Logierait Bridge - Perth & Kinross, Scotland.
Posted by: 
creg-ny-baa
N 56° 38.807 W 003° 41.010
30V E 458086 N 6278277
The former Tay Viaduct open lattice girder railway bridge, over the River Tay near the Perthshire village of Logierait, now the only community-owned ex railway bridge in Scotland.
Waymark Code: WMZMWZ
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/04/2018
Views: 1
The railway viaduct over the River Tay at Logierait was opened in 1865 and carried the line along Strath Tay from Ballinluig to Aberfeldy. The last train to cross it was in May 1964 after the line became a victim of the Beeching cuts, and it became the property of the Kinnaird Estate. In 1991 the Estate attempted to close the dilapidated bridge until two residents were granted interim interdicts at Perth Sheriff Court thus preventing the Estate from blocking access. The Estate did not challenge the decision and in 1994 gifted the bridge to the local community who founded the Logierait Bridge Company.
The bridge was comprehensively restored in 2000-01 and reopened on Wednesday 1st August 2001. It is one of the few open lattice girder viaducts left in Scotland and is formally listed as a structure of national historic and architectural significance.
The railway tracks are now replaced by wooden sleepers and the bridge is used by vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, the bridge being on Route 7 of the National Cycle Network.
There are two plaques on the pillars of the eastern side of the bridge, the one on the left reads:
'The board of the Logierait Bridge Company acknowledge the leadership and dogged determination of Robert Smith OBE. His knowledge and dogged determination were instrumental in ensuring the rescue and refurbishment of the bridge 2000/2001.'
The plaque on the right reads:
'THE TAY VIADUCT, LOGIERAIT
First opened in 1865 by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway (later to become the Highland Railway), the Tay Viaduct passed into the hands of Kinnaird Estate in 1964 after the last train had crossed the bridge on 1st May of that year. In 1994 the Estate gifted it to the local community which founded the Logierait Bridge Company (a company limited by guarantee with charitable status) to hold it.
In 2000/01 it was comprehensively restored at a cost of around £400,000 and re-opened as a community-owned road bridge.'
The bridge is reached along a track leading off the A827 road on the east side of Logierait. It links up with the B898 on the other side of the river.