The Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
on the
West Highland Line
The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in th ...
in
Glenfinnan
Glenfinnan ( gd, Gleann Fhionnain ) is a hamlet in Lochaber area of the Highlands of Scotland. In 1745 the Jacobite rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel ...
,
Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in popula ...
,
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 ...
, built from 1897 to 1901. Located at the top of
Loch Shiel
:''See Glen Shiel for the much smaller Loch Shiel in Lochalsh.''
Loch Shiel ( gd, Loch Seile) is a freshwater loch situated west of Fort William in the Highland council area of Scotland. At long it is the 4th longest loch in Scotland, and ...
in the West
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
, the viaduct overlooks the
and the waters of Loch Shiel.
Construction
The Glenfinnan Viaduct, however, was complete enough by October 1898 to be used to transport materials across the valley. It was built at a cost of
£18,904.
[Concrete Bob's Scottish masterpiece '']Rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
'' issue 312 27 August 1997 pages 40-41
A long-established legend attached to the Glenfinnan Viaduct was that a horse had fallen into one of the piers during construction in 1898 or 1899. In 1987, Professor Roland Paxton failed to find evidence of a horse at Glenfinnan using a fisheye camera inserted into boreholes in the only two piers large enough to accommodate a horse.[ In 1997, on the basis of local hearsay, he investigated the Loch nan Uamh Viaduct by the same method but found the piers to be full of rubble.][ Using scanning technology in 2001, the remains of the horse and cart were found at Loch nan Uamh, within the large central pylon.
]
Design
The viaduct is built from mass concrete Mass concrete is defined by American Concrete Institute Committee 207 as "any volume of concrete with dimensions large enough to require that measures be taken to cope with the generation of heat from hydration of cement and attendant volume change ...
, and has 21 semicircular spans of . It is the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland at , and crosses the River Finnan at a height of .[ The West Highland Line it carries is ]single track
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
, and the viaduct is wide between the parapets.[ The viaduct is built on a curve of .
The concrete used in the Glenfinnan Viaduct is mass concrete, which unlike ]reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
does not contain any metal reinforcement. It is formed by pouring concrete, typically using fine aggregate, into formwork
Formwork is Molding (process), molds into which concrete or similar materials are either precast concrete, precast or cast-in-place concrete, cast-in-place. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering mold ...
, resulting in a material very strong in compression but weak in tension.[
]
Services
The West Highland Line
The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in th ...
connects Fort William and Mallaig
Mallaig (; gd, Malaig derived from Old Norse , meaning sand dune bay) is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line (Fort Willi ...
, and was a crucial artery for the local fishing industry and the highlands economy in general, which suffered enormously after the Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860.
The first phase resulte ...
of the 1800s.
The line is used by passenger trains operated by ScotRail between Glasgow Queen Street
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, symbol = rail
, image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg
, caption = Main entrance in 2020
, borough = Glasgow
, country = Scotland
, coordinates =
, grid_name = Grid reference
, grid_positi ...
and Mallaig, with Class 153 and Class 156 diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
s. In the summer, West Coast Railways
West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the com ...
operates '' The Jacobite'' steam train along the line. It is a popular tourist event in the area, and the viaduct is one of the major attractions of the line. The ''Royal Scotsman
The ''Belmond Royal Scotsman'' is a Scottish overnight luxury train, started in 1985 by GS&WR (Great Scottish and Western Railway Co.), and run since 2005 by Belmond Ltd. Its itineraries include 2, 3, 4, 5 or 7-night journeys around the Scotti ...
'' also operates on the line.
Depiction
Glenfinnan Viaduct has been used as a location in several films and television series, including ''Ring of Bright Water
''Ring of Bright Water'' is a book by Gavin Maxwell about his life in a remote house in coastal Scotland where he kept several wild otters as pets. First published in 1960, it became a best seller and is considered a literary masterpiece, event ...
'', '' Charlotte Gray'', '' Monarch of the Glen'', '' Stone of Destiny'', ''The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
,'' and four of the ''Harry Potter'' films. After its appearance in ''Harry Potter'', British Transport Police
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, abbreviation = BTP
, patch =
, patchcaption =
, logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg
, logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police
, badge =
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, f ...
had to warn fans not to walk on the viaduct after a handful of near misses with trains had occurred. It is also featured in the 2018 videogame ''Forza Horizon 4
''Forza Horizon 4'' is a 2018 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on 2 October 2018 for Windows and Xbox One after being announced at Xbox's E3 2018 conference. An enhanced version ...
''.
The Glenfinnan Viaduct features on some Scottish banknotes. The 2007 series of notes issued by the Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...
depicts different bridges in Scotland as examples of Scottish engineering, and the £10 note features the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
References
Sources
*
External links
{{commons category-inline
Bridges completed in 1901
Bridges in Highland (council area)
Category A listed buildings in Highland (council area)
Concrete bridges in the United Kingdom
Listed bridges in Scotland
Lochaber
Railway bridges in Scotland
Viaducts in Scotland
1901 establishments in Scotland