Royal Border Bridge

"Berwick viaduct" redirects here. For the small road bridge in Berwick-upon-Tweed, see Berwick Bridge. For the larger road bridge in Berwick-upon-Tweed, see Royal Tweed Bridge.

Royal Border Bridge
Royal Border Bridge
Coordinates	55°46′19″N 2°00′50″W / 55.772°N 2.014°W / 55.772; -2.014Coordinates: 55°46′19″N 2°00′50″W / 55.772°N 2.014°W / 55.772; -2.014
Carries	Railway
Crosses	River Tweed
Locale	Northumberland
Heritage status	Grade I listed
Characteristics
Material	brick, faced with stone
Total length	659 metres (2,162 ft)
Number of spans	28
History
Designer	Robert Stephenson
Construction begin	1847
Construction end	1850
Royal Border Bridge Royal Border Bridge shown within Northumberland grid reference NT992532

Royal Border Bridge spans the River Tweed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed railway viaduct built between 1847 and 1850, when it was opened by Queen Victoria. The engineer who designed it was Robert Stephenson (son of George Stephenson). It was built for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway and is still in regular use today, as part of the East Coast Main Line. Despite its name, the bridge does not in fact span the border between England and Scotland, which is approximately three miles further north.

The bridge is 659 metres (2,162 ft) long and constructed in stone except for brick soffits to the arches. It has 28 arches, each spanning 60 feet (18 m). The railway is carried 37 metres (121 ft) above the river level.^[1]

Repairs and modifications

It was electrified in 1989,^[2] and between 1993 and 1996 it underwent significant repair work for the first time in a Railtrack project with some funding from English Heritage. In 2010, the bridge was fitted with colour-changing lights for its 160th anniversary.

Royal Border Bridge with 25 of the 28 arches in view

Royal Border Bridge with 27 of the 28 arches in view

A panorama from up-river, showing all 28 arches of the Royal Border Bridge over the River Tweed

References

↑ Bruce, George Barclay (1851). "Description of the Royal Border Bridge over the River Tweed, on the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway". Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 10: 219–44.
↑ "Royal Border Bridge". Network Rail Virtual Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Border Bridge.

River Tweed, Great Britain

Administrative areas	Scottish Borders Scotland Northumberland England

Flows into	North Sea

Towns (upstream to downstream)	Tweedsmuir Peebles Innerleithen Walkerburn Galashiels Melrose Newstead St Boswells Kelso Coldstream Berwick-upon-Tweed

Major tributaries (upstream to downstream by confluence)	Cor Water Talla Water Holms Water Lyne Water Manor Water Quair Water Leithen Water Caddon Water Ettrick Water Yarrow Water Gala Water River Leader River Teviot River Till Whiteadder Water Blackadder Water

Major bridges (upstream to downstream)	Neidpath Viaduct Tweed Bridge Yair Bridge Leaderfoot Viaduct Drygrange Old Bridge Dryburgh Suspension Bridge Mertoun Bridge Kelso Bridge Hunter Bridge Coldstream Bridge Ladykirk and Norham Bridge Union Bridge A1 River Tweed Bridge Royal Border Bridge Royal Tweed Bridge Berwick Bridge

Longest UK rivers Severn Thames Trent Great Ouse Wye Ure/Ouse Tay Spey Clyde Tweed Avon Nene Eden Dee

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.