The Avon Viaduct near Linlithgow. With over 20 arches and 404 metres in length, this viaduct was built in 1841 as part of Scotland's first intercity railway line connecting Haymarket Station in Edinburgh with Queen Street Station in Glasgow. A series of such viaducts, as well as embankments and tunnels, allowed the creation of an almost flat route between the two cities.
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However, when the line reached Glasgow, the operators of the Forth and Clyde Canal (at the time a direct competitor of the new railway line) refused to allow it to pass over the canal on a bridge. As a result, the railway had to tunnel under it, creating a slope that was too steep for early steam locomotives to be able to climb. The solution was to install powerful stationary engines at Cowlairs at the top of this slope to haul trains up it using a hemp rope.
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This method of getting trains up the steep incline out of Queen Street Station continued until 1908 when cable-hauling was finally replaced by banking engines. The Avon Viaduct still forms part of the mainline route between Glasgow and Edinburgh to this day, more than 160 years after it was first built.
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This Is My Glasgow
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