The Ribblehead Viaduct - Photo4me

The Ribblehead Viaduct is a set of pictures taken in April 2015 using a Polaroid IS2132 digital bridge camera. The impressive structure is somewhere I had wanted to visit for a while, and I was in nearby Kirkby Lonsdale when I got the chance. The viaduct is also known as Batty Moss, and it is located approximately 13 miles north of Settle and 73 miles south of Carlisle on the famous Settle to Carlisle Railway. There is the Ribblehead Railway Station adjacent to the viaduct, which is a train ride of approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes from Leeds Railway Station, and the B6255 road linking Hawes with Ingleton passes the viaduct.

The pictures below are a set I have recently re-edited for inclusion in my Photo4Me portfolio. Clicking any image will open a link to the listing in another window.

All the pictures can be purchased on Photo4Me or just enjoyed her and on my Clickasnap profile, They will shortly be offered in various products at my Colins Picture This Zazzle store.

The history of the viaduct below is taken from my earlier post on the Ribblehead Viaduct.

The viaduct was designed by engineer John Sydney Crossley. The first stone was laid on October 12, 1870, and the last in 1874. One thousand navvies built the viaduct and established shanty towns on the moors for themselves and their families. They named the towns after Crimean War victories, well-to-do districts of London, and biblical names. There were smallpox epidemics and deaths from industrial accidents. Around one hundred navvies were killed during its construction. There are around 200 burials of men, women, and children in the graveyard at Chapel-le-Dale dating from the time of its construction. The church has a memorial to the railway workers.

The line over the bridge was opened to goods traffic on August 3, 1875, but passenger trains did not commence running until May 1, 1876, following approval of the works by Colonel F. H. Rich, an inspecting officer of the Board of Trade.

In 1964, several brand new Humber cars landed on the ground after being blown off their waggons while being carried over the viaduct on a freight train.

 

Ribblehead Viaduct is 440 yards (400 m) long and 104 feet (32 m) above the valley floor at its highest point. It is made up of twenty-four arches of 45 feet (14 m) span, with foundations 25 feet (7.6 m) deep. Every sixth pier is 50% thicker to mitigate against complete collapse should any pier fail. The north end of the viaduct is 13 feet (4.0 m) higher in elevation than the south end, leading to a gradient of 1:100. 1.5 million bricks were used in the construction, and some of the limestone blocks weigh 8 tonnes each.

 

Ribblehead Viaduct is the longest on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Ribblehead railway station is less than half a mile to the south, and to the north is the Blea Moor Tunnel, the longest tunnel on the line. It is near the foot of Whernside.

The Settle-Carlisle Line is one of three north-south main lines, along with the West Coast Main Line through Penrith and the East Coast Main Line via Newcastle. British Rail attempted to close the line in the 1980s, citing the fact that the viaduct was unsafe and would be expensive to repair. A partial solution was to single the line across the viaduct in 1985, preventing two trains from crossing simultaneously. A 30 mph speed limit is also in force. The closure proposals generated tremendous protests and were eventually retracted. The viaduct, along with the rest of the line, was repaired and maintained, and there are no longer any plans to close it.

Two taller viaducts on the route are Smardale Viaduct at 131 feet (40 m) high and near Crosby Garrett, and Arten Gill at 117 feet (36 m).

 

In 2016, the line and viaduct carried seven passenger trains from Leeds to Carlisle per day in each direction, plus periodic long-distance excursions, many hauled by steam locomotives. Regular diesel-hauled heavy freight trains also use the route to help reduce congestion on the West Coast Main Line. Colas Rail operates a timber train most Friday afternoons, which passes over the Viaduct when it departs its yard opposite Ribblehead railway station. The combination of the rarely seen timber train and the British Rail Class 56 locomotives used to pull the train has built quite an enthusiastic following. Another regular traffic flow to use it is the limestone aggregate train from Arcow quarry sidings (near Horton-in-Ribblesdale), which runs to various stone terminals in the Leeds and Manchester areas on different days. This has to be reversed in the goods loop at Blea Moor signal box (north of the viaduct) because the connection from the quarry sidings to the main line faces north.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.

