Banavie, Railway Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal General view from south of south west side of bridge Digital image of D 48389 CN

Description Banavie, Railway Swing Bridge over Caledonian Canal General view from south of south west side of bridge Digital image of D 48389 CN

Date 5/5/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 801399

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 48389 CN

Scope and Content Banavie Railway Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Highland, from south This shows the 1901 railway swing bridge, engineered by Simpson & Wilson, which carries the West Highland Extension Railway over the canal. The metal frame (left) supports the bridge when it has been moved into an open position and the winch (foreground) was probably used for securing boats onto the adjacent pier. Part of the control cabin for the nearby swing bridge is visible on the right. A small wooden signal box controlled the movement of trains over the railway swing bridge which is hand-operated. The bridge-keeper who would have lived nearby was responsible for opening the bridge to allow boats to pass into or out of the adjacent locks. The Caledonian Canal was designed by Thomas Telford (1757-1834) and built between 1803 and 1822 at a cost of £840,000. It was the first example of a transport network funded by the government in Great Britain. The 96.5km-long canal provides a route for boats travelling between the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean as it runs from the Beauly Firth at Clachnaharry, Inverness, to Loch Linnhe at Corpach. Only 35.4km of this length is man-made while the other 61km runs through four lochs: Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. Unfortunately, at 4.2m deep, the canal was too small for most sea-going ships which led to it being altered and deepened between 1844 and 1847. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/801399

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap