Pensford Viaduct Compendium
Following from: Project profile: Pensford Viaduct - National Highways
National Highways
Project profile: Pensford Viaduct
Location: Pensford, Somerset
Contractor: Hammond (ECS) Ltd
Open to the public? No
Completion: Autumn 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMXFQrSgG24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C_egzO7cL4&t=13s
Pensford Viaduct is a beautiful Grade II listed structure, made up of sixteen arches of differing widths and heights, supported by tall tapering piers in the centre and thicker shorter ones at the sides. Constructed in stone it’s 332 yards in length and reaches a maximum height of 95 feet.
Location: Pensford, Somerset
Contractor: Hammond (ECS) Ltd
Open to the public? No
Completion: Autumn 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMXFQrSgG24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C_egzO7cL4&t=13s
Pensford Viaduct is a beautiful Grade II listed structure, made up of sixteen arches of differing widths and heights, supported by tall tapering piers in the centre and thicker shorter ones at the sides. Constructed in stone it’s 332 yards in length and reaches a maximum height of 95 feet.
History
The viaduct was originally opened in 1873 to carry the Bristol & North Somerset Railway over Chew Valley.
The last passenger train to travel over the viaduct headed northwards in October 1959; after that, the line was only used for transporting goods. Apart from occasional excursions, the line was officially closed in July 1968, after flooding in Pensford weakened the structure.
Since September 1984, Pensford Viaduct has been Grade II listed. It was put on sale for £1 to the public the same year, but the associated liabilities meant there were no takers. National Highways and the Historical Railways Estate carried out renovation work in 2003 to the surface to improve drainage.
About the structure
The viaduct has 16 spans each 8.66 metres in width. Although not part of any cycling or walking routes, it is near Culvery Wood which is a popular local beauty spot for Bristol residents, and visitors to the city. A mixed-age woodland that is home to veteran oak, ash and hornbeam, and is alive with birds, bats and insects.
What was the project?
The Historical Railways Estate carried out repairs, maintenance and ecology work on the viaduct. This was to keep the viaduct safe, but also to preserve this stunning heritage asset and listed structure for future generations to enjoy.
Work was carried out around 15 years ago on the piers, drains and arches. Since then, water had been getting into open joints within the parapets with water freezing then expanding causing the mortar to pop off – each time the freeze/thaw cycle repeats, the problem worsens. So we did something to tackle this and provide a long-term fix.
After completing ecology surveys in 2022, we invested over £300,000 to fully repoint the viaduct’s parapets.
Due to the viaduct's Grade II Listed status, our contractors worked closely with the local heritage officer to ensure maintenance work was in keeping with the structure’s existing aesthetic.
This included the use of traditional lime-based mortar. To complete the repairs safely a specially designed scaffolding rig moved on tracks – moving the 300m length of the viaduct, both sides.
Following from: A glimpse into the rich history and recent restoration of Pensford Viaduct | mnrjournal.co.uk
Pensford viaduct is a striking viaduct spanning the River Chew as it flows towards and through Pensford. Although there is no access to the viaduct, it dominates Pensford and its magnificence can be enjoyed from many focal points throughout the village. The viaduct’s structure number of FNS3/17m 4ch can be seen from Stanton Lane below the viaduct.
The viaduct is believed to have taken around 10 years to build and was completed to coincide with the opening of Pensford Station (which was located in what is now Station Approach) on 3rd September 1873. It was built to carry the Bristol & North Somerset Railway and transport passengers and goods (mainly coal) between Bristol (and its floating harbour) and Radstock (and the north Somerset coalfields) with services later being extended to Frome.
Although not impacted by the ‘Beeching cuts’ announced in 1963, the last scheduled passenger train was on 31st October 1959. After this, there were only goods trains (again, mainly coal) which ceased in June 1964 and, thereafter, very occasional excursion trains. It officially closed after the 1968 flood due to the structure having been weakened.
The viaduct comprises six discrete sections: four arches extend from the abutment, followed by a smaller arch, then a series of three arches and a king pier. This arrangement is mirrored to reach the other abutment, forming the complete 16 arch structure, which is 303m long and 29m high and was built with local stone but with brick soffits to the arches.
