Boyne Viaduct
Coordinates: 53 ° 43 ′ 0 ″ N , 6 ° 20 ′ 14 ″ W.
| Boyne Viaduct Tarbhealach na Bóinne |
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| use | Railway bridge | |
| Convicted | Route Dublin - Belfast | |
| Crossing of | Boyne | |
| place | Drogheda | |
| construction | Truss bridge | |
| overall length | 530 m | |
| Number of openings | 3 | |
| Longest span | 81.38 m | |
| start of building | 1853 | |
| completion | 1855/1932 | |
| planner | Sir John MacNeill | |
| location | ||
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The Boyne Viaduct ( Irish Tarbhealach na Bóinne ) is a railway viaduct that runs the Dublin - Belfast route over the River Boyne in the Irish city of Drogheda .
description
The central bridge crosses the Boyne Valley at a clearance height of 27.4 m (90 ft ) above spring flood . Its main opening has a span of 81.38 m and the two side openings of 42.97 m. The steel lattice girders rest on brick pillars, the outside and edges of which are made of limestone blocks . On the south side of the bridge, a stone viaduct with twelve walled, 9.3 m wide arches connects to the Drogheda train station on the higher ground; on the north side, the corresponding viaduct has three arches. The entire structure is 530 m long.
Lattice girder bridge (1855)
The original double-track bridge was built between 1853 and 1855 according to the plans of the Irish engineer Sir John MacNeill to close the gap between the two sections of the recently built Dublin to Belfast railway line, which until then had been crossed by ferries and wagons had to become.
The superstructure consisted of two continuous , 6.80 m high lattice girders , which were connected at the top by lattice work. The tracks were supported by cross girders made of latticework, which were arranged at a distance of 2.26 m and covered with wooden planks. The cross members were stiffened by horizontal crosses.
Truss bridge (1932)
When the lattice girder bridge was no longer able to cope with the increased traffic loads, the superstructure was replaced in 1932 by a steel truss bridge, which still exists today. To keep traffic going, it was built inside the original bridge before it was demolished and was therefore no longer far enough for double-track traffic. The tracks of the two directions of travel were therefore merged in a track loop and superimposed, which saved the corresponding switches and at that time also a switch attendant and signal box. In the course of a renewal of the tracks in 1990, the track loop was replaced by a single track on the bridge with corresponding points on both sides.
The bridge is currently being completely renovated. The renovation program should be completed in 2015.
Web links
- More photos
- Plan drawings, sheet 27 and sheet 28 from the atlas of the Bauwesen magazine , 1857
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Friedrich Heinzerling: The bridges in iron. Verlag von Otto Spamer, Leipzig 1870, p. 230 ( digitized on Google Books)
- ↑ Boyne Valley Viaduct, Drogheda, County Louth on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- ↑ Boyne Viaduct ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Drogheda website
- ^ Drogheda Boyne Viaduct Refurbishment Project on Irish Rail.com
