Hope Valley Line Railway Bridge – Bredbury, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 25.057 W 002° 05.890
30U E 559935 N 5919106
This brick built arch railway bridge carries the Hope Valley railway line over the Peak Forest Canal.
Waymark Code: WMMVMB
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/09/2014
Views: 2
The Peak Forest Canal
The Peak Forest Canal is a narrow (7-foot (2.13 m) gauge) locked artificial waterway in northern England. It was constructed in 1794 and is 14.8 miles (23.8 km) long and connects the Ashton Canal at Dukinfield with Buxworth.
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The Hope Valley Line is a trans-Pennine railway line in England linking Sheffield with Manchester. The last part of the route was completed in 1894, 100 years after the canal was constructed.
The line was built by the Midland Railway. There are in fact a number of lines on this route, and this section was built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee as part of the Midland Railway's drive to reach Manchester with its line from London via Ambergate and Millers Dale. In 1875 a more direct route was built through Bredbury and it is this route that is carried by this bridge.
The line is currently operated by Network Rail and the bridge carries diesel powered trains between Manchester and Marple.
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The bridge crosses the Peak Forest Canal at an angle and is bridge number 13A on the canal. The bridges on this canal are numbered from the Dukinfield end of the canal and have retained their original numbers. The letter at the end of the number indicates that the bridge was built after the the original canal bridges and so is between the original bridges 13 and 14.
The bridge narrows in the middle indicating a junction where it was widened when extra tracks were added to the bridge.