Following from: BTM - 6-Sep-1873
The Opening of the North Somerset Railway
The line of railway between Bristol and Radstock which was commenced about ten years ago, but down to financial and other difficulties has only now been finished, was opened for public traffic on Wednesday. Years ago we should have been in a position to make this announcement had the North Somerset Railway experienced ordinary good fortunes, but those of our readers who are acquainted with the history of this line must know that that history is one of the most calamitous that the railway world has ever had to contend with. How long ago the subject of opening up the coal-fields of North Somerset by constructing a line of railway through the district was mooted, is scarcely known but we believe the first effort dates back to as early as the year 1836, and from that time till the North Somerset Railway Bill was sanctioned by Parliament a great number of schemes had been set on foot by engineers and others, with and without the countenance of the great lines of railway, the Great Western and the South-Western, to whose systems a railway through North Somerset would have been a feeder. Between Bristol and Radstock there exists a very rich coal-field, which has hitherto not been worked at so many points as would have been the case had there been greater facilities for the transit and shipment of that valuable commodity; and we cannot doubt that now these means are provided we shall hear of energetic action being taken to increase the find of coal, as the present high prices form more than ever an inducement to speculation in this direction. Besides coal the tract of country touched by the railway is rich in agricultural products, and there are also several extensive breweries to whose proprietors the new line must be a great convenience.
We have referred to the calamities which have marked the progress of the construction of the railway since it was started some ten years ago. The first sod was turned by Mrs. Milward, the lady of the Rev. Prebendary Milward, vicar of Clutton, in a field at Clutton, the property of the Earl of Warwick, who owns a very large portion of the land through which the line runs. The event took place amid much rejoicing, in the presence of some 5,000 or 6,000 persons, more than half of whom were colliers employed at the neighbouring pits. But financial difficulties followed thick and fast the one upon the other, and if we were to produce a history of the quarrels and contentions at the half-yearly and special meetings of the company, and the extraordinary phases of railway finance which came before the London law courts, or to lift the veil of privacy and tell of the ruin of families through the speculations of the too-confiding heads of those families, who were talked into risking their tens of thousands when the company was really in a state of bankruptcy, we should furnish such a fund of romance as has never before been experienced in the railway annals of the West of England. It can, however, be of no advantage to rake up again details so unsavoury in their character, or to state how or by whom the finances of the company became so hopelessly embarrassed. It will be sufficient to say that the works, which had been commenced in several places at the same time were stopped when the climax of misfortune was reached, and it was feared for a long time that those who had invested their money in the undertaking would never see their way out of the confusion and chaos that ensued, and that the line would be abandoned. Eventually the Earl of Warwick came to the rescue and at a special meeting of the company held at Midsomer Norton, in 1867, a resolution, proposed by Mr Dawson, who attended as his lordship's representative, was adopted, after a poll, by a majority of four votes, to the effect “ that the appointment of directors be postponed until the accounts of the company from its formation to the present time has been examined by a body of shareholders not being creditors.” The original object of the meeting, as stated in the requisition, was “to consider the present state of the board of directors of the company, to fill up four vacancies on such board, and to determine upon the propriety or otherwise of proceeding with a Bill introduced into Parliament by the directors for the purpose of arranging the pecuniary affairs of the company.” Mr. K Colthurst was chairman of the company at that time, and Mr. John Bingham its secretary. After a long period of inactivity, during which nothing was done towards the completion of the line, and the accounts of the company were being investigated, a new company was constituted by Act of Parliament in the latter part of the year 1870; and it is rather significant, and not less encouraging, that the gentleman appointed secretary in Mr. Bingham's place was, and is now, Mr. Frere, one of Lord Warwick's solicitors. In fact, but for Lord Warwick it is doubtful whether the work would ever have been taken up again. The liabilities of the company having been ascertained, an arrangement was made by which, if we recollect rightly, the creditors of the company were to receive shares at par in lieu of their debts, this being the only practicable mode, which presented itself to the scrutineers of the accounts by which the company could ever hope to keep its head above water. The financial difficulties being settled, a contractor was looked for, and Messrs. Perry and Co. undertook to complete the line on very liberal terms, for it was at this juncture highly desirable that the contractor, whoever he might be, should be in a position to go on with the work without being too exacting in regard to ready cash. The Great Western Railway Company were applied to, and that company consented to work the line when completed; and from that time to the present the work has progressed rapidly, and in spite of the failure and necessary reconstruction of the most expensive portion of the operations – the Pensford viaduct – the work has made rapid progress and is now completed. This viaduct is a magnificent work. It is of sixteen arches, its height to the level of the rail being 95 feet and its length 995 feet. The viaduct is of stone, and it is surmounted by a parapet wall 18 inches in thickness.
