Ribblehead Viaduct

Ribblehead Viaduct
Ribblehead Viaduct
Coordinates	54°12′38″N 2°22′13″W / 54.210436°N 2.370231°WCoordinates: 54°12′38″N 2°22′13″W / 54.210436°N 2.370231°W
Crosses	Batty Moss
Owner	Network Rail
Maintained by	Network Rail
Characteristics
Total length	440 yards (400 m)
Height	104 feet (32 m)
Number of spans	24
History
Designer	John Sydney Crossley
Construction begin	12 October 1870
Opened	3 August 1875

Settle–Carlisle Line
Legend
West Coast Main Line to Glasgow Carlisle Cumbrian Coast Line to Barrow-in-Furness & West Coast Main Line to Preston Tyne Valley Line to Newcastle Petteril Goods Line between Armathwaite and Carlisle closed until Spring 2017 Scotby Cumwhinton Cotehill Armathwaite Armathwaite Tunnel 325 yd 297 m Baron Wood Tunnel No 2 251 yd 230 m Baron Wood Tunnel No 1 207 yd 189 m Lazonby and Kirkoswald Lazonby Tunnel 99 yd 91 m Little Salkeld Langwathby Waste Bank Tunnel 164 yd 150 m Culgaith Tunnel 661 yd 604 m Culgaith New Biggin British Gypsum Works, Kirkby Thore Long Marton Eden Valley Railway to Clifton and Lowther Appleby Junctions Appleby East Appleby Eden Valley Railway Ormside Viaduct 200 yd 183 m Ormside Helm Tunnel 571 yd 522 m Crosby Garrett Crosby Garrett Tunnel 181 yd 166 m Eden Valley Railway Scandal Beck South Durham & Lancashire Union Rly to Tebay Smardale Viaduct 237 yd 217 m Kirkby Stephen East South Durham & Lancashire Union Rly to Darlington Kirkby Stephen Birkett Tunnel 424 yd 388 m Ais Gill Summit 1169 ft 356.3 m Shotlock Hill Tunnel 106 yd 97 m Moorcock Tunnel 98 yd 90 m Dandry Mire/Moorcock Viaduct 227 yd 208 m Wensleydale Railway to Hawes Garsdale Rise Hill Tunnel 1213 yd 1109 m Dent Artengill Viaduct 220 yd 201 m Dent Head Viaduct 199 yd 182 m Blea Moor Tunnel 2629 yd 2404 m Ribblehead Viaduct 440 yd 402 m Ribblehead Horton-in-Ribblesdale Stone quarries, Arcow & Dry Rigg Stainforth Tunnel 120 yd 110 m Settle Leeds to Morecambe Line to Lancaster Settle Junction Leeds to Morecambe Line to Leeds
[1] [2] [3] [4]

The Ribblehead Viaduct or Batty Moss Viaduct carries the Settle-Carlisle Railway across Batty Moss in the valley of the River Ribble at Ribblehead, in North Yorkshire, England. The viaduct, built by the Midland Railway, is 28 miles (45 km) north-west of Skipton and 26 miles (42 km) south-east of Kendal. It is a Grade II* listed structure.^[5]

The land underneath and around the viaduct is a scheduled ancient monument. The remains of the construction camp and navvy settlements (Batty Wife Hole, Sebastopol, and Belgravia) are located there.^[6]

History

The viaduct was designed by engineer John Sydney Crossley.^[5] The first stone was laid on 12 October 1870 and the last in 1874.^[7] One thousand navvies built the viaduct and established shanty towns on the moors for themselves and their families.^[8] They named the towns after Crimean War victories, well-to-do districts of London and biblical names. There were smallpox epidemics and deaths from industrial accidents. Around one hundred navvies were killed during its construction.^[8] There are around 200 burials of men, women, and children in the graveyard at Chapel-le-Dale dating from the time of its construction. The church has a memorial to the railway workers.^[9][10][11]

The line over the bridge was opened to goods traffic on 3 August 1875, but passenger trains did not commence running until 1 May 1876, following approval of the works by Colonel F. H. Rich, an Inspecting Officer of the Board of Trade.^[12]

In 1964, several brand new Humber cars landed on the ground after being blown off their wagons while being carried over the viaduct on a freight train.^[8]

Description

Ribblehead Viaduct is 440 yards (400 m) long, and 104 feet (32 m) above the valley floor at its highest point.^[7] It is made up of twenty-four arches of 45 feet (14 m) span, with foundations 25 feet (7.6 m) deep. Every 6th pier is 50% thicker to mitigate against complete collapse should any pier fail. The north end of the viaduct is 13 feet (4.0 m) higher in elevation than the south end leading to a gradient of 1:100.^[8] 1.5 million bricks were used in the construction and some of the limestone blocks weigh 8 tons each.^[13][14]

Location

Ribblehead Viaduct is the longest on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Ribblehead railway station is less than half a mile to the south and to the north is the Blea Moor Tunnel, the longest tunnel on line.^[15] It is near the foot of Whernside.

