Tyne and Wear HER(1009): Scotswood Railway Bridge - Details
1009
Gateshead and Newcastle
Scotswood Railway Bridge
Scotswood
NZ16SE
Transport
Railway Transport Site
Railway Bridge
Early Modern
C19
Structure
The present bridge, now disused, is the third on this site. The first, of 1839, was by John Blackmore for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, a timber truss bridge with eleven spans each of 18.2 metres; it burned down in 1860 during a Board of Trade inspection. A temporary bridge replaced it and lasted until 1871 when the present bridge, with wrought iron hog-back girders each of 38.6 metres on cast iron cylinder piers, was opened. The railway bridge was built as part of the important development of the Newcastle to Carlisle Railway and was sanctioned by the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Act of 1829. The bridge closed in 1982 since when trains have used the line along the south bank and crossed the river on the King Edward and High Level Bridges.
197
637
NZ197637
<< HER 1009 >> Pers. Comm. I. Ayris
I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 17