Architecture
The structure is 1,200 feet (370 m) long, and reaches a maximum height of 67 feet (20 m) above the floor of the valley. It consists of 26 semi-circular arches each of 30 feet (9.1 m) with piers of 7 feet (2.1 m) thick at the base and 5 feet (1.5 m) thick at the top, together with one elliptical arch of 50 feet (15 m) over a section of the A23 London Road called Preston Road. The piers of this arch are 22 feet (6.7 m) thick at the base and 19.5 feet (5.9 m) thick at the top. Each pier contains a jack arch with a semi-circular soffitt and invert to reduce the number of bricks required. The piers are thicker on the outside than on the inside because the viaduct is constructed on a sharp curve: trains reach the viaduct almost immediately after leaving the Brighton Main Line, and the line continues to curve away for several hundred metres. Of the 27 arches, 16 have a radius of curvature of 0.75 miles (1.21 km), and 11 have a radius of 0.125 miles (0.201 km).
Approximately 10 million bricks were needed to build the viaduct. The brickwork is red and brown, with yellow brick dressings. The wartime reconstruction used blue brick, a darker type often used for heavy-duty construction. The 26 narrower arches are round-headed, whereas the wider span across Preston Road is elliptical. Each pier has a long, rectangular opening on each inner side, with rounded arches at the top and bottom. Running along the top of the viaduct on both sides is a balustrade with stone balusters.
Read more about this topic: London Road Viaduct
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