Usk Railway Bridge
Great Western Railway Usk bridge | |
---|---|
OHLE | |
Location | |
The Usk Railway Bridge is a railway viaduct in Newport city centre, Wales. It crosses the River Usk in an east—west direction, carrying the Great Western Main Line.
The original bridge was constructed for the
During the late 1880s, a second bridge was constructed alongside the first, which benefitted from a simpler design in comparison to the first. During the 1910s, the second bridge was extended to accommodate a quadruple track configuration, enabling the original bridge to be retired during 1925. During 2019, the lines across the second bridge were
History
Origins and predecessors
The origins of the Great Western Railway Usk bridge are closely connected with the early history of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and its renowned chief engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel .[1] The directors of the GWR had resolved to construct a trunk route between London and Swansea, running though various cities and major settlements in between. During the 1840s, Brunel, who had been put in charge of surveying and selecting the line's route, arrived in Newport for the purpose of planning how the South Wales Railway would traverse various geographic challenges, which included a means of carrying the line across the River Usk.[1]
Brunel decided that a
Brunel swiftly redesigned the bridge explicitly to prevent any recurrence of fire.[1] Recognising that starting from scratch would set the line's completion back even longer, he decided to incorporate the remaining structural elements into the new bridge. While some elements continued to use wood, wrought iron plates and girders were also adopted; the remaining wooden elements were subject to a different treating method, known as chyanizing.[1] In his redesign of the bridge, Brunel effectively invented the now-common bow-string-shaped girder to replace several of the wooden sections originally used.[2]
By 1850, the Usk railway bridge was effectively complete, and the first trains crossed the structure that same. It would be in service for exactly 75 years, being retired during 1925 and dismantled soon thereafter, having been replaced by a newer bridge alongside.[1]
Current bridge
In 1888, the original bridge was supplemented with a second one, which was made largely of stone. Its deck, made of metal, made use of a
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wade, Martin (6 May 2016). "The Long View: How Newport's vital crossings were built". Telegraph & Argus.
- ^ a b "Timber Railway Viaducts in Wales". engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ "Electrifying the south Wales mainline – an important rail route linking major towns and cities". Network Rail. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ "Railway upgrade will improve Newport viaduct". Network Rail. Retrieved 5 October 2017.