Graeme Bickerdike reflects on the structures great and small – captured in his new book – that still grace Britain’s landscape long after their last train departed.
Is Ralph Farmer a familiar name? In 1963, he threw four potatoes over Darcy Lever Viaduct in Bolton, becoming only the second man to complete the feat. What about John Bevan? He lost his life at the hands of a fellow navvy – both employed on the construction of Cefn Glas Tunnel – following a violent and alcohol-fuelled tour of beer houses around Quakers Yard. And then there’s James Mitchell. Heard of him? He was charged with culpable homicide after the partial collapse of Teviot Viaduct near Kelso shattered families, claiming eight men.
These stories are embedded in the 200-year social history of Britain’s railway network and told in my new book, Railway Wonders, which celebrates 100 of our great disused viaducts, tunnels and bridges.
Whilst it’s the engineering and landscapes that initially catch the eye, even more compelling are the chronicles of those involved in building them, the challenges they had to overcome, the conditions endured and high price paid. From the Highlands to Cornwall, Snowdonia to Kent, the railway touched thousands of communities and although many lost out to the retrenchment of the Fifties and Sixties, left behind is a legacy of awe-inspiring industrial heritage and future repurposing potential.
The book charts the construction, operational and redundancy periods of the featured structures, together with insight on how to find and explore them. They’re grouped into regions, an editorial choice which serves to convey the concentration of large structures in areas with challenging topography and how railway closures disproportionately affected rural and former industrial areas, leaving much of the south-east unscathed.
Historical perspective
Kicking the book off is an account of how civil engineering emerged as a discipline in its own right, how Victorian railway promoters changed Britain through social revolution, how encampments of transient navvies brought deep cultural impacts – many of them unwelcome – and how redundancy has left us with mile after mile of vibrant green corridors which, as well as being ecologically important, present opportunities to reuse these feats of metal and masonry for active travel or heritage railways. Social, economic, tourism and health benefits ensue.
More than 350 photographs bring the structures to life, capturing their setting and most striking attributes. Completing the picture is a small collection of evocative archive images – one dating back to the 19th century – which are particularly helpful when the structure in question has mostly been demolished, such as Belah Viaduct on Thomas Bouch’s Stainmore line across the north Pennines which, at 196 feet, formerly boasted the title of England’s highest viaduct.
Great and small
Scale is not a good measure of significance when it comes to engineering and heritage value. That said, the book presents readers with the chance to admire some of our grandest legacy tunnels and viaducts. In Scotland, several large metal structures appear including Bilston Glen, Connel Ferry and Logierait which are all open to cyclists and pedestrians. Now closed, however, is Spey Viaduct, two spans of which were lost in December, after the book had gone to the printers.
If you prefer viaducts of the masonry variety, the north of England and Wales contribute several. Of particular note is a highly-skewed structure on the former Border Counties Railway which had to be built in Baronial style to gain the approval of the Duke of Northumberland, the landowner. Adorning the cover, Cwm Prysor Viaduct in remote north Wales partly collapsed in 1881 after its timber centering was removed prematurely.
For those who relish adventures underground, unique experiences are to be had in the lengthy Combe Down and Tidenham tunnels in Bath and Chepstow respectively, whilst others – off the beaten track – offer intrigue to those with a little courage, and a torch.
And then there are the relics with peak historical interest. Causey Arch near Newcastle is generally accepted to be the world’s oldest surviving railway bridge, opening in 1727 as part of a waggonway via which coal was hauled to the Tyne for onward transportation. At Wickham Bishops in Essex are England’s last two surviving timber trestle viaducts, recorded as Scheduled Monuments but slowly decaying. Wimborne in Dorset hosts both a rare example of a ‘caterpillar’ tunnel and one of the most ornate railway bridges you could possibly imagine. There are revelations within the book’s 256 pages.
Get out!
It’s been a joy to spend the past couple of years touring Britain’s length and breadth in pursuit of the engineering long since abandoned by the railway. We’re lucky that so many of these structures are located within spectacular landscapes and easy to explore thanks to those who still recognise their value for active travel provision. More will be repurposed as that investment continues.
But even more eye-catching is what they represent. At a time when infrastructure is slow, costly and disruptive to deliver, these bridges, tunnels and viaducts – built in circumstances we can’t begin to imagine – remind us that Britain persistently sharpened the cutting edge, driven by ambition, tenacity and courage. We were the envy of the world.
If you’d like to venture out to find your local structure, Railway Wonders can be bought in bookshops and online at a recommended price of £18.99.
Image credit: Graeme Bickerdike