Croft Viaduct

{{Infobox bridge

| name = Croft Viaduct

| image = VTEC IC225 crossing viaduct.jpg

| alt = A train crossing a viaduct surrounded by trees

| caption =

| coordinates = {{Coord|54.4774|-1.5526|display=inline, title}}

| os_grid_reference = NZ290092

| qid = Q26424331

| carries = East Coast Main Line

| crosses = River Tees

| locale = Croft-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England

| other_name = Tees Railway Bridge

| owner = Network Rail

| design =

| material =

| material1 =

| material2 =

| length = {{convert|7|chain}}

| width =

| height =

| depth =

| number_spans = 4

| piers_in_water =

| num_track = 2

| track_gauge = {{Track gauge|sg|allk=on}}

| electrification = Overhead catenary (1990s)

| begin = 1837

| cost =

| opened = 1841

}}

Croft Viaduct is a railway bridge carrying the East Coast Main Line between {{rws|Northallerton}} and {{rws|Darlington}} in Northern England. The viaduct crosses the River Tees, the border between North Yorkshire and County Durham. Although it was an early example of a stone viaduct in the railway system, it is not the first true railway viaduct, however, it was the first railway viaduct in the United Kingdom to have been built with an oblique arch (or skew-arch). It was grade II listed in 1988, and had overhead line equipment installed in the early 1990s.

History

The viaduct was designed by Henry Welsh, and built by Deas and Hogg,{{#tag:ref|Both the designer and the contractors are reported with different spellings of their names; Henry Welsh is also listed as "Henry Welch", and Deas sometimes as "Dees".{{cite journal |editor1-last=Herapath |editor1-first=John |title=Railway Notices |journal=The Railway Magazine |date=November 1837 |volume=xxi |page=379 |publisher=Wyld & Son |location=London |oclc=931658199}}|name=Surnames|group=note}} for the Great North of England Railway (GNER) between 1837 and 1840, costing £14,481 ({{Inflation|UK|14,481|1841|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}).{{sfn|Rennison|Barbey|1996|pp=135–136}}{{cite book |last1=Simmons |first1=Jack |last2=Biddle |first2=Gordon |title=The Oxford companion to British railway history from 1603 to the 1990s |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-1986-6238-6 |pages=47, 192}}{{cite book |last1=Hoole |first1=Kenneth |title=The North East |date=1986 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbot |isbn=0-9465-3731-3 |page=94 |edition=3}} Digging for the foundations started on 25 November 1837, and the formation of the line northwards from the viaduct would go on to use the trackbed of the old Croft branch of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.{{cite web |title=Disused Stations: Croft Station |url=http://disused-stations.org.uk/c/croft_spa/index0.shtml |website=disused-stations.org.uk |access-date=2 July 2024}} The trackbed was later purchased by the Great North of England Railway.{{sfn|Hardie|2019|p=14}} The viaduct is {{convert|471|ft}} long, ({{convert|7|chain}} according to Trackmaps{{cite book |last1=Kelman |first1=Leanne |title=Railway Track Diagrams Book 2: Eastern |date=2020 |publisher=Trackmaps |location=Frome |isbn=978-1-9996271-3-3|at=20}}), {{convert|49|ft}} above the water of the River Tees, and each of the four arches is {{convert|45|ft}} across, ({{convert|59|ft}} if the 49 degree skew of the arches is taken into consideration).{{sfn|Rennison|Barbey|1996|p=136}}{{cite web |title=Genuki: Croft On Tees Parish information from Bulmers' 1890., Yorkshire (North Riding) |url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/CroftOnTees/CroftOnTees90 |website=genuki.org.uk |access-date=25 June 2024}} The height of the viaduct from the normal water level to the top of the stone parapets is {{convert|58|ft}} and the width of the bridge is {{convert|27|ft}}.{{cite book |last1=Tomlinson |first1=William Weaver |title=Tomlinson's North Eastern Railway : Its rise and development |date=1967|orig-date=1914 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbot |page=359|oclc=872328861}}

Croft Viaduct crosses the River Tees about {{convert|0.5|mi|1}} east of Croft Bridge (which carries the A167), and curves slightly to the south east.{{cite book |last1=Tomlinson |first1=William Weaver |title=Tomlinson's North Eastern Railway : Its rise and development |date=1967|orig-date=1914 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbot |page=295|oclc=872328861}} The viaduct is the most significant engineering structure built on the section of line between York and Darlington, and was opened to traffic in 1841.{{sfn|Rennison|Barbey|1996|p=135}}

