I use to pilot steam trains over the viaduct early 60s when we had line working on a Sunday s&t works . The LD ran from chesterfield to pywipe junction when they ran out of money , originally planed to go to east coast near mablethorpe for coal traffic . Mrs Arckwright cut the first sod in Arkwright town 1897
I have original photographs taken by my grandfather when the bridge was built , they must be the only two in existence of the bridge being built , the old bridge top was replaced in 1964 when it became single line over the viaduct , I remember seeing being replaced
I am always blown away by our ancestors who when met with a problem like how to cross a river and flood plane with a railway they just devised a solution and got on with it and , very little deterred or stopped them did it. Of course the costs of materials and labour was much lower in comparison to today's. Great video and thank you for adding another walk to my list of to do's.
Its a beautiful viaduct this one Paul. The brickwork is stunning, great explore underneath it Paul. Greaf view as well right to the end of the viaduct seeing the curvature of it. Great view on top makes a fab walk. Still surprising that it closed given that its an important link over the Trent. Great video Paul. ❤😊
When you come off the via duct towards Clifton it’s 63/4 dead straight miles as the crow flies to skellingthorpe curve , it was the longest pice of straight track in Europe after its construction for a few years
I’ve tried to buy the old the goods shed at Harby many times but Reeds bought it and used it as a grain store , but they’ve never maintained it so it falls into a state , tight farmers that’s why , I’d buy it tomorrow and restore it back to its former glory and then build my model railway inside it . We tried to buy the old waiting rooms and booking offices but no chance they were to be pulled down , although Mr Chapman did buy north Clifton on Trent and it still stands
Another bit of info about the LD . 1971 Allen Pegler brough the flying Scotsman 4472 down the LD on a special excursion to Skegness via Lincoln They never got further than Clifton box , because the scheduled coal train derailed at screw bridge blocking the line . This train ran at 13:15 passed Clifton at 13:56 came rattling through Harby at 1406 with only 4 wagons behind him the rest of the train was pulled up at screw bridge . So the Scotsman got as far as Clifton but couldn’t enter the section to Harby , there it stayed for 4/5 hours until a class 32 was sent from shirebrook to pull it back train of 8/10 coaches too , the offending train causing the delay was stopped at skellingthorpe home board to be told of the problem & Rex Harris signal man said now mate where the bloody hell is the rest of your train . The driver never even knew he’d lost it because the fireman was up in the front cab with him not sat in the rear cab , he was simply exceeding the speed limit for the line and the guard in the brake never rode a brake again he said coming off the viaduct I gave him 3/4 tugs but he didn’t slow down and when we parted folly bridge I kept the brake on as much as possible but no use , it snapped at screw bridge he carried on I went into the pile up . That driver was never seen again and I did know him he came from Laxton village originally from Berkshire but moved north to escape the southern rushing about . When I saw him again some years later I asked him …”did you not know we do things a bit slower up north old lad , he replied bloody Saturday afternoon shift Kev lad I wanted down to whitemore and back for 7:30 if possible I was on a promise , he admitted to me he’d got her wound up and was over the 50mph of the line restriction and if I’m honest we all did it to make up time between Clifton and skelly curve it was 6& 3/4 miles dead straight you could make up lost time there by a good few minutes but never get ahead of schedule because if you did you met the down passenger from Doncaster to Lincoln at pywipe junction so got held back until it passed pywipe before you got the all clear to go up onto the avoiding line . I was on the up line one day heading towards fledborough got pulled up waiting for another to clear the viaduct on the down he was coming a bit quick over the viaduct we had a 15mph in place from 25mph when it was single lined in 64 . It was Wednesday afternoon at 14:30 on the 5th May 1982 , I though hey up this lads doing a Mooney , Moon being the surname of the driver causing the crash in 71 in front of Scotsman , My fears were right he caused the crash in the same place as Mooney did in 71 …screw bridge again through speeding too , that led to the closure of that section from fledborough to pywipe Same place almost same time as Mooney how ironic was that and there was nothing wrong with the line or track it was just speeding caused it , however every house for miles around kept in coal for a good few months , I went down at the weekend when we started the clearing up process I was on duty on the crew train etc . I pulled the brake and about 5/6 22 tonne mineral wagons back into Clifton sidings where they stood for months they were full when I shunted them empty when I fetched them before the track was removed … I fetched trailer loads of coal from that crash site with my old grey fergie and trailer and old Cliff baker who lived in the farm house nearest had the rest , sonny Chilvers about 100 tonne too , there must have been at least 600/1000 tonnes of coal all heaped up and even today you can see it still in the ground in places at the crash site . I transferred from shirebrook depot to Lincoln central train crews depot after the LD closed my uncle shut skelly box and ended up as car park attendant at Lincoln central , I ended up on passenger services from Lincoln to Nottingham or Birmingham down the midland . Or some days Lincoln to peterborough via sleaford . I hated those passenger services , they were clean tidy jobs on dmu,s but stop start every 10 mins . I ended my days on oil trains out of immingham with class 47’s down to toton shunt up and bring a load of empties back to immingham shunt up then yok on a loaded train back to toton yards . Sounds nice and clean and it was no stop start but after a while you get bored of the same journey same load same time day after day . I much preferred my steam days on the old pick ups calling at every