Glasgow, Central Station, New Approach Viaduct

NS56SE 140.01 58688 64801

Location formerly cited as NS 5870 6471 to NS 5873 6486.

For adjacent (to N) and associated Central Station, see NS56SE 77.00.

For (superseded) signal box (situated at NS 58682 64783, on W approach viaduct), see NS56SE 2183.

Length 752 ft [229m] , average width 120 ft [36.6m], steel content 11,000 tons, principal spans 160 ft [48.8m] , 200 ft [61m], 178 ft [53.4m]. Built for Caledonian Railway into Glasgow Central Station, alongside an earlier bridge (NS56SE 140.00), also built by Sir William Arrol and Co. in 1875-1878.

(Undated) informnation in NMRS.

This bridge was designed by D.A. Matheson, chief engineer of the Caledonian Railway. It was built 1899-1905 by Sir William Arrol and Company and is of steel with granite piers founded on five steel caissons.

Sir William Arrol & Co, 1909; J R Hume 1974.

(Central Station Bridges). The present [second] bridge was built 1899-1905 [for the Caledonian Railway], and is of much more substantial steel construction [than the earlier bridge], on granite piers, each of which is founded on five steel caissons. It also was built by Arrol and Co.

J R Hume 1974.

(Central Station Bridges). The second bridge was built in 1899-1905, when the station [Central Station] was enlarged (engineer Donald A Matheson, of the Caledonian Rly Co; contractors Sir Wm Arrol and Co, and Morrison and Mason). It carries up to ten tracks, the width varying from 35 to 62.5m (114 to 205ft), with a minimum of eight parallel main girders in the width. The facades are enlivened by the cantilevering of latticework parapets from the main girders on large curved brackets, throwing the heavier steelwork into shadow.

The main structure spreads low over the Broomielaw quay below, a dark and complex monster of steel. Each of the two supports in the river is a line of five granite-faced cylinders linked by arches just above low-water level. Deep underneath are rectangular steel caissons covering the whole area of the piers, and filled up with concrete and brickwork. They were sunk by the compressed air process to a firm sand and gravel stratum at depths 12 to 21m (40 to 70ft) below high water.

E Williamson, A Riches and M Higgs 1990.

The earlier (E) of these two bridges was opened on 1 August 1879 to allow Caledonian Rly access to the (new) Central Station (NS56NE 77.00). As part of the (1899-1905) expansion of Central Station a second bridge (of comparable appearance) was added on the W. The new bridge was brought into use in March 1905. At the same time, the old bridge was re-floored to bring it up to the height of the new. Re-signalling in 1960 and 1966 rendered it redundant, and it was demolished; the new bridge remains in use.

M Smith 1994.

Although commonly termed a viaduct, this structure is more properly to be considered a bridge. It carries the approach tracks of the former Caledonian Rly main line across the River Clyde into Central Station (NS56NE 77.00), immediately to the N, and thus forms the most northerly portion of the now-electrified West Coast Main Line (from London, Euston).

The location assigned to this record defines the centre of the former span. The high approaches on each side render the extent of the structure unclear, but the available map evidence suggests that it extends from NS c. 58710 64914 to NS c. 58610 64703. The N end of the viaduct carries the S (approach) end of the longer platforms over the Broomielaw, while the S end crosses Clyde Place.

This bridge forms the central element of the tightly-spaced group of bridges across the River Clyde in central Glasgow, between the Upper and Lower Harbours. The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Glasgow (to the N) and Govan (to the S).

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 19 December 2005.