Hownsgill Viaduct

The Hownsgill Viaduct (in some sources called Hownes Gill Viaduct and locally called the Gill bridge) is a former railway bridge located west of Consett in County Durham, England. It currently forms part of the Coast to Coast (C2C) Cycle Route, which crosses from Whitehaven/Workington on the west coast to Sunderland/Tynemouth on the east coast.

From July 1832 to May 1834, Robert Stephenson has been consulting engineer for the industrial Stanhope and Tyne Railway (S&TR), built to transport limestone from Stanhope to Consett, and then with coal onwards to Tyne Dock in South Shields. However, the company was unable to afford a bridge over the 49 metres (161 ft) deep and 244 metres (801 ft) wide dry valley, Hown's Gill. The company hence authorised Stephenson to construct two steep rope-worked inclines, one at 1:2.5 and a second at 1:3. To enable wagons to be transported from Waskerley to Consett and onwards to Annfield Plain, single wagons were carried sideways in cradles worked by a single stationary steam engine located at the bottom of the gorge. On 15 May 1834, the first 15.25 miles (24.54 km) section from Stanhope to Annfield opened.

After the S&TR sold its assets in 1842, while the northern section from Annfield became part of the Pontop and South Shields Railway, the now abandoned southern section was bought by the Derwent Iron Company.

After the West Durham Railway constructed a line to Crook, the began construction of the Weardale Extension Railway to Crook, which opened on 8 November 1843 from a junction on its leased Weardale Railway.

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