The length of the line is about 15½ miles. The junction with the Great Western at Bristol is opposite the Avonside Tannery, in St. Phillip's marsh. There are stations at Brislington, Pensford (for Chew Magna ad Chew Stoke), Clutton, Hallatrow, Welton (for Midsomer Norton, Farrington Gurney, and Paulton), and Radstock, which is the terminus. At present only a single line of rails has been laid, but the arches are wide enough for a double line if necessary. The narrow gauge system has been adopted. The journey occupies an hour. The gradients are very heavy, and this accounts for the seemingly undue length of time. The railway arrangements for the present month are as follow: - The first train leaves Radstock at 6.15 a.m., and there are three other up trains during the day, at 9 a.m., 1.15 p.m., and 5.45 p.m. The down trains from Bristol to Radstock start at 7.40 a.m., 11.15 a.m., 3.30 p.m., and 7.30 p.m. The distance between the stations are:- Bristol to Brislington, two miles; Brislington to Pensford, 4 ½ miles; Pensford to Clutton, three miles; Clutton to Hallatrow, 1 ½ miles; Hallatrow to Welton, 3 miles; Welton to Radstock, two miles. There are four different sets of single fares, viz., first, second, and third class, and Parliamentary. The single fare through by Parliamentary train is, of course, one penny per mile (1s. 4d.). The third class fare from Bristol to Radstock is 1s. 9d.; second class, 2s. 6d.; first class 3s. 9d. A first class return ticket costs 6s. 3d., and a second class return 4s. 3d. Third class carriages will be attached to every train. The opening was quite a formal matter, there being no ceremony whatever. The stations are at present in a very unfinished state, and it must be some time before they are completed.
Following from: More From "The Builder"
MORE FROM
“THE BUILDER”
D. COLE
That invaluable source of information on contractors’ locomotives, "The Builder", has thrown up a number of obscure items which give scope for thought. For instance, in the issue dated 22nd August 1863, "To be sold ...contractors’ locomotives ... by Gwynne. - H. Lee & Son, Crown Wharf, Nine Elms." Gwynne owned the Thames Ironworks at Hammersmith and it has been suggested elsewhere that he built locomotives there. But is there any certain evidence?
Them again, Rowland Brotherhood keeps appearing. On 12th November 1864 an auction sale of his plant off the Oxford & Thame Railway at Wheatley station was announced for the 21st, including two narrow gauge locos. On 30th January 1864 his plant off the Bristol & South Wales Union Railway (which ran between Bristol and Portskewett with a ferry at New Passage) was to be auctioned on 16th February at Patchway, Pilning and Portskewett, and included were three narrow gauge light contractors’ engines. No particulars can be found of these five, but two of the latter may well be those by Brown & Co (or Brown & May) referred to on page 59 of RECORD 3/4 and page 245 of RECORD 10; the third may have been by Alexander Chaplin. Since these lines were of 7ft 0¼in gauge the term "narrow gauge" might perhaps mean "standard gauge".
A note on 11th March 1865 states that three locos from the Northern Outfall contract in London had been sold for £1,000, £550 and £270. There was no undue difficulty in identifying 0-6-0 saddle tank, Manning Wardle 44 of 1862, named NORTHERN OUTFALL and sent new to George Furness, the contractor. After this notice it disappears. A second may have borne the name WHITMORE. Of the third there is no news. But Mr C.H. Dickson (SLS Journal, 1961, page 213) states that the last two were by George England.
In the issue dated 28th April 1866, it was advertised that on 7th and 8th May, the plant, including locomotive engines used on the Cheadle Branch Railway by Garside & Stead, would be auctioned. Again, on 12th May 1866, Mr Minter advertised that he would sell at Faversham on the 28th Mr Crampton’s surplus materials from the Kent Coast Railway contract, including a locomotive and tender. No further information on these two items can be found.
A great deal of activity is evident in 1870. On the 20th July two locos used by W. Jackson on the construction of Exmouth Docks & Railway were sold there. On 6th July "a powerful tank locomotive engine, nearly new" was for sale by auction at Caernarvon, having been used on the construction of the Caernarvon & Llanberis Railway - perhaps by S.C. Ridley, who is supposed to have had a Chaplin vertical boilered locomotive there. On 3rd August, Mr Edwards having presumably completed the work, two Manning Wardle locomotives used on the construction of the National Defences, Hilsea Lines, were sold. One appears to have been Manning Wardle 79 of 1863 which started life as James Rennie’s BUSY BEE: further details of this locomotive appear in RECORD 13, pp. 31-32.
J.T. Chappell’s locomotives are a troublesome lot. Two separate advertisements in August and September 1870 offer what is presumably the same engine, a six-coupled with 3ft 0in wheels and 12½in cylinders by Manning Wardle - "nearly equal to new" - which had been used on the three mile tramway from Stoats Nest to the new Imbecile Asylum at Caterham which Chappell built. There are at least three contenders: the engine which was sold to the LB & SCR in 1871 becoming 66 and which, Burtt presumes, they didn’t like and sold back to Chappell: MW 80 of 1862 for John Watson & Co., Swansea, which went from John Dickson to Chappell in 1868, became LB & SCR 290 in 1871, went back to Chappell as SAMBO in 1874 and, after being rebuilt for Chappell by MW as their 709 in 1882, went to the L & SWR as 459 in 1884: or, finally MW 81 of 1863 which went round several contractors, starting with Geo. Thomson & Co, then with John Dickson on a contract in Gower - at a guess the Llanmorlais branch, thence going to Chappell, then to Knight & Pilling at Bolton, and by 1889 to J.T. Firbank who used it on the Metropolitan Railway extensions from Rickmansworth to Chesham (by which time it was named WREXHAM).
