Haltwhistle to Alston branch line viaducts.

The following information has been taken from the booklet

Lambley Viaduct -
The History, Decline and Restoration of a Great Monument

by Robert Forsythe and Charles Blackett-Ord.
Published by The North Pennines Heritage Trust in 1998.

Lambley Viaduct

Photo: A Haltwhistle to Alston passenger train crosses the Lambley Viaduct.
Photo from the N.E. Stead Collection.

When trains began to run up the whole length of the Haltwhistle to Alston branch from 17th November 1852, all but a mile of line had been in use for months. That mile was the length of track between Shaft Hill (later Coanwood) and Lambley across the Lambley Viaduct. The line was engineered without a single tunnel, but there were some nine substantial bridging structures to compensate.

A certain mystery concerns the Viaducts creator. Suffice to say that it and its partners on the branch are ascribed to Sir George Barclay Bruce (1821 to 1908) The design of Lambley Viaduct seems to have been complicated. When the Alston branch line had been surveyed, for the second time, in 1848, the drawings then produced showed that the river at Lambley was to crossed by a viaduct with 24 arches, each of 20 feet span.

Perhaps because of the disagreements between Lord Carlisle and the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Company or more simply because of foundation problems, the design was modified to incorporate arches of much greater span. Whatever the reason, the design features of Lambley Viaduct differ from other structures on the line. The elements of redesign may well affect Barclay Bruces input.

The contractors for the viaduct were Rush and Lawton. When the Newcastle Journal newspaper reported a visit to see the work in progress in September 1851, Barclay Bruce conducted the party around the works; Benjamin Lawton was also present that day. The contract for the branch stipulated that all of the stone that was used to make the viaducts, was to be stone from Prudham, i.e. the Prudhamstone quarries connected to the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway near Fourstones.

The Engineer had permission to alter this clause and it does appear that some local limestones, sandstones and gritstones were also used in the construction of the lines viaducts.

The viaducts along the branch line, starting from Haltwhistle:-

Alston Arches (O.S. Grid Reference NY709638)

Photo: Alston Arches Viaduct at Haltwhistle, viewed from the east.
Photo by R.W. Rennison.

To both rail and road travellers through Haltwhistle, this viaduct is prominent. It must have been finished for March 1851, when the first 4¼ miles of line from Haltwhistle to Shafthill (later known as Coanwood) were opened for goods traffic.

It is a six arch structure across the River South Tyne. The actual river is spanned by four wide segmental skew arches. The Alston line left Haltwhistle in a south easterly direction, initally heading in the same direction as the river before crossing it by the Alston Arches viaduct.

The line started to climb at the viaduct on a gradient of 1:100. This is a direct route to Alston, and perhaps a smaller river crossing, was made impossible by the twin features of Wydon Nabb and Bellister Bank. Instead, the line had to gain height to bypass the initial constrictions in the valley which it did by leaving the town in an arc. The viaduct is approached from the junction near Haltwhistle station by a high embankment, which lifts the trackbed off the flood plain of the River South Tyne. To the south of the viaduct this embankment has been breached in 1996 by the new A69 Haltwhistle by-pass.

The river piers have cutwaters upsteam and downstream. An unusual feature is the line of openings through the piers, which have been said to be intended to take a footbridge. There are no indications that a footbridge was ever provided and there are no fixing holes or bolts and curiously there is no opening through the right bank pier. It is therefore more likely that the openings are to reduce the weight of the piers and loading on the foundations, which are supported on timber piles.

Lambley Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY675584)

Photo: Lambley Viaduct.
Photo by the North Pennines Heritage Trust.

The Alston branch line was steeply graded, up to 1 in 70 in places, and the River South Tyne was out of sight in the valley bottom for much of the way to Lambley. En route, the deep side valley of the Park Burn was crossed, but by embankment and not by viaduct. Approaching Coanwood, the line re-appeared high on the valley side directly above the river. Nonetheless, southbound travellers encountered the Lambley Viaduct as something as a surprise, the final approach being made in a small cutting past Castle Hill. This contrasted with the panoramic views of the structure that northbound travellers were treated to on their approach.

This was the greatest structure on the line and it does easily hold its own amongst the finest railway viaducts in Britain, an accolade created not just by the simple engineering facts but by its context in the nearby hills. An excellent spot to appreciate this panorama is from the minor road high up the fellside half a mile away at Asholme (O.S. Grid Reference NY686583).

Immediately south of the viaduct was Lambley Station, a real country railway junction and for many decades a hive of activity. The site of the station was a narrow ledge above the river. There was no room for a loop or a goods yard, nor was there road access. Instead there was a single curved platform with the station house, which still survives. A small signalbox on the platform controlled the branch whose junction, with Lord Carlisles Railway to Brampton, was squeezed between the end of the platform and the start of the viaduct. Once on the branch, there was a little more room and, for a short distance, there were two tracks forming a loop to enable the freight train locomotives to run round.

Glendue Burn Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY677567)

Beyond Lambley, the valley floor widens to a degree, the line seeing much more of the actual river. It will cross the River South Tyne once more on the final run into Alston. Before then a sequence of six tributary burns draining the moors to the west of the river had to be crossed by stone viaducts. Glendue was the first.

