The Cambrian Line Archive
John Powell Cambrian Coast Photographs
All Photographs are Copyright of the author & permission must be sought if any use is to be made of them
BARMOUTH VIADUCT
This is the longest wooden trestle viaduct in Europe, having 113 compound wooden spans supported by wood pylons.The original
structure was all wood, constructed of pitch pine with a wooden drawbridge at the Western end over the river Mawddach,
subsequently replaced in the early 20th Century with the present cast iron pillars and rotating swing bridge. The pillars are filled
with concrete & buried some 50 feet beneath the river.During 1980 some of the pylons were found to be infested with marine shipworm.
The bridge was immediately closed for six months while remedial work was undertaken, subsequently reopening for light traffic only.
This meant the closure of Pwllheli, Porthmadog & Penrhyndeudraeth goods yards. The traffic was mostly pick up work with the bulk
being explosives traffic at Cooke's works in Penrhyn. This was transferred to the Trawsfynydd Branch at Maentwrog Road. After some
£2 million work to replace the pylons, some encased at their base in concrete, the bridge was reopened to locomotive hauled traffic,
the ceremony taking place with the arrival of a special train on 13th April 1986, captured here by John. The class 25 engines, apart
from a special to Pwllheli in the spring of 1986 being replaced by class 37s, which are still operational on the line to this day. Work
has still been required on the bridge with subsequent engine bans in the 1990's. Further span replacement was undertaken during the
early 2000s with the bridge recently carrying a class 33 on an inspection special to Barmouth.Here's some of the shots than John took
on that historic day, which saved the line from closure (along with the radio signalling installed the previous year) way back in 1986
when I was 17 years old.
