Alternative Names Connel Bridge; Falls Of Lora; Loch Etive; Firth Of Lorne
Site type RAILWAY BRIDGE, ROAD BRIDGE
Canmore ID 23278
Site Number NM93SW 20
NGR NM 91118 34495
Council ARGYLL AND BUTE
Parish KILMORE AND KILBRIDE
Former Region STRATHCLYDE
Former District ARGYLL AND BUTE
Former County ARGYLL

Canmore Mapping
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Archaeological Notes

NM93SW 20 91118 34595

Connel Br [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1976.

(Location cited as NM 911 343 to NM 911 347). Connel Bridge, completed 1903 for the Caledonian Rly. A large steel cantilever bridge with three semicircular masonry approach spans at each end; the main span is 550 ft (152.5m) long. For many years used by road and rail, the bridge has been used by road vehicles only since 1966.
J R Hume 1977.

Ballachulish branch. Cantilever construction. Converted to road traffic use.
D Kennedy 1971; M R Bonavia 1987.

This single cantilever span was built in 1898-1903 by the Arrol Bridge Co. across the narrows between Loch Etive and the Firth of Lorne 1/4 mile NW of Connel Fery Station. It now carries the Oban-Ballachulish (A828) road.
When completed, this bridge had a wider span than any other railway bridge in Britain except the Forth Bridge; the use of a single cantilever span was necessitated by the rapid tidal flows and the consequent unfeasability of using staging. The bridge was built sufficiently high to allow the passage of ships, with steeply-graded embankments on each side and a three-arched masonry viaduct [on the S].
C E J Fryer 1989.

The Connel Ferry bridge on the Ballachulish line of the Callander and Oban Railway was completed in 1903. When constructed it was the second largest clear span in Europe. This steel cantilever bridge has a main span of 500 feet (152.5m) with three approach spans at each end. It has been in use as a road bridge only since 1966. The engineer was Sir John Wolfe Barry (and others) and was constructed by Arrol's Bridge and Roof Company, Germiston Ironworks, Glasgow.
J Thomas 1966; G Nelson 1990.

This bridge was designed by Sir John Wolfe Barry and built by Arrol's Bridge and Roof Co for the Callander and Oban Rly (in all respects part of the Caledonian Rly) to carry the Ballachulish branch across the mouth of Loch Etive (at the Falls of Lora). It opened to public traffic on 24 August 1903, carrying a single railway track and a road.
The road was not opened to public use (on a toll basis) until 1913, a road-onto-rail system being used before that date. The branch line closed on 28 March 1966 and the bridge is now used solely for road traffic.
M Smith 1994.

This bridge was built by Henry Marc Brunel, second son of I K Brunel. He also assisted at Tower Bridge, London.
D Beckett 2006.

This bridge carries the A828(T) public road over the mouth of Loch Etive, immediately downstream from (to the W of) the Falls of Lora [name: NM 912 345]. A subsidiary span crosses the A85(T) public road at the S end.
The loch here forms the boundary between the parishes of Ardchattan and Muckairn (to the N) and Kilmore and Kilbride (to the S).
The location assigned to this record defines the approximate midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence suggests that it extends from NM c. 91116 34364 to NM c. 91094 34626.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 17 May 2006.

Notes and Activities

1898 to 1903

CONSTRUCTION

Notes Built on the Ballachulish Branch of the Caledonian Railway.

Further details

1914	MODIFICATION

Notes Bridge deck modified to take both road and rail traffic.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007b

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.


Further details

2007

PROJECT

Notes This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

Further details

2007	PUBLICATION ACCOUNT

Project Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands snd Islands

Notes Connel Ferry Bridge, once the longest cantilever railway bridge in Europe after the Forth Bridge, is situated 5 miles north-east of Oban at the entrance to Loch Etive, where strong currents and the tide race ruled out the placing of the bridge piers in mid-channel. It was constructed between 1898–1903, on the Ballachulish branch of the Caledonian Railway. The span of the bridge is 524 ft between the piers, but the inward-sloping support structure reduces the clear span to 500 ft.
The engineer was Sir John Wolfe Barry whose partners H. M. Brunel and E. Cruttwell were also involved. The contractor was Arrol’s Bridge & Roofing Company of Glasgow, and the superstructure of the bridge contains about 2600 tons of steel mostly erected from 1900–03. The bridge originally carried a single line railway which ruled out the use of scarfed rail expansion joints as trains ran in each direction.
The bridge has a suspended span of 232 ft, large in comparison to the 524 ft total span, which in conjunction with the short anchor spans of 106 ft tends to give the bridge a rather awkward appearance. The struts are all rectangular box members (unlike the circular tubes of the Forth Bridge) with the stiffeners on the outside, somewhat like the welded seams of a Mini car.
In 1914 the bridge deck was modified to take both road and rail traffic and, subsequent to the closure of the railway in 1966, was adapted solely for road traffic.

R Paxton and Jim Shipway 2007b

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


Further details

3 May 2007

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Project 2007 RCAHMS Aerial Survey

Further details

Books and References

Beckett, D (2006) Brunel's Britain, Newton Abbot
Page(s): 29 pl. p. 30

Bonavia, M R (1987) Historic railway sites in Britain, London
Page(s): 190, 192 Held at RCAHMS F.6.4.BON

Fryer, C E J (1989) The Callander and Oban railway, Oakwood Library of Railway History series, no. OL 76 Headington, Oxford
Page(s): 63, 70, 96, 169, no. 16, 172 pls. pp. 94, 101, 168 Held at RCAHMS J.6.71.FRY

Hume, J R (1977a) The industrial archaeology of Scotland, 2, the Highlands and Islands London
Page(s): 78, 155 pl. 49 Held at RCAHMS J.4.11.HUM

Kennedy, D (1971) The birth and death of a Highland Railway, London
Page(s): 94-103 Held at RCAHMS J.6.71.HIG

Nelson, G (1990) Highland bridges, Aberdeen
Page(s): 36 Held at RCAHMS J.6.3.NEL

Paxton and Shipway, R and J (2007b) Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands, London
Page(s): 13-14 Held at RCAHMS J.5.41.PAX

Ritchie and Harman, [J N] G and M (1996) Argyll and the Western Isles, Exploring Scotland's Heritage series, ed. by Anne Ritchie Edinburgh
Page(s): 38, 67 Held at RCAHMS A.1.4.HER

Smith, M (1994) British railway bridges and viaducts, Shepperton
Page(s): 155-7

Thomas, J (1966) The Callander and Oban railway, Newton Abbot
Page(s): 126-8, 130-3 pl. 7, 33 Held at RCAHMS J.6.71.THO

Walker, F A (2000) Argyll and Bute, The buildings of Scotland series London
Page(s): 198 pl. 133 Held at RCAHMS Quick

Walters, D (196-?) British railway bridges, London
Page(s): 64-5 Held at RCAHMS J.6.3.WAL.P

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