My Popular Zazzle Products November 2023

I recently opened a couple of Zazzle stores to sell my pictures on a variety of products, and so far, while not selling anything, a number of views have been received on the items I have listed. I am offering my art and photos on a number of products, which include phone cases, tablet covers and sleeves, mouse and desk mats, bags, t-shirts, pillows, mugs, clocks, posters, postcards, photo enlargements, and downloads. I also allow all my designs to be transferred to other products of a person's choosing.

I thought it would be interesting to share a selection of 10 items here to showcase the different products currently available in my two stores.

Store 1 is Colins Picture Me Store, which offers a number of artworks and photos from areas outside my home county of Calderdale. The artworks can be of almost anything that took my fancy; please take a moment to go and have a look via the link in the side panel. The following 5 products are a small selection of what is available there.

Photo enlargement of a cityscape comic book style artwork.

Laptop sleeve featuring a space image of planets and a nebula.

Coffee mug featuring an artwork of the Tees Transporter Bridge, Middlesborough

Mouse mat with a drawing - artwork of a ghostly house ruin.

Pillow with a artwork of Beggar's Bridge, Glaisdale near Whitby I created based on a photo postcard. This is also available in colour.

Clicking any image will take you to the product pictured in another window. Each product design is transferable and is already available in a variety of different products in my store. I currently have over 350 products available in my Colins Picture This Store.

My second Zazzle store is Calderdale Unframed, where I offer my images of the Calderdale area on a variety of products for you to enjoy. The below products are a small selection of what is available in store.

A Snicket in Halifax features a picture I took in 2022 as a tribute to the 1937 version of the image by Bill Brandt. This is also available in colour.

Coffee mug with a picture of East Stand at the Shay Stadium, Halifax, the ground is home to FC Halifax Town and Halifax Panthers RLFC

Coffee Coaster, with a image of a mileage marker on the Rochdale Canal, the marker is just to the west of Hollins Tunnel, Sowerby Bridge.

Wall clock, this has an image of People's park, Halifax looking across to the Pavilion. The image is also available on a number of products in colour.

Tote bag with an image of Wharf Street, Sowerby Bridge on an unusually quiet and traffic free day.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to check out my products and stores on Zazzle.

Pickle Bridge Railway 2014

The Pickle Bridge Railway was a line through the outskirts of Brighouse connecting Bradford with Huddersfield. The line opened in 1881 and remained in use until 1952, when it closed due to subsidence. The two stations along the route were closed many years before the line's full closure. There is quite a lot of evidence of the line between Clifton Road and Pickle Bridge, Wyke. Sadly, between Clifton Road and Anchor Pit, not much exists.

 

The line split from the Calder Valley Line at Pickle Bridge Junction, which was between the stations of Norwood Green (closed 1953) and Lightcliffe (closed 1965). It then crossed the 22 arch (now 8 arches; the northern 14 were demolished in 1987 due to subsidence) Wyke (Red Lion) viaduct before arriving at Baliff Bridge station (1881–1917). The line then carried on southwards over the still-standing 5-arch Thornhills Viaduct before crossing another now-demolished viaduct at Clifton. The three-arch Clifton viaduct immediately led to Clifton Road Station (1881–1931). Beyond Clifton Road, the line then crossed the A644 Wakefield Road and River Calder before joining the Caldervale Line at Anchor Pit Junction between Brighouse Station (1840–1970, closed and demolished 1970; reopened 2000) and Cooper Bridge Station (1840–1950).

I walked the route on two separate occasions, the first covering the former track layout from the site of Clifton Road Viaduct until I reached an abandoned railway bridge standing alone in the middle of a field between Thornhills Beck Viaduct and Birkhouse Road, Bailiff Bridge. This set was taken on March 30, 2014.

