The Harringworth Viaduct

A presentation by John Hillier.

The meeting this evening with John Hillier taught absolutely everything there is to know about “The Harringworth Viaduct”. A good evening with plenty of great photography, the first half of the presentation was all about the viaduct’s construction back in 1870, it is the longest brick-built structure in the UK and is on the line from Manston to Kettering. It is 1275 yds long with 82 arches, rising to 70ft above the ground, each arch being 40ft wide. It took 30 million bricks and was completed by 3000-4000 workers. It was built because the L&NW railway wanted to shorten journey times from London to the North, serving places like Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds. The line has 5 other viaducts and 5 tunnels along the route. After the break we saw many of John’s photographs of the viaduct, from all angles, and a wide variety of traction, also several steam specials as this is a popular diversionary route and attractive for charter traffic. We closed the evening with a look at some of the photographs from the recent “Young Photographer of Year” competition, something John is involved in and one that is helping to keep our railway hobby alive.

Dave Elsdon
Branch Secretary