Inverness, Clachnaharry Railway Swing Bridge View from the west, looking down into the sealock basin and towards the opened bottom lock gates of the Clachnaharry Lock, through which is passing a tug b ...

Description Inverness, Clachnaharry Railway Swing Bridge View from the west, looking down into the sealock basin and towards the opened bottom lock gates of the Clachnaharry Lock, through which is passing a tug boat on its way towards the Sea Lock Digital image of D 64061 CN

Date 30/3/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 804827

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 64061 CN

Scope and Content Clachnaharry Railway Swing Bridge, Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Highland, from west This shows a boat travelling between the open swing bridge and Clachnaharry Locks (right). The lock was built around 1807 by John Simpson and John Cargill, and the bridge, built in 1909 for the Highland Railway, replaced an 1862 movable bridge. The timber structure on the other side of the channel supports the bridge when it has been opened. This swing bridge replaces another movable bridge, built in 1862, which spanned the canal at this point. The older bridge had probably become too out-dated or weak for the amount of railway traffic travelling over it. A fixed bridge at this point would have needed to be very tall to allow sea-going vessels to pass underneath. 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/804827

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap