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Ballindalloch, Railway Bridge

Railway Bridge (19th Century)

Site Name Ballindalloch, Railway Bridge

Classification Railway Bridge (19th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Ballindalloch Viaduct; Ballindalloch Bridge; Boat Hole Of Spey; Delnapot; Speyside Railway

Canmore ID 16004

Site Number NJ13NE 24

NGR NJ 16877 36799

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/16004

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Moray
  • Parish Inveravon
  • Former Region Grampian
  • Former District Moray
  • Former County Banffshire

Accessing Scotland's Past Project

An iron railway bridge, measuring about 85m in length, crosses the River Spey adjacent to Ballindalloch Station. The railway line was dismantled in the 1960s, and walkers and cyclists now use the bridge.

The main span of the bridge is constructed of iron girders, with high sides made of narrow girders riveted together to form a lattice pattern. At either end there are two short access spans, which now have ornamental cast-iron handrails. The abutments and piers upon which the bridge rests are constructed from blocks of rubble.

The bridge was opened in 1863 as part of the Strathspey Railway, running from Boat of Garten to Dufftown. As well as being a passenger line, the railway also helped to transport the huge volumes of whisky distilled throughout the Strathspey area.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

Archaeology Notes

NJ13NE 24 16877 36799

Location formerly entered as as NJ 16873 36793.

For adjacent Ballindalloch Station (NJ 1674 3660), see NJ13NE 23.

[Location incorrectly cited as NJ 169 396].). Bridge, Ballindalloch, built 1863 for The Strathspey Railway by engineer G McFarlane, Dundee. An iron-truss span with a short plate-girder access span at each end..

J R Hume 1977.

This structure was originally known as Ballindalloch Viaduct but is a lattice-girder bridge. The line closed to regular passenger traffic on 18 October 1965 and totally on 4 November 1968. The bridge still stands.

M Smith 1994.

This railway bridge (not a viaduct) formerly carried the Craigellachie - Boat of Garten ('Spey Valley') line of the Great North of Scotland Rly over the River Spey, to the NE of Ballindalloch Station (NJ13NE 23). The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Inveravon (Banff) and Knockando (Moray), to the N and S respectively.

This bridge is depicted, but not noted, on the current OS (GIS) AIB. The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence indicates that it extends from NJ c. 16900 36841 to NJ c. 16855 36756.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 7 April 2006.

Activities

Construction (1863)

Built for Speyside Railway.

Publication Account (2007)

Ballindalloch Bridge (Railway)

This triple-span bridge was built in 1863 to carry the singletrack Speyside Railway over the Spey. The main elements of the 195 ft long central span are a pair of 17 ft deep overall wrought-iron lattice girders, each constructed of doubled hexagonal plate latticed sections. The top booms of the girders are tied at intervals, and the short side spans are supported on plate girders. Alexander Gibb was the engineer, from whose line section book the figure is taken, and the contractor for the ironwork was G. McFarlane, Dundee.

The bridge is now conserved as part of the Speyside Way.

R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.

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