3-021-201 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lattice iron viaduct at the Ruisseau d'Alma, junction of the Montlucon and Limoges Railway, 1868. 'This is one of the largest of the engineering works in iron yet completed in France. The Montlucon and Limoges branch line recently opened by the Paris and Orleans Railway Company forms the shortest route from Lyons to Bordeaux. The district traversed by the line abounds in mineral wealth, and not the least extraordinary feature is that the coalfields are imbedded in solid granite, and great expense has been consequently incurred in the construction of the line, it being necessary to blast through the compact granite nearly the whole way. The viaduct is 58 metres above the level of the River Creuse in the valley. Its length is 339 metres, and consists of a superstructure of lattice girder-work supported on piers. The viaduct has been constructed without the aid of scaffolding'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.