In recent years there has been some discussion of building a bridge between Scotland and Ireland. It's incredible though to think that, over 150 years ago, there used to be a bridge between Scotland and England. Even more incredible that it was destroyed by icebergs!
The Solway Junction Railway was built to shorten the route from ironstone mines in Cumberland to ironworks in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It opened in 1869, and included the 1.8 km long viaduct, crossing the Solway Firth.
An exceptionally cold winter in 1881 caused the rivers and fringes of the Solway to freeze. When the melt began, huge ice-floes formed and were pushed at speed down the Solway, crashing into and piling up against the viaduct. Watchmen in the huts at the ends of the viaduct listened with alarm to the terrifying noise “like artillery fire” as huge chunks of ice nearly 2m thick and as much as 25m across destroyed a large section of the bridge. At night local onlookers watched sparks being struck by the collapsing iron sections.
The repairs were difficult and extremely expensive, and the line did not reopen until May 1884. The viaduct continued in use until 1921. Demolition began in 1933, much to the disappointment of those Annan drinkers who had regularly crossed it on foot to the English pubs in Bowness on Sundays when the Annan pubs were closed.
The viaduct and the connecting railways were dismantled, and now only the shore embankments that you see remain.
When the nearby Chapelcross nuclear power station was constructed in the 1950s, a 6km effluent pipeline was built along the track bed of the old railway. The pipeline discharged up to a million gallons of cooling water into the Solway every day. You can still see this pipeline as you walk along the old railway from the bridge crossing Seafield Road, or as part of the Annan Shore Walk.
To log this cache:
- Message or email me with the answer to the following question. Close to the published coordinates take a look at the end of the pipeline just before it disappears underground before the small hut. What is the pipe section number?
- With your log, upload a photo of both ends of the bridge with you or your GPS in the picture.
Credit And References:
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.