The Caledonian Railway Bridge is a bridge crossing the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

Broomielaw Broomielaw is a major thoroughfare in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It runs adjacent to the River Clyde, on its north bank and forms the southern, waterside boundary of the city's International Financial Services District. History Named after ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is adjacent to

Glasgow Central station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Main Concourse at Glasgow Central Station.JPG , caption = The main concourse , borough = Glasgow, City of Glasgow , country ...

First bridge

The first bridge was built between 1876–1878 for the Caledonian Railway Company, and opened on 1 August 1879 It was engineered by Blyth and Cunningham and built by Sir William Arrol & Co. It consisted of

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

lattice girder A lattice girder is a truss girder where the load is carried by a web of latticed metal. Overview The lattice girder was used prior to the development of larger rolled steel plates. It has been supplanted in modern construction with welded o ...

s linked at the top by a light arched lattice girder, and carried on a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

arch (visible in the photograph) over twin piers in the river. The piers are formed of cast iron cylinders sunk to bedrock and filled with concrete, and then extended above the river with Dalbeattie

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. The approach span over Clyde Place to the south was long, and over

to the north of the river was long. The navigation spans were , and long. The bridge carried four tracks into the new

. In 1966–1967, the girders and tracks were removed, leaving the pillars in the water, after resignalling meant it was no longer needed.

Second bridge

First Caledonian Railway Bridge - geograph

The current, second bridge was built in 1899–1905 during the expansion of Central Station, to a design by D. A. Matheson, chief engineer of the Caledonian Railway, Arrol and Co. was the contractor for this bridge as well. The foundations for the bridge are rectangular sunk caissons, sunk by the compressed air chamber method used on the

Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

to a depth of up to below the river bed. The central span is long with Linville truss girders deep. The parapet girders are around deep, and suspended on curved brackets. There are a minimum of eight parallel main girders in the width. The spans are of lengths , and , and the structure contains of steel. The total length of the bridge between the

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s is . The bridge varies in width from , and carries up to ten tracks. It leads immediately into

Glasgow Central Station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Main Concourse at Glasgow Central Station.JPG , caption = The main concourse , borough = Glasgow, City of Glasgow , country ...

on the north bank of the river. At the time of its opening, it was believed to be the widest railway bridge in existence.

References

External links

{{coord, 55, 51, 20.8, N, 4, 15, 32.2, W, type:landmark_dim:200, display=title Bridges in Glasgow Bridges across the River Clyde Railway bridges in Scotland Gorbals Bridges completed in 1905 1905 establishments in Scotland