Crumlin Viaduct
| Crumlin Viaduct | |
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Crumlin Viaduct in 1957
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| Coordinates | 51°40′49″N 3°08′23″W / 51.6804°N 3.1396°WCoordinates: 51°40′49″N 3°08′23″W / 51.6804°N 3.1396°W |
| Carries | Taff Vale Extension |
| Crosses | Ebbw River |
| Locale | Monmouthshire |
| Owner |
Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway British Railways |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Wrought iron, stone pillars and supports |
| Total length | 284 yards (260 m) |
| Width | 1,650 feet (500 m) |
| Height | 200 feet (61 m) |
| Longest span | 150 feet (46 m) |
| No. of spans | 7 (Ebbw) + 3 (Kendon) |
| History | |
| Architect | Charles Liddell |
| Designer | Thomas W. Kennard |
| Engineering design by | Falkirk Iron Co |
| Fabrication by | Falkirk Iron Co |
| Construction start | 1853 |
| Construction end | 1857 |
| Construction cost | £62,000 (£41 7s per foot) (£6.262m at 2014 prices) |
| Opened | 1 June 1857 |
| Closed | 1967 |
| Highest railway viaduct in the United Kingdom throughout its working life | |
 Crumlin Viaduct
Location in Caerphilly
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The Crumlin Viaduct was a railway viaduct located above the village of Crumlin in South Wales, originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (NA&HR) across the Ebbw River.
Hailed as "one of the most significant examples of technological achievement during the Industrial Revolution", in its 109 years of service until being dismantled in 1967, it remained: the least expensive bridge for its size ever constructed; the highest railway viaduct in the United Kingdom; the third highest viaduct in the world, after the aqueduct at Spoleto, Italy, and the timber viaduct in Portage, New York state.
During the Industrial Revolution, and the mass-extraction of coal from South Wales, there was a resultant growth in construction of railways into the South Wales Coalfield. The Taff Vale Railway so monopolised the trade of shipping coal to Cardiff Docks, that mine owners were desperate for competitor railway companies to both improve speeds of shipping, provide access to new markets, and hence reduce shipping rates.
The London and North Western Railway had developed a route for the industrialised West Midlands and Northwest England, by controlling the Llanfihangel Railway and the Grosmont Railway's as feeder lines into the Hereford Railway, and hence onwards via the joint GWR/LNWR controlled Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway. This allowed shipment of goods from Pontypool and the Ebbw Valley to Hereford. However, access to the productive Rhymney Valley and Rhondda Valley coalfields was at best restricted, through having to route trains south to Cardiff along the TVR, then along the South Wales Railway to Newport via the GWR, before being able to access LNWR controlled track.
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