Torksey Viaduct over River Trent

Torksey Viaduct over River Trent

A railway viaduct built between 1847 and 1849, designed by engineer John Fowler to span the River Trent and its flood plain on the Lincolnshire-Nottinghamshire border near Torksey village in Lincolnshire.

The viaduct is constructed of iron box girders and cast iron columns and beams, supported by ashlar and coursed masonry abutments and a central pier at its western end. The eastern end terminates in an earth embankment ending at a brick abutment with ashlar dressings.

The structure comprises three distinct sections. At the western end, two iron box girder spans, each approximately 30 metres in length, cross the river channel. These are supported by masonry abutments with semi-circular moulded arches and brick linings, each arch featuring a keystone set below a moulded band course. The advanced flanking piers are formed of coursed masonry with rusticated quoins, rising from moulded and domed bases and terminating in moulded entablatures, blocking courses and shallow pyramidal caps. The single central pier, similarly detailed, forms the junction between the two box girder sections. The parapets to the box girder sections are formed from riveted iron plates.

Steel lattice girders were inserted at the centre of both box girder sections in 1897 to strengthen the structure. The northern side of the box girder section has been repaired and fitted with timber boarding to facilitate pedestrian access, together with security mesh secured to the north face of the lattice girders.

The middle section consists of twenty shorter spans carried on trestles over the subsidiary river channel and flood plain. Each trestle is formed from hollow cast-iron columns and cast-iron beams. A base beam supports vertical columns at the centre of each trestle and raking columns at each end, with the central pair of vertical columns linked by diagonal cross bracing. A transverse head beam carries longitudinal beams forming the viaduct deck, with beam junctions supported on moulded cast-iron pads above each column. The longitudinal beams carry cantilevered deck beams extending outwards on each side to support twentieth-century post and rail parapets.

Most trestles comprise a single tier of four vertical columns. The viaduct increases in width as it advances westwards towards the box girder section. Some trestles incorporate a fifth vertical column and an asymmetrical head beam extending further outwards on the south side to carry a fifth longitudinal beam. Trestles standing in the secondary river channel at the western end of this section are formed of two tiers of columns, the lower tier with seven vertical columns and the upper tier with both vertical and raking columns.

The eastern section is an embanked approach extending from the trestle section to the Gainsborough to Lincoln road, terminating at a short embankment section ending at the west abutment of a former railway bridge that once spanned the road to the north of Torksey village.