Cornwall Railway Viaducts
The Cornwall Railway company constructed a railway line between Plymouth and Truro, England, opening in 1859, and extended it to Falmouth in 1863. The topography of Cornwall is such that the route, which is generally east-west, cuts across numerous deep river valleys that generally run north-south. At the time of construction of the line, money was in short supply due to the collapse in confidence following the railway mania, and the company sought ways of reducing expenditure.
On the advice of the Victorian railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, they constructed the river crossings in the form of wooden viaducts, 42 in total, consisting of timber deck spans supported by fans of timber bracing built on masonry piers. This unusual method of construction substantially reduced the first cost of construction compared to an all-masonry structure, but at the cost of more expensive maintenance.
Replacement of the timber viaducts by all-masonry structures began in the 1870s but a few remained in service until the 1930s.
Read more about Cornwall Railway Viaducts: History, Constructional Features
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)