Barmouth Bridge

With 2017 marking the 150th Anniversary of the opening of Barmouth Bridge, and with us being in Wales for a job anyway, it seemed a good opportunity to go out onto the viaduct to get some pics.  We were without The Foster Childs on the weekend, which is handy as accessing the viaduct involves a slightly dodgy road crossing (a local action group are campaigning for a safer footpath access onto the structure).

As you can see, it was a very dull and murky day which did us no favours with the lighting... we were also between trains, so what would have made for a nice angle for a train shot above was missed out on...

The viaduct is a rather wonderful mix of rusty colours at the iron-end (the bridge is a mix of long wooden viaduct, and iron girder sections on what was once the end covering the deepest part of the channel.  It was built in this configuration to swing open to allow the passage of sailing ships, though in the event the opening of the railway killed the trade of the sailing ships, rendering the swinging section of the bridge somewhat redundant).

Years of exposure to the sea air has led to some significant rusting.  Over the years the viaduct has nearly been closed a few times; the wooden section was infested in the 1980's with a marine worm which bored into the timbers.  This year alone a fire caused by contractors trying to repair part of the bridge, and a collision from a yacht, have led to short-term closures.  Rumours persisted that a new concrete road/rail bridge would be built to replace the listed structure, as the nearest road crossing is several miles inland.

Happily however, it has been decided to spend a significant chunk of money on repairing the structure, which should start next year.  It certainly deserves it, as a very iconic piece of engineering and one of the few wooden bridges still on the British rail network.

Another sign of something of the neglect visible on the viaduct, though hopefully once some proper money has been spent mending it over the next couple of years it will look a bit better.

The footpath along the side of the viaduct is heavily used; when the old toll-keepers cottage closed a couple of years back, the decision was taken to close the footpath, a very unpopular choice.  It remains open, happily, though an annoyance whilst we were there was a motorcycle rider using it as a shortcut- a chap of an age who should have known better, but then we weren't about to argue with a bloke of that build and facial hair revving a Harley over the viaduct, as we didn't want to be hurled into the sea by an angry Hells Angel.

A decent little stroll, and its good that the viaduct will shortly be getting a bit of a restoration.  Just a shame there wasn't a train on the viaduct whilst we were knocking about on it, but hey-ho.  We have a few ideas for some long-exposure pics to be shot on the viaduct, so we may have a go at that in the spring...