Wichnor Viaduct (formerly known as Croxall Viaduct) is a viaduct on the former

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was a British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station. It now forms part ...

line near

Wychnor Wychnor (or Wichnor, ) is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, situated in the East Staffordshire local government district adjoining Alrewas and Barton-under-Needwood. It is situated on the A38, formerly the Roman road Ryknil ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

now part of the

Cross Country Route A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

Construction

It was built in timber by the

as Croxall Viaduct to cross the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

and the River Tame at

. There were 52 bays of span each. The contract was let in March 1838 and it was built in just over 1 year. Passenger services began on 12 August 1839. The wooden viaduct was rebuilt in wrought iron in 1879. In the 1930s, this was replaced with a steel construction by E.H. Darby, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway divisional engineer from Derby using of new steel, with over of steel from existing girders being re-used. A concrete plant and depot was installed at one end of the viaduct with temporary track laid to carry the concrete to the working points. of concrete were laid for the floor, weighing approximately , and of asphalt. Some of handrail tubing was installed. Work was undertaken between August 1931 and August 1932, 3 spans at a time on Sundays only to minimise disruption to rail traffic.

References

{{Reflist Bridges completed in 1839 Railway viaducts in Staffordshire Midland Railway