway Bridge as seen from the south bank of the River Tyne
Coordinates 54°58′23″N1°49′40″W / 54.9730°N 1.8277°W / 54.9730; -1.8277
OS grid reference NZ111642
Carries
Crosses River Tyne
Locale Northumberland
Official nameWest Wylam Bridge
Other name(s)
  • Hagg Bank Bridge
  • Points Bridge
  • Half-Moon Bridge
Owner Northumberland County Council [1]
Heritage status Grade II* listed [2]
Preceded by Ovingham Bridges
Followed by Wylam Bridge
Characteristics
Design Through arch bridge.
Material Wrought iron
Pier constructionStone
Total length80 m (260 ft)
Width6 m (20 ft)
Height15 m (49 ft)
Longest span73 m (240 ft)
No. of spans1
History
DesignerW G Laws
Constructed byW E Jackson & Co
Fabrication by Hawks, Crawshay and Sons
Construction start1874
Construction end1876
Construction cost£16,000
Opened6 October 1876 (1876-10-06)
Closed11 March 1968 (1968-03-11), as a railway. Reopened as a footbridge in 1975.
Location
Wylam Railway Bridge

Wylam Railway Bridge (officially West Wylam Bridge, [2] also known as Hagg Bank Bridge and locally as Points Bridge and Half-Moon Bridge) is a footbridge and former railway bridge crossing the River Tyne at Hagg Bank, approximately 12 mile (0.8 km) west of Wylam in Northumberland, England.

Contents

History

The bridge was originally built for the Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway, [3] to connect the North Wylam Loop with the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. [4]

A number of bodies were involved in the bridge's construction: W G Laws engineered the bridge, W E Jackson & Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne built the bridge's foundations and masonry, while Hawks, Crawshay and Sons of Gateshead [1] manufactured the ironwork. The bridge cost £16,000 to build and was opened to rail traffic on 6 October 1876. [4]

Railway services over the bridge ended in 1968 when the line was closed as part of the Beeching cuts. The trackwork was removed in 1972 and subsequently, in 1975, the bridge was converted into a footbridge and cyclepath linking Wylam with the Tyne Riverside Country Park at Low Prudhoe. [5]

A model of the bridge can be seen at the nearby Wylam Railway Museum.

Design

The bridge's design came about because there was a need to avoid having piers in the river bed, because their construction would have disrupted shallow mine workings underneath. [6] This single span (73 m, 240 ft) is constructed of three ribs each connected with diagonal braces to prevent cross strain and distortion caused by the wind. The track is suspended from these ribs by 19 girders forming 20 bays each 3.6 m (12 ft) wide. Another notable design consideration is the height of the track above water-level. During the great flood of 1771, the Tyne rose to 7 m (23 ft) above its normal summer levels. This led to the destruction of most of the bridges along the River Tyne, including those at Hexham and the old Tyne Bridge at Newcastle. For this reason, the track is suspended 8.5 m (28 ft) above the river's typical level and 1 m (3 ft 3 in) greater than the flood level. [6]

It has been suggested that Wylam Railway Bridge might have been an inspiration for the designers of the much later Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. [7] However, there are some major differences in design between this bridge and those at Newcastle and Sydney. Perhaps the greatest difference is the load taken by the abutments of the bridge. In the cases of the Tyne and Sydney Harbour bridges the abutments or "pylons" bear no load from the single span arch and are aesthetic. The arch of this bridge, however, is anchored into the abutments and as such directly bears the lateral load of the arch. This prevents distortion and a possible "road-wave" forming in front of a traversing train or vehicle.

Wylam Railway Bridge is claimed to be one of the earliest rib arch bridges in the world [5] and as such is grade II* listed citing the bridge as "...said to be the earliest use of this form of construction to carry railway". [2]

Renovation

In 1997 the bridge was re-painted at a cost of £224,000 with the support of £157,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. [8] This work included removing the old lead-based paint and repainting with lead free alternatives in the bridges original colour scheme. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wylam Bridge</span> Bridge in Northumberland

Wylam Bridge is a road bridge in Northumberland, England linking the residential area of North Wylam and neighbouring villages of Heddon-on-the-Wall, and Horsley with the railway station in South Wylam as well as west Gateshead, including the villages of Ryton and Crawcrook.

Chesters Bridge was a Roman bridge over the River North Tyne at Chollerford, Northumberland, England, and adjacent to the Roman fort of Cilurnum on Hadrian's Wall. The fort, mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum, and now identified with the fort found at Chesters, was known as Cilurnum or Cilurvum.

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Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway

The Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway was a railway company that built the 6+12 miles (10.5 km) North Wylam branch or North Wylam loop on the former Newcastle & Carlisle Railway. The loop line opened between 1871 and 1876 and followed the former Wylam waggonway past the cottage where George Stephenson was born. The company was taken over by the North Eastern Railway in 1883.

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Hagg Bank

Hagg Bank or The Hagg is a small Northumberland enclave on the south bank of the River Tyne linked to Wylam by the Points Bridge. It consists of approximately 25 originally two-up, two-down brick terraces, built for housing railway and colliery workers at the turn of the 20th century, which have mostly been extended.

Newcastle & Carlisle Railway

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 Newcastle Central station in 1851.

Lambley Viaduct Bridge in Northumberland

Lambley Viaduct is a stone bridge across the River South Tyne at Lambley in Northumberland. Formerly a railway bridge, it remains open to pedestrians but one end of the viaduct has been fenced off.

References

  1. 1 2 "Hagg Bank Bridge, Wylam". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Historic England. "West Wylam Bridge (Grade II*) (1044919)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  3. "Wylam Railway Bridge". Bridges on the Tyne. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
  4. 1 2 Smith, Martin (1994). 1876: Wylam Bridge, West Wylam, Northumberland. British Railway Bridges & Viaducts. Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 115–116. ISBN   0-7110-2273-9.
  5. 1 2 "Scenic Walkway" (PDF). Wylam Globe. Vol. 5. 1974. p. 4. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 Laws, WG (1879). "Railway Bridge over the River Tyne at Wylam" . Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers . 56: 262–274. doi:10.1680/imotp.1879.22365. eISSN   1753-7843 . Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  7. "Wylam Railway Bridge: The first of its kind". Tyne Valley Walking. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  8. "West Wylam Bridge, Tyneside Riverside Country Park, West Wylam". Projects. Heritage Lottery Fund . Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  9. "Tyne Riverside Country Park". Country parks, visitor centres & coastal sites. Northumberland County Council . Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  10. "Elegant Bridge Reopens" (PDF). Wylam Globe. Vol. 62. 1997. p. 2. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
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Tyne Valley line
Wylam Railway Bridge
Grid reference NZ111642
Scotswood Railway Bridge
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Next bridge upstream River Tyne Next bridge downstream
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Road, pedestrians and UK traffic sign 967.svg 72
Wylam Railway Bridge
Grid reference NZ111642
Wylam Bridge