place meeting people chatting away in a slower pace of life . One day I came into Doddington and Harby shunted up the cattle dock went for Dinner with my uncle in the signal box with my fireman it was a Friday fish n chip day from Madgies at Saxilby , 1pm eating fish n chip dinner mug of tea etc myself as driver and Tom whiteley fireman , bill Reynolds’s guard all had dinner fell asleep until I stirred at 14:20 woke the other 2 up my uncle Eric as signal man laughing didn’t fall asleep said you lazy gits piss off to skelly he’s been on asking where’s the pick up I’ve told him your waiting on a special sugar beet delivery from Jarvis at the estate at Doddington ok . Aye aye Eric I said and off we went alibi in tact . When we returned over 2 hours late at shirebrook on Friday night on the return journey our foreman where the bloody hell you buggers been , I said waiting on a beet delivery at Doddington from Jarvis on the estates knowing they never question the squire of Doddington estates . Mr Petit our foreman said aye kev lad did they taste good with salf n vinegar ,…on a Friday …….I wasn’t always a white collar man thou nos . …book yourselves in 2 hours overtime , and your rostered off till Monday aren’t you , I said yes boss he said grand lad my missus is cooking a beef roast a Sunday lunch and my garden could do with a spade over ok , aye boss we all said see you Sunday morning . We dug his garden planted his spuds and had Sunday lunch with them …..they were glory days
Now I know what’s in part 3! I was wondering why they made so many brick arches and not an embankment. Due to the flooding risk or lack of waste materials from nearby cuttings?
That's a great question about the arches instead of an embankment. I would guess that they needed to keep the flow of the Trent downstream in severe flood? Otherwise it would a huge dam
I use to pilot steam trains over the viaduct early 60s when we had line working on a Sunday s&t works . The LD ran from chesterfield to pywipe junction when they ran out of money , originally planed to go to east coast near mablethorpe for coal traffic . Mrs Arckwright cut the first sod in Arkwright town 1897
I have original photographs taken by my grandfather when the bridge was built , they must be the only two in existence of the bridge being built , the old bridge top was replaced in 1964 when it became single line over the viaduct , I remember seeing being replaced
That is the original distant signal for the down for Clifton on Trent we used to change the lamps in that
I am always blown away by our ancestors who when met with a problem like how to cross a river and flood plane with a railway they just devised a solution and got on with it and , very little deterred or stopped them did it. Of course the costs of materials and labour was much lower in comparison to today's.
Great video and thank you for adding another walk to my list of to do's.
Nice one. You're right though, we seem to make such a meal out of building anything these days don't we.
My grandad was part of the construction team , there were 3 different construction teams & companies during its construction
Thank you fore today’s video. Always an interesting trek. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and see you on the next! Cheers Paul! 😊😊
Cheers Martin 👍.
All the best
Definitely one of the more impressive viaducts with its length and all of those arches, plus the massive steel supports.
Very underated I think. If it was in North Yorkshire, it would be on the opening credits of Looks North 😄
Its a beautiful viaduct this one Paul. The brickwork is stunning, great explore underneath it Paul. Greaf view as well right to the end of the viaduct seeing the curvature of it. Great view on top makes a fab walk. Still surprising that it closed given that its an important link over the Trent. Great video Paul. ❤😊
Cheers Carol.
I guess the derailment happened at a time were British Rail was severely running down the railways and a period of under investment
The river ran nearer to north Clifton south Clifton road and after the bridge was built they diverted the river under it
Hey Wobbly,
Thanks for the video. I have ancestors from North Clifton, at the eastern end of the viaduct, so its nice to see the area!
Nice one Scott 👍
When you come off the via duct towards Clifton it’s 63/4 dead straight miles as the crow flies to skellingthorpe curve , it was the longest pice of straight track in Europe after its construction for a few years
I’ve tried to buy the old the goods shed at Harby many times but Reeds bought it and used it as a grain store , but they’ve never maintained it so it falls into a state , tight farmers that’s why , I’d buy it tomorrow and restore it back to its former glory and then build my model railway inside it . We tried to buy the old waiting rooms and booking offices but no chance they were to be pulled down , although Mr Chapman did buy north Clifton on Trent and it still stands
Another bit of info about the LD .
1971 Allen Pegler brough the flying Scotsman 4472 down the LD on a special excursion to Skegness via Lincoln
They never got further than Clifton box , because the scheduled coal train derailed at screw bridge blocking the line . This train ran at 13:15 passed Clifton at 13:56 came rattling through Harby at 1406 with only 4 wagons behind him the rest of the train was pulled up at screw bridge .
So the Scotsman got as far as Clifton but couldn’t enter the section to Harby , there it stayed for 4/5 hours until a class 32 was sent from shirebrook to pull it back train of 8/10 coaches too , the offending train causing the delay was stopped at skellingthorpe home board to be told of the problem & Rex Harris signal man said now mate where the bloody hell is the rest of your train . The driver never even knew he’d lost it because the fireman was up in the front cab with him not sat in the rear cab , he was simply exceeding the speed limit for the line and the guard in the brake never rode a brake again he said coming off the viaduct I gave him 3/4 tugs but he didn’t slow down and when we parted folly bridge I kept the brake on as much as possible but no use , it snapped at screw bridge he carried on I went into the pile up . That driver was never seen again and I did know him he came from Laxton village originally from Berkshire but moved north to escape the southern rushing about .
