Apperley Viaducts

About

The Apperley Viaducts are two adjacent railway viaducts straddling the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. The open viaduct dates back to 1900, carrying the current double track Airedale line railway, whereas the redundant adjacent viaduct (to the immediate west) dates back to 1867, and was built to replace the original bridge at this point which collapsed in November 1866 due to severe flooding. The viaducts are two of the many railway crossings of the River Aire between Shipley and Leeds.

History: The first bridge over the Aire at this point was opened with the railway in May 1846, when the inaugural train stopped at the viaduct to inspect the earthworks. The first viaduct was 156 yards (143 m) long with ten arches, and carried up to 200 trains per day. Severe flooding in 1866 meant that instead of the river flowing through three arches, which it did normally, it was flooding through all ten arches of the viaduct by 16 November. This caused enough damage to the viaduct that it collapsed into the river in a matter of moments. The 4:50 pm train from Bradford Market Street railway station crossed the viaduct after 5 o'clock and the guard reported to the stationmaster at Apperley...