Thinhope Burn or Burnstones Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY675534)

Photo: Burnstones Viaduct: West elevation.
Photo by T.M. Bell

Burnstones Viaduct carried the railway over the Thinhope Burn and the A689 Alston to Brampton road and was originally called Thinhope Burn Viaduct. It was Bridge 26 on the railway and is currently listed as a Grade II structure. After Alston Arches and Lambley, this was the third most significant of the lines viaducts.

However it has an idiosyncrasy; there is one arch more on its western aspect than its eastern. This is because it is a double skew structure, the burn flowing one way imparting one skew, the valley road being crossed in the other direction creates the other skew, and where the skews meet a blind arch is the result.

Nowadays it is also intersected by the Pennine Way, which runs close to the trackbed between Alston and Lambley, a fact not inconsequential to the lines tourist potential nor its use as a recreational route.

The unusual geometry of the Burnstones Viaduct provides four semi-circular arches on a 36 degrees skew one way, while the road arch skews 25 degrees the other way, leaving the opportunity between them to provide a blind arch. This makes an engineering joke in that the viaduct apparently has more arches when viewed from one side than the other.

Aesthetically the position of the elliptical arch with the others is rather uncomfortable, but as far as is known the whole structure was built at one time as it stands today. The deck is straight on plan, and the parapets are horizontal, although it appears that the track was laid to a down gradient northwards.

The whole structure is built of locally quarried gritstone, but the blind arch and the road arch barrels are brick. The deck is double track width, 6.8 metres between parapets and the whole structure is 90 metres long. The maximum height from deck level to the Thinhope Burn is 10 metres.

The underlying rock is limestones of the carboniferous series, and it is likely that the foundations will have been taken down to bed rock, which outcrops in the beck beneath the adjacent road bridge.

The piers have a maximum height of 4 metres up to arch springing level, where the pier thickness is 1.4 metres. There is a large retaining wall at the west side of the north end of the viaduct, where a high battered buttressed wall supports the embankment next to the road. subsequent to construction of the viaduct, the road may have been moved away from this part of the structure in order to ease the curve as the road approaches the bridge.

The road bridge over the Thinhope Burn pre-dates the viaduct, which just clips the end of the south parapet wall, requiring the end capstone to be cut in half.

Knar Burn Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY673528)
Thornhope Burn Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY687512)
and Whitley Burn Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY698492)

Photo: A narrow gauge train crossing Whitley Burn Viaduct over the Lort Burn.
Photo by T.M. Bell.

These are significant stone structures at three further burn crossings. The Pennine Way passes beneath each of the first two and affords a good vantage point to see their structure.

Gilderdale Viaduct (O.S. Grid Reference NY703483)

Photo: A narrow gauge train crossing Gilderdale Viaduct over the Gilderdale Burn.
Photo by T.M. Bell.

A mention of this viaduct is made as it is listed as a Grade II structure and it crosses the county boundary between Northumberland and Cumbria. For the life of the standard gauge line this was of little importance. With the advent of the narrow gauge South Tynedale Railway line, the viaduct became, between 30th July 1983 and 3rd September 1999, the northern terminus with a little halt built just to the south of the structure. This was closed when the extension of the narrow gauge line to Kirkhaugh opened to the public on 4th September 1999.

Tyne Bridge (O.S. Grid Reference NY714474)

Photo: The Tyne Bridge over the River South Tyne, near Alston. West elevation.
Photo by T.M. Bell.

The final viaduct on the line, known as the Tyne Bridge, carries the railway high over the River South Tyne, and so within the mile into Alston Station.

About the North Pennines Heritage Trust

The North Pennines Heritage Trust works to conserve the historic remains of mans activities in the landscape of the North Pennines and to help people to understand and enjoy them. Founded in 1987, the Trust is a registered charity and a limited company. From its base in Nenthead it carries out an expanding programme of conservation and interpretation.

The Trusts major project is the conservation of the Nenthead Mines complex. In 1996, six workshops for local businesses were open together with a visitor centre and permanent exhibition. The Trust also publishes a series of booklets on interesting aspects of the North Pennines area.

For members, the Trust publisges a newsletter four times a year and organises a programme of events and winter talks and visits to interesting sites in the North Pennines.

To join the North Pennines Heritage Trust, please write to:-
North Pennines Heritage Trust, Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre, Nenthead, Alston, Cumbria, CA9 3PD.

For more information about the South Tynedale Railway, please contact:-

THE SOUTH TYNEDALE RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY,
Registered Office Address:-
The Railway Station, Alston, Cumbria, CA9 3JB.
Telephone 01434 381696.
Talking timetable - Telephone 01434 382828.
Registered Charity No. 514939.
Limited by Guarantee: Company Registration No. 1850832 (England).

E-mail enquiries - please click on links below:
South Tynedale Railway information - Send e-mail to South Tynedale Railway
STRPS membership information only - Send e-mail to Kathy Aveyard
Tynedalesman information only - Send e-mail to Tynedalesman compilers

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