• Restoration of historic Parkhead Viaduct for Black Country Metro route nears completion (West Midlands Combined Authority)
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I’m impressed that Brunel was still designing viaducts decades after his death. You don’t get that work ethic these days
@Herned – well designs live forever
http://www.forgottenrelics.org/bridges/parkhead-viaduct/
Construction of the Old Worse & Worst was overseen by the GWR, with Isambard Kingdom Brunel its chief engineer. Progress was slow and by June 1849 all the money raised had been spent with only the middle section close to completion.
Parkhead Viaduct, to the south of Dudley, was erected in 1850 as a wooden structure, carrying the railway over Parkhead Locks on the Dudley Canal. The construction methodology was determined by the soft ground thereabouts, resulting in the sinking of wooden piles to support trestle piers. However, early in its operational life, the viaduct began to sink. The GWR board authorised the expenditure of £7,000 in March 1877 to encase the structure in brick.
It continued to suffer from the effects of ground movement. Photographs show that rail level was about 3 feet above the top of the parapet in the 1980s. Since closure in 1993 an attempt to prevent the worsening of defects was removing the ballast and fill to relieve the load on the arches. The track over the viaduct was removed in 1999.
It’s good to see that an old structure (the Parkhead viaduct) has been repaired and restored so it can be used for future rail transport. That’s so different from other places which have demolished and rebuilt.