Stockport Viaduct
53°24′34″N 2°9′56″W / 53.40944°N 2.16556°W
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The Stockport Viaduct is a grade-II* listed [1] structure in Stockport,England, designed by George Watson Buck[2] At 111 feet (33.85 Metres) high[3], Stockport's railway viaduct is on of western Europe's biggest brick structure and represents a major feat of Victorian engineering. Completed in 1840, Stockport Railway Viaduct was the largest in the world at the time of its construction and a key pioneering structure of the early railway age. Eleven million bricks were used in its construction - if laid end to end they would stretch 1,500 miles. At one stage, 600 workers were employed in shifts, day and night, to complete the massive structure. It was entirely built of layer upon layer of common brick. It opened in 1842 with services running to Crewe, enabling travellers from Stockport to reach London. Northern artist L.S. Lowry was an admirer, depicting its 27 arches in a number of his works. It was also widened from two to four tracks during 1887-1889. Floodlit and given a facelift in 1989 in a £3 million restoration project, the viaduct is now part of a main line service carrying passengers to destinations across the UK.
History
The viaduct was officially opened on June 4th 1840[4]. In common with Stockport railway station, the viaduct was also historically referred to as Edgley Viaduct[5]
Before the second world war this viaduct was not the largest brick construction, The Krupps Armanents works, in Germany, enjoyed this title [citation needed] but that did not survive Allied bombing. Many lives were lost during it's construction.[citation needed]
It has made a brief contribution to literature, being mentioned in the introduction to the Northern Mill Towns in Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.
The first section of the Manchester & Birmingham to be completed ran from a temporary station in Manchester, at Travis Street, to a temporary station at Heaton Norris, on the Lancashire side of the Stockport viaduct. Opened for traffic on 4 June 1840, this short line was an immediate success, carrying nearly 2,000 passengers a day during the second half of 1840. Two years later, on 10 May 1842, train services were extended from Heaton Norris to Sandbach and the permanent Manchester station in Store Street was opened.
The overhead power cables were added during the 1970s when this part of the West Coast Main Line was electrified.[6]
1890 Expansion
In around 1890 it was decided the viaduct should be expanded. This was because L&NWR, formed in 1846, wanted to have several tracks on one route so that slower trains could be overtaken. To add more tracks to the viaduct would mean the need for expansion. So it was decided and the viaduct was expanded allowing 2 more tracks to be built.
Controversy
In 2007 Stokport council complained about plans by the train operator Arriva Cross Country to reduce by 50% the number of Manchester to Birmingham trains stopping at Stockport. Councillor David White claimed that a 1840 Act of Parliament guaranteed that all trains passing over the viaduct had to stop at Stockport station.[7]. An online petition to the government has been opened to oppose this change [8][9]. No reference to the specific act has yet been quoted, however as the viaduct was started in 1839 the act of parliament authorising its construction must have predated that.
References
- ^ Grade II Listed building [1]
- ^ Designed by lower down this page [2]
- ^ Dimensions of Stockport viaduct [3]
- ^ Francis Whishaw, The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland Practically Described, J. Weale, 1842, p306 google books
- ^ Edgley Viaduct, Stockport, about 1890, Science and Society Picture Library, [4]
- ^ John Andrew Fairhurst. "Stockport Viaduct".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessedon=ignored (help) - ^ Victoria Morley, Stop! Trains just ‘passing through’, Stockport Express, 14/11/2007 [5]
- ^ Register your viaduct vote online for trains to stop, Stockport Express, 19/3/2008 [6]
- ^ "10 Downing Street on line pettions".
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