Yarm Viaduct was built between 1849 and 1852 by the Leeds Northern Railway to carry their Northallerton to Stockton line. It has forty one small arches either side of the river and two large ones crossing the river, making a total of 43 arches. The viaduct was constructed 760 yards long, 24 feet in width and carries two tracks. It is hard to imagine the impact this must have had on the inhabitants of Yarm, with the great number of labourers brought in to construct this great monument. The amount of materials needed for the task was of course also huge with 7,500,000 bricks in total for the 41 arches of bricks, and 134,000 cubic feet of stone for the two river arches.The viaduct was designed by Thomas Grainger and John Bourne. This information is recorded on a stone tablet between the two 167 foot high arches spanning the river.
The official opening on Saturday 15th May 1852 is reported in the Leeds Mercury. The first train along the line carried the shareholders of the Leeds Northern Railway Company. The engine was decorated in evergreens and banners, and the 8 carriages were decorated with flags and bunting. The train took 3 1/2 hours to travel the 64 miles from Leeds, arriving at Stockton at twenty five minutes past one “by Leeds time”. This was before 1880 when Greenwich Mean Time was legally adopted across the UK, and some towns maintained their own “local time”.
I am not sure if ‘Anon’s’ few concerns relate to the interesting observation that this photo has allowed which I have never noted before. A close look at the line of the track show that it dips, centred under the middle of the train. The bulk of the settlement would appear to be on the low level of the north bank. That dip or settlement must be more that two or three brick thicknesses more than the adjacent sides of the viaduct. Looks like the foundations on the mud were not as good as those on the river bed. I wonder what the same view looks like now?
In the 1960s or 1970s an archaeological dig near the site found a large dump of discarded bottles – thirsty work building such a large structure! The structure has – as can be seen in the photograph – given a few concerns in the years since built and required remedial work. The line from Eaglesclife to Northallerton is thankfully once again well used for passenger traffic after a very lean period some twenty years ago. The train in the picture is passing at around about 7.45 pm and is probably the coast portion (Stockton and Sunderland) of the C 3.00pm to King’s Cross -Newcastle which divided from the main train at York. A featherweight load for the grimy V2 class locomotive hauling it, with the photograph taken around the early to mid-1950s.