During construction, the building of the viaduct was beset by labour disputes, with the engineer being authorised to hire more men to complete the building phase at the contractors' expense.{{cite book |last1=Hoole |first1=Kenneth |title=The North East |date=1986 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbot |isbn=0-9465-3731-3 |pages=94–95 |edition=3}} It is one of the oldest viaducts on the railway network, and was the first railway viaduct in the United Kingdom to be built with a skew-arch.{{cite web |last1=Betteney |first1=Alan |title=Crossing the Tees |url=https://teesarchaeology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Crossing-the-Tees.pdf |website=teesarchaeology.com |publisher=Cleveland Industrial Archaeology Society & Tees Archaeology |access-date=19 June 2024 |page=15 |date=2019}}{{cite book |last1=Maciver |first1=P. S. |title=The growth of the railway system : a lecture |date=1885 |publisher=Railway Review |location=London |page=8|oclc=1051487361}} Apart from some re-inforced concrete, the viaduct is largely composed of the original stone; dressed ashlar cream sandstone, with late 20th century parapet railings.{{cite book |last1=Biddle |first1=Gordon |title=Britain's historic railway buildings: an Oxford gazetteer of structures and sites |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0198662475 |page=409}}

A tradition of newly-appointed bishops arriving into County Durham being presented with a falchion which slew the Sockburn Worm, is normally associated with the road bridge at Croft-on-Tees, which in railway terms, is {{convert|35|chain}} upstream.{{cite book |last1=Whishaw |first1=Francis |title=Analysis of railways: consisting of a series of reports on the twelve hundred miles of projected railways in England and Wales, now before Parliament |date=1837 |publisher=J. Weale |location=London |page=88|oclc=14920595}} However, in 1860, Henry Montagu Villiers arrived by train, and so the locomotive was stopped on Croft Viaduct to allow the ceremony to take place.{{cite web |title=Croft Railway Bridge |url=https://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/croftrl.html |website=bridgesonthetyne.co.uk |access-date=19 June 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Lloyd |first1=Chris |title=Mr Cheese spreads the word, but gets into a bit of a pickle |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/4798018.mr-cheese-spreads-word-gets-bit-pickle/ |access-date=19 June 2024 |work=The Northern Echo |date=16 December 2009}}

The viaduct is registered with Historic England as a grade II listed structure.{{NHLE|desc=Tees Railway Bridge |num=1299454 |grade=II|access-date=25 June 2024}} It had overhead line equipment installed in the early 1990s, with the first electric train north from York, reaching Edinburgh in June 1991. As Croft Viaduct was listed as Grade II in 1988, consent had to be sought from the local authority to alter the structure with the catenary.{{cite news |title=ECML: Electrification as it used to be |url=https://www.railengineer.co.uk/ecml-electrification-as-it-used-to-be/ |access-date=2 July 2024 |work=Rail Engineer |date=27 November 2017}} Historic England list the name of the bridge as being "Tees Railway Bridge".

The original Croft Branch of the Stockton & Darlington Railway had a proposal to cross the Tees to venture {{convert|1|mi|adj=on}} into Yorkshire, but the cost of building a bridge was found to have been prohibitive.{{sfn|Hardie|2019|pp=8–9}} The Croft Branch was also further north (upstream) of the position of Croft Viaduct.{{cite web |title=Georeferenced Maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15.3&lat=54.48244&lon=-1.54980&layers=168&b=1&o=100 |website=maps.nls.uk |access-date=25 June 2024 |quote=Use the slider on the bottom left (named "Change transparency of overlay") to toggle between old mapping and modern-day satellite imagery}}

Notes

References

= Sources =

{{cite book |last1=Rennison |first1=Robert William |last2=Barbey |first2=M. F. |title=Civil engineering heritage. Northern England |date=1996|orig-date=1981 |publisher=T. Telford |location=London |isbn=0-7277-2518-1 |edition=2}}
{{cite report|last=Hardie|first=Caroline|title=The Croft Branch Line of the Stockton & Darlington Railway|date=June 2019|publisher=Archaeo-Environment ltd|location=Barnard castle|url=https://www.darlington.gov.uk/media/9795/croft-report-final-sept-19.pdf|website=darlington.gov.uk}}

{{Crossings navbox

|structure = Crossings

|place = River Tees

|bridge = Croft Viaduct

|upstream = Croft Bridge

|downstream = Low Hail Bridge}}

Category:Crossings of the River Tees

Category:Bridges completed in 1841

Category:Railway viaducts in County Durham

Category:Railway viaducts in North Yorkshire

Category:Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire

Category:Grade II listed bridges