3-021-314 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Railway bridge and viaduct at Runcorn, 1869. 'The great viaduct and bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn, which has been constructed by the London and North-Western Railway Company to shorten the distance between Liverpool and London, has been opened for public traffic. The quickest train is the ten a.m., which does the journey to Liverpool in five hours and ten minutes...The Runcorn viaduct was planned by Mr. William Baker, engineer to the Company. The whole length of the viaduct and bridge is a mile and a half. The bridge - a wrought- iron open lattice girder - consists of three openings of 305 ft. each, the height to the under edge of the girders at spring-tide high water being 75 ft. The piers are built upon the rock. The approaches are by a viaduct of brickwork, containing on the Lancashire side sixty-five arches and on the Cheshire side thirty-two arches. These arches are built in blue Staffordshire bricks, and are of 61 ft. 6 in. and 40 ft. spans. The facings and piers of the bridge are of Bramley-fall stone. There is a footpath along the viaduct, which was opened last October, and is a convenient substitute for the ferry. The view shown in our Engraving is taken from Runcorn Gap, looking down the river'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.