Frodsham Viaduct - Frodsham, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 18.145 W 002° 42.553
30U E 519377 N 5905952
This railway viaduct carries the Chester - Manchester rail line over the River Weaver Navigation.
Waymark Code: WMVXPV
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/08/2017
Views: 0
Completion of the River Weaver Navigation in 1734 provided a navigable route for transporting salt from Winsford, through Northwich, to Frodsham, where the Weaver joins the River Mersey.
The Chester–Manchester line is one of two lines which run between the cities of Chester and Manchester in North West England. It is the faster of the two lines, and runs via Newton-le-Willows and Warrington Bank Quay. The other (slower) line is the Mid-Cheshire line.
There is currently one train per hour in each direction from Chester to Manchester, but from December 2017 there will be an additional train per hour in each direction, calling only at Chester, Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester Victoria.
Arriva Trains Wales operate an hourly service throughout between Manchester and Chester (no trains stop at Deansgate, Eccles or Patricroft) and onwards calling at all stations to Llandudno on the North Wales Coast Line (except in the late evenings and on Sundays, when trains terminate at Chester). Certain services run to or from Holyhead instead of Llandudno on weekdays to connect with the Irish ferries.
Class 175 units are primarily used for the services between Manchester and North Wales, although Class 158 units can appear; Class 142 Pacer and Class 156 Sprinter units are used on the infrequent service between Liverpool/Warrington B.Q and Ellesmere Port which share the line between Warrington and Helsby.
It is also used by the Freightliner Group for access to the rail-served maritime freight terminal at Ellesmere Port.
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The viaduct has 23 masonry arches and larger span cast iron arches over the navigation itself. It is a Historic England Grade II listed building "Railway viaduct over River Weaver and adjoining land, 1848-1850, by A Rendel, Engineer, Thomas Brassey, contractor, for Birkenhead, Lancs & Cheshire Junction Railway Co. Red sandstone, brown brick and cast iron. 2 segmental-arched iron spans of circa 30 metres over river; 2 round arches on west bank (Frodsham C.P.) and 21 on east bank (Sutton C.P.). Piers to iron spans are rusticated tooled ashlar; the other spans have rusticated voussoirs, pier faces and quoins and rock-faced spandrelsl brick reveals. Cornice to iron-span piers, plainer imposts to others. Top of central pier to river modified to take mid C20 concrete track bed."
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