With three names, 30 million bricks, 82 sixty-foot high arches and more than a kilometer long, built by a workforce of 3,500 men and 120 horses, this viaduct’s numbers are almost as impressive as its arches.
Depending on your point of view, it’s either the Welland Viaduct (crossing the valley of the Welland River, or the Seaton Viaduct (one end is in Seaton) or the Harringworth Viaduct (where the other end is).
England is a land of many railway viaducts, but this is the longest one built to cross a valley. Its construction included building two temporary camps, one at each end, to house the mostly-Irish workers who built it. The men who prepared the ground and built the earthworks were estimated to have each shoveled more than 20 tons of earth in a 12-hour shift.
The scene looks much quieter now as the viaduct passes over rural fields dotted with occasional sheep, a far contrast to what its construction must have been like. It was as much an industrial site as a construction site: most of the 30 million bricks were fired onsite.
When service began in 1880, it was part of a key rail link between London and cities in the north, including Nottingham and beyond. In World War I it was an important route for troops moving to Channel ports, and was attacked by a German Zeppelin.
The viaduct’s career as a passenger route came to an end in 1967 when the so-called ‘Beeching cuts’ decimated British Rail, but it remained open for freight service. Because of the freight service it’s been upgraded to modern standards and higher speeds. And, since 2009, it has seen regular passenger service again, with several trains a day connecting Corby to the south with Melton Mowbray to the north. Occasionally, steam excursions cross the viaduct.
And, like every rail structure in the UK, it carries an ID card and instructions to let the Rail Authority know if any car or truck thought it could put a dent in the massive structure!