On 7th December the contractors’ plant used by I. Nelson of Carlisle in building the Marsden Tunnel at Diggle was sold. The four-wheeled tank loco by Manning Wardle was clearly INDEPENDENCE, MW 225 of 1867, and was purchased by E.W. Goodenough, a London dealer. The next owners are supposed to have been Lucas & Randall; then in 1885 it turned up on Joseph Firbank’s Hurst Green to Ashurst Junction contract on the LB & SCR, being kept by J. Firbank and J.T. Firbank until sold to C. Williams, the dealer, of Morriston, Glamorgan, after the Fishguard Harbour contract in 1907. (I am indebted to Mr G. Alliez for the history of this engine).
Finally, in December 1870 two locomotives used on the construction of the "new South West India Dock" are advertised; there are no other clues.
Two advertisements in 1872, the first dated 6th July, state that the plant used by Brassey, Ogilvie & Harrison on the Wolverhampton & Walsall Railway is to be sold. One advertisement gives three tank locos, one of Manning Wardle, and one tender loco, but the other refers to "six ... powerful locomotive, tank and other engines by ... Haigh Foundry, Manning Wardle, Aveling & Porter, Garrett & Sons, George England, T. Cross, St. Helens, and others". Brassey collected a strange mixture of engines, as the incomplete list in "Contractors’ Locomotives, Part 1" (Union Publications) demonstrates. Of these, Aveling & Porter 220, 221 and 235 are said to have been delivered to Brassey in 1866, whilst it is tempting to identify the tender engine with the Haigh Foundry engine and both with the famous GIPSY LASS (HE 42 of 1840) which worked on the Leicester to Hitchin and the Worcester to Hereford contracts.
The name of the contractor for the SER Tonbridge Direct line seems to have escaped record; so too does the reason for the circumstance that the work was completed in 1868, but not until 1st July 1872 was the plant sold, when two locomotives, inferred to be six-coupled, built by England in 1865 made £1,520, three by Brotherhood in 1863 made £1,310 and three by Hughes £735; among buyers at the sale (but not necessarily of locomotives) are noted Peto, Cowdy, Homer, Deardon, the Landore Steel Co, Colman, Glassbrook, Tomlinson and Walker. On the 23rd another engine, a four-coupled six-wheeled saddle tank by Brotherhood was also for sale. None of these nine have been identified.
Cowdy continually advertised in "The Builder" throughout the 1870’s, either as J. Cowdy or later as Basnett & Cowdy, having invariably a locomotive tank engine for sale or hire, usually with no details. Occasionally he is more communicative: for instance, early in 1877, Basnett & Cowdy of 38, Great St. Helens and King Street, Southwark Bridge Road, London, offer for sale or hire a tank locomotive, six-coupled, 9½in; or again, in 1874 J. Cowdy of 40A, Queen Street, London, offers a four-coupled tank locomotive, 8½in, in March, and a 9in tank loco in October, and both in September. All these seem to be different engines from the 9½in six-wheeled four-coupled engine by England advertised elsewhere.
J. Perry, of Tredegar Works, Bow, is another obscure London contractor. He built the GWR Titley to Presteign branch in 1872 and the North Somerset Railway from Bristol to Radstock, where Pensford viaduct failed and had to be rebuilt. On 22nd February 1873 a sale of his plant at Hallatrow on the latter line included two six-wheeled saddle tank locomotives. He is known to have owned at least eight later engines, but the only one of about this time is the ECLIPSE, a 2−4−0 saddle tank purchased from I.W. Boulton.
Finally, notices on 28th June and 16th August 1873 state that four locos used by J.L. Read on the construction of the Devon & Somerset Railway, a broad gauge line running from Norton Fitzwarren to Barnstaple, and worked by the Bristol & Exeter, were to be sold. The interesting point is that whilst one was a 12hp chain locomotive by Aveling & Porter, the other three were six-coupled Fox Walker tanks to the 4ft 8½in gauge. Also, there is the strange case of Bristol & Exeter 111, of which not much is known; the RCTS Great Western History (page B36) gives it as an 0−6−0 tank with 4ft 8½in wheels, bearing (again) a Brotherhood plate dated 1874 "but it is improbable that this firm actually built the engine". Could this have had some connection with this contract?
BRB (Residuary) Ltd has been abolished
The organisations that have taken on BRBR’s functions and responsibilities.
