Isla Viaduct

Location type

Bridge

Name and dates

Isla Viaduct (1855-1965)

Opened on the Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway).

Description

This single track viaduct carried the Scottish Midland Junction Railway's branch from Coupar Angus to Blairgowrie over the River Isla.

The original 1855 viaduct was timber, 387ft long and with 12 spans. It was built with so many spans as when the River Isla was in spate the water level rose considerably and river was much wider. After 1879 (the Tay Bridge Disaster) the Caledonian Railway planned to replace timber viaducts, including this one. It was planned to be replaced in 1881. Severe weather in February had The Reporter of Stirling newspaper report "The railway bridge which carries the Blairgowrie branch of the Caledonian Railway across the Isla has been so badly damaged by the ice blocks that traffic has to be carried over at reduced speed." In Forgotten Railways: Scotland John Thomas recounts how Caledonian Railway employees spent a night on the bridge breaking up ice floes to keep the bridge standing, and the disappointment of onlookers on the river embankment to see the bridge still standing the next day.

The new six span metal bowstring girder bridge was begun in 1881 and, despite severe flooding late that year, was completed in 1882. Girders were supported at a height of 25ft by pairs of metal cylinders with cross bracing.

The line closed in 1965 and girders removed. The five pairs of piers remain today.

The embankment to the north of the viaduct was removed in the 2000s along with the north abutment. Some metalwork has been removed from the northernmost pair of piers since 2007 (pier caps, cross braces, possibly stolen?). The southern abutment remains.

Another railway bridge crossed the River Isla to carry the Alyth Railway, Isla Viaduct [Cardean].

Tags

Viaduct

Aliases

Blairgowrie Viaduct