Monday, January 05, 2009

Stockport Viaduct

For our contribution on the first Monday of the month to Broer som Binder [Bridges between] we have nipped down the road to Stockport to look at its famous viaduct.


This first view is from the M60 motorway Eastbound looking South towards the viaduct; the motorway itself is elevated so it is nearly level with the roofs of buildings that nestle under the viaduct's archways.

The viaduct was built in 1839/40 by the engineer George Watson Buck under the architect John Lowe.


This second view is taken from outside the bus station. The motorway is somewhere near the farthest arch to be seen in this photograph. Note how it towers over the double-decker buses in the garage.


This view is from the other side above Daw Bank near to where it reaches Stockport Station.

In 1887-89 it was widened to four tracks, 27 arches, 111 feet high and 1786 feet long, comprising 11 million bricks.


In this last shot I've used "histogram equalisation" to highlight the contrast so you can see the variations in the brickwork.

A good view looking down the railway line over the viaduct taken from Stockport Station in 2005 by Charles Rawding can be found on the Geograph site

More details of and links to other participants to Broer som Binder can be found on Visual Norway.

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting commentary with your bridge photos -- better than a history book!

    Mine is up, drop by and see it.

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  2. Those viaducts are something special - they are not common around here. Even nicer to see that the work from the mid 1800s are kept in good shape.

    I'll look forward to see your fireworks display!

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  3. Wonderful pictures and posting for the bridges.

    Happy New Year!

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  4. Nice one cos I like old bridges as well as chimneys......... Now if one man lays a thousand bricks a day how long would two men take to build three bridges??????

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