Barmouth Bridge - Barmouth, Wales, UK
Posted by: ashberry
N 52° 43.137 W 004° 02.684
30U E 429434 N 5841518
The swing bridge is part of the Barmouth Railway Viaduct over the Afon Mawddach estuary near Barmouth, Wales.
Waymark Code: WM14V5R
Location: North Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/25/2021
Views: 0
Barmouth Railway Viaduct (a roadway 2.75m wide runs along the north side of the rail track) crosses the estuary of the River Mawddach, south of the town, carrying a single track of the Cambrian Coast Railway. Its swing span over the navigation channel no longer opens but the viaduct remains in continual use.
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Barmouth Viaduct is the best known on the Cambrian Coast network and, at 699m, is one of the longest extant timber viaducts in the UK. The structure was completed in 1867 to enable the Cambrian Railways to convey people and goods along the coast between Pwllheli and Machynlleth.
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The original opening span for shipping using the navigable river was a 14.3m drawbridge span carried on wrought iron piles that tilted and slid back over the track, rolled on four 1.2m wheels 15.2m apart and nine steel rollers. The clear opening available was 11m between fenders.
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By the end of 1902, the over-drawbridge had been changed to the present arrangement in which a 41.5m steel swing span rotates around a central pivot, adjacent to a 36m fixed span. Both spans are hogback lattice trusses carried on pairs of cylindrical iron piers, with the turntable borne by a group of four similar piers.
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The swing span was last tested in March 1984 and April 1987 but has not opened to shipping for many years. The rails are now continuous over the ends of the movable span. The viaduct was Grade II* listed in March 1988.
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