When I saw him again some years later I asked him …”did you not know we do things a bit slower up north old lad , he replied bloody Saturday afternoon shift Kev lad I wanted down to whitemore and back for 7:30 if possible I was on a promise , he admitted to me he’d got her wound up and was over the 50mph of the line restriction and if I’m honest we all did it to make up time between Clifton and skelly curve it was 6& 3/4 miles dead straight you could make up lost time there by a good few minutes but never get ahead of schedule because if you did you met the down passenger from Doncaster to Lincoln at pywipe junction so got held back until it passed pywipe before you got the all clear to go up onto the avoiding line .
I was on the up line one day heading towards fledborough got pulled up waiting for another to clear the viaduct on the down he was coming a bit quick over the viaduct we had a 15mph in place from 25mph when it was single lined in 64 .
It was Wednesday afternoon at 14:30 on the 5th May 1982 , I though hey up this lads doing a Mooney , Moon being the surname of the driver causing the crash in 71 in front of Scotsman ,
My fears were right he caused the crash in the same place as Mooney did in 71 …screw bridge again through speeding too , that led to the closure of that section from fledborough to pywipe
Same place almost same time as Mooney how ironic was that and there was nothing wrong with the line or track it was just speeding caused it , however every house for miles around kept in coal for a good few months , I went down at the weekend when we started the clearing up process I was on duty on the crew train etc . I pulled the brake and about 5/6 22 tonne mineral wagons back into Clifton sidings where they stood for months they were full when I shunted them empty when I fetched them before the track was removed …
I fetched trailer loads of coal from that crash site with my old grey fergie and trailer and old Cliff baker who lived in the farm house nearest had the rest , sonny Chilvers about 100 tonne too , there must have been at least 600/1000 tonnes of coal all heaped up and even today you can see it still in the ground in places at the crash site .
I transferred from shirebrook depot to Lincoln central train crews depot after the LD closed my uncle shut skelly box and ended up as car park attendant at Lincoln central , I ended up on passenger services from Lincoln to Nottingham or Birmingham down the midland . Or some days Lincoln to peterborough via sleaford . I hated those passenger services , they were clean tidy jobs on dmu,s but stop start every 10 mins .
I ended my days on oil trains out of immingham with class 47’s down to toton shunt up and bring a load of empties back to immingham shunt up then yok on a loaded train back to toton yards .
Sounds nice and clean and it was no stop start but after a while you get bored of the same journey same load same time day after day . I much preferred my steam days on the old pick ups calling at every place meeting people chatting away in a slower pace of life .
One day I came into Doddington and Harby shunted up the cattle dock went for Dinner with my uncle in the signal box with my fireman it was a Friday fish n chip day from Madgies at Saxilby , 1pm eating fish n chip dinner mug of tea etc myself as driver and Tom whiteley fireman , bill Reynolds’s guard all had dinner fell asleep until I stirred at 14:20 woke the other 2 up my uncle Eric as signal man laughing didn’t fall asleep said you lazy gits piss off to skelly he’s been on asking where’s the pick up I’ve told him your waiting on a special sugar beet delivery from Jarvis at the estate at Doddington ok .
Aye aye Eric I said and off we went alibi in tact . When we returned over 2 hours late at shirebrook on Friday night on the return journey our foreman where the bloody hell you buggers been , I said waiting on a beet delivery at Doddington from Jarvis on the estates knowing they never question the squire of Doddington estates .
Mr Petit our foreman said aye kev lad did they taste good with salf n vinegar ,…on a Friday …….I wasn’t always a white collar man thou nos . …book yourselves in 2 hours overtime , and your rostered off till Monday aren’t you , I said yes boss he said grand lad my missus is cooking a beef roast a Sunday lunch and my garden could do with a spade over ok , aye boss we all said see you Sunday morning . We dug his garden planted his spuds and had Sunday lunch with them …..they were glory days
I’ve been over that thankfully it still survives amazing structure
It looks in pretty good condition too
De railment was at screw bridge back of bakers farm
Very good again some great builders back in them days.Its a great view from above.Wonder how they got that steel bridge and them pillars in water.
Great point. I'd not really thought about it. I wonder if they floated them out on the river?
Would be interesting to find out Paul looking forward to part 3.@@WobblyRunner
Now I know what’s in part 3! I was wondering why they made so many brick arches and not an embankment. Due to the flooding risk or lack of waste materials from nearby cuttings?
That's a great question about the arches instead of an embankment.
I would guess that they needed to keep the flow of the Trent downstream in severe flood? Otherwise it would a huge dam
That was great Paul. Was that section ever double track or just originally built for it.
Thats a very good question. The early maps do show double track, whether or not they are reliable for such a detail is another question.
That’s some viaduct Paul.
Great isnt it