Monday 4 March 2013

A Tale of Two Viaducts

On Saturday 02 March 2013 we visited the Settle to Carlisle Railway in the Yorkshire Dales to photograph The Cumbrian Guardsman and The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express.

The weather was generally good but unfortunately at the important times the sun managed to disappear behind the clouds making photography of moving objects a bit of a lottery. Our first location was Dandry Mire Viaduct which is just north of Garsdale station.

Dandry Mire Viaduct

The construction of Dandry Mire Viaduct was completed in 1875. It is 227 yds (208m) long and stands 50 ft (15m) high. Originally planned as an embankment difficult ground conditions resulted in the construction of the viaduct.

Dandry Mire Viaduct construction date


70000 Britannia was hauling Vintage Trains Limited “The Cumbrian Guardsman” steam hauled from Hellifield to Carlisle over the Settle to Carlisle Line returning to Carnforth via Shap.

70000 Britannia crosses Dandry Mire Viaduct

Britannia heads onto Dandry Mire Viaduct

After this our second visit of the day was to Dent Head Viaduct. The intention was to photograph 60009 Union of South Africa with The Railway Touring Company’s  “Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express”

Dent Head Viaduct

Dent Head Viaduct is a 10 arch viaduct with a combined length of 199 yds (182m) long standing 100ft (30m) high.

As we arrived it was a sunny afternoon and would have made a spectacular photograph with the train crossing over the viaduct. Unfortunately the train was running a few minutes late so by then,  the sun had dipped behind the hills lighting up only the distant fells as Union of South Africa crossed the viaduct.

60009 Union of South Africa crosses Dent Head Viaduct



Copyright: Original post from http://steamdaysblog.blogspot.co.uk/author M Garrett

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