Railway Swing Bridge And Approach Viaducts, Bowling Harbour, Forth And Clyde Canal

Built 1896 for Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway, to Crouch and Hogg, engineers, Robert McAlpine and Sons, contractors.

MAIN SPAN: steel N truss riveted swing span, pivoted near W end, supported on hollow mass-concrete abutment containing remains of hydraulic operating gear and wheels and tracks on which span revolved. Exterior of abutment finished in pink concrete, channelled to resemble masonry with grey concrete cope. Round-arched door in E face gives access to interior. Pylons at ends of span similarly treated, but with moulded projecting cope.

E APPROACH VIADUCT: 7-span, with 2 sets of 3 mass concrete segmental arches linked by steel span. Arches have moulded arch rings, abutments treated as pilasters. Spandrels channelled as main span abutment. Parapet of all spans grey concrete with moulded string course at base and moulded cope. Centre steel span flanked by pylons rising from pilasters. All but one of arches now occupied as stores.

W APPROACH VIADUCT: 4-concrete arches, similar to those on E approach viaduct, with plate girder span across main road and footpath. 4 western arches infilled in terracotta brick, with 3 round-arched openings in each, central opening larger than flanks. Arches have moulded voussoirs, supporting columns similarly treated sides with simple moulded capitals. Plate girder span, made by Somervail and Co, Dalmuir, has been increased in depth by the addition of a narrow band of steelwork on the N side. The W abutments and wing walls are of pink channelled concrete, as is pier near W end providing immediate supports.