 

The remains of Clifton Road Viaduct, the station occupied a spot along the wall pictured with the dirt track to the left the main access road.

Former trackbed pictured between the remains of Clifton Road Viaduct and Thornhills Beck Viaduct.

The top of Thornhills Beck Viaduct, this was the southern side and was gated off as can be seen preventing access any further.

Thornhills Beck Viaduct, opened up I think it would make an interesting footpath - cycleway.

Another of Thornhills Beck Viaduct

These last 2 show an abandoned bridge in the middle of a low cutting in what seemed to have become a farmers field. Looking at the surrounding land and historic maps I can see no reason for it's existence as their were alternative crossings over the railway nearby in both directions.

The second set of pictures were taken on the 25th May 2014, starting at the bridge above they show the remains of the line up to the end of Red Lion (Wyke) Viaduct.

The Pickle Bridge line crossing over Birkhouse Lane, Bailiff Bridge

The line's remains at Bailiff Bridge, the town's former station used to occupy a spot to the right of the picture behind the trees.

All that remains of the bridge that crossed Lower Wyke Lane, Houses now occupy the former trackbed to the left of the picture.

The bridge that crossed over Bradford Road has been removed, leaving only the abutments as a reminder the railway passed here.

The Red Lion or Wyke Viaduct crossing over a small access lane off Bradford Road.

The top of Wyke - Red Lion Viaduct, I don't remeber climbing up to the top but I must have as the picture here proves I did. The end of the viaduct was probably just beyond the trees,

Wyke - Red Lion Viaduct. The crossing suffered badly from subsidence resulting in a much reduced speed limit during its years of operation. The situation was so bad that by the 1980's permission was sought to demolish part of the Grade II listed Viaduct.

This partially overgrown bridge stands to the northern end of the demolished part of Wyke - Red Lion Viaduct, I'm not sure if it was separate or part of that structure.

Clicking any picture will open a link to the version on Clickasnap.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

All the pictures remain the copy right of Colin Green.

You can check out my Zazzle stores below, clicking either image will open a link to that store.

Both stores offer a collection of products from bags to clocks, postcards to posters, mouse mats to tablet covers and if you like the design you can transfer it to hundreds of products of your choosing. Please take a moment to have a look.

Self Made Christmas Cards

 Having recently opened a couple of stores on Zazzle, I am going through a bit of a creative phase trying new things out and one of my attempts has been to offer some Christmas cards for sale their. I have tried a number of differing types from traditional to modern, and even created some using AI to give a style similar to Mondrian, Picasso and Van Gogh.

The pictures below can only be seen here and on Zazzle, where copies can be purchased in various formats. Clicking any image should open a link to my Zazzle Calendars and Greetings Cards Collection.

All the cards can be purchased on Zazzle, the purchased items will not be watermarked and are higher resolution. Some also have options to be downloaded.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

Heptonstall Randoms Around Towngate July 2020

The village of Heptonstall occupies a small spot on the hill overlooking the Calder Valley and Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. The town is home to approximately 1400 people, and traditionally, the village's industry was hand-loom weaving. The village is a favourite spot with hikers and has featured in a number of TV shows in recent years, including the recent Shane Meadows drama The Gallows Pole, a story about the Cragg Vale Coiners, whose leader, "King" David Hartley, is buried in the churchyard.

The pictures below were taken at various locations around the town and don't feature the usual locations shown: the Wesleyan Chapel, the Ruined Church, and its replacement. I have posted my pictures of them in earlier posts. They were taken using a Nikon D3300 on July 11, 2020.

The phone box found towards the lower end of Hetonstall is now I am told used as a library by the local community.

Towngate is the main route through the centre of the village.

The village's post office.

34 Towngate.

41A Towngate. The passge to the right leads to the former grammar school and museum and runs past the churchyard.

The grammar school and museum buildings, the fence to the right surrounds the lower part of the churchyard.

Clicking any image should open a link to the version on Clickasnap.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green. Clicking the images below should open a link in another window to my Zazzle Stores.