The Settle-Carlisle Line is one of three north-south main lines, along with the West Coast Main Line through Penrith and the East Coast Main Line via Newcastle. British Rail attempted to close the line in the 1980s, citing the reason that the viaduct was unsafe and would be expensive to repair.^[16] A partial solution was to single the line across the viaduct in 1985, preventing two trains from crossing simultaneously. A 30 mph speed limit is also in force. The closure proposals generated tremendous protest and were eventually retracted. The viaduct, along with the rest of the line, was repaired and maintained and there are no longer any plans to close it.

Two taller viaducts on the route are Smardale Viaduct at 131 feet (40 m) high and near to Crosby Garrett, and Arten Gill at 117 feet (36 m).

Usage

In 2016 the line and viaduct carries six passenger trains from Leeds to Carlisle per day in each direction, plus regular long distance excursions, many hauled by steam locomotives. Regular diesel-hauled heavy freight trains also use the route to help reduce congestion on the West Coast Main Line. Colas Rail operate a timber train most Friday afternoons which passes over the Viaduct when it departs its yard opposite Ribblehead railway station. The combination of the rarely seen timber train and the British Rail Class 56 locomotives used to pull the train has built quite an enthusiastic following.

In popular culture

The building of the viaduct was the inspiration behind the ITV period drama series Jericho.^[17] The viaduct appears in the 1970 film No Blade of Grass and also in the 2012 film Sightseers.^[18]

Gallery

• 
  Ingleborough seen through an arch of the viaduct
• 
  Close-up of an arch of the viaduct
• 
  The Viaduct in 2014 from the west side of the line looking northwards

References

1. Baker, S.K. (2007 11th ed), Rail Atlas of Great Britain & Ireland, Oxford Publishing Co, Horsham, ISBN 978 0 86093 602 2
2. Dewick, T. (2002), Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names, Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 0 7110 2798 6
3. Midland Railway (reprinted after 1992) [originally 1913–1920], Midland Railway System Maps Volume 1: Carlisle to Leeds and Branches, Peter Kay, Teignmouth, ISBN 1 899890 25 4
4. (1990) British Rail Track Diagrams 4: Midland Region, Quail Map Company, Essex, ISBN 0 900609 74 5, p.34
5. Historic England. "Batty Moss railway viaduct  (Grade II*, scheduled) (1132228)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
6. Historic England. "Ribblehead railway construction camp and prehistoric field system  (Grade II*, scheduled) (1015726)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
7. Houghton, F.W; Foster, W.H (1965). The Story of the Settle-Carlisle Line (2nd ed.). Huddersfield: Advertiser Press Ltd. p. 137.
8. Courtney, Geoff (12 May – 8 June 2011). "A matter of life and death for railway pioneers". Heritage Railway. No. 150. Horncastle: Mortons Media Group Ltd. p. 37.
9. "Chapel-le-Dale: St Leonard, Ingleton". Church of England. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
10. Kapp, Alexander P (28 March 2010). "St Leonard's Church Chapel le Dale, Memorial". SD7377. Geograph Project. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
11. Taylor, Ian (6 June 2010). "Millennium gravestone, Chapel le Dale". SD7377. Geograph Project. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
12. "Milestones Locomotives: The Ribblehead viaduct" (Word document). locodriver.co.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
13. "Ribbleshead Viaduct". Seven Man Made Wonders. BBC. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
14. "Ribblehead Viaduct". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
15. Garrat, Colin & Matthews, Max-Wade (2003) Illustrated Encyclopedia of Steam And Rail, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, ISBN 0-7607-4952-3
16. "Craven Through The Years". Telegraph & Argus. 1 November 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
17. "JERICHO - Big hopes for major new drama series filmed in Huddersfield". Huddersfield Examiner. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
18. "Sightseers (2012)". IMDB. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

Bibliography

• Baughan, Peter E (1966). North of Leeds: The Leeds-Settle-Carlisle Line and its Branches. Hatch End: Roundhouse Books.
• Williams, Frederick Smeeton (26 April 2012) [1876]. The Midland Railway: Its rise and progress. Cambridge University Press. pp. 490–498. ISBN 978-1-108-05036-4.
• Mitchell, William Reginald; Fox, Peter (1 May 1990). The Story of Ribblehead Viaduct. Kingfisher Productions. ISBN 9781871064087.
• Brooke, David (1 January 1983). The Railway Navvy: That Despicable Race of Men. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. pp. 41–47, 51–54 et al. ISBN 9780715384497.

External links

• Pictures of the viaduct at the BBC
• Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle-Carlisle line
• "Tasmanian who played an important role in the early history of Settle-Carlisle railway". Craven Herald and Pioneer. 5 January 2013.
• Historic England. "Grade II* (324565)". Images of England.
• "Search for photos including the Ribblehead Viaduct". Geograph project.