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The Hownsgill Viaduct (in some sources called Hownes Gill Viaduct and locally called the Gill bridge) is a former railway bridge located west of Consett in County Durham, England. It currently forms part of the Coast to Coast (C2C) Cycle Route, which crosses from Whitehaven/Workington on the west coast to Sunderland/Tynemouth on the east coast. ==Background== From July 1832 to May 1834, Robert Stephenson has been consulting engineer for the industrial Stanhope and Tyne Railway (S&TR), built to transport limestone from Stanhope to Consett, and then with coal onwards to Tyne Dock in South Shields. However, the company was unable to afford a bridge over the deep and wide dry valley at Hownes Gill. The company hence authorised Stephenson to construct two steep rope-worked inclines, one at 1:2.5 and a second at 1:3. To enable wagons to be transported from to and onwards to , single wagons were carried sideways in cradles worked by a single stationary steam engine located at the bottom of the gorge.〔 On 15 May 1834, the first section from Stanhope to Annfield opened.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Stanhope and Tyne Railway )〕 After the S&TR sold its assets in 1842, while the northern section from Annfield became part of the Pontop and South Shields Railway, the now abandoned southern section was bought by the Derwent Iron Company.〔 After the West Durham Railway constructed a line to , the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) began construction of the Weardale Extension Railway to Crook, which opened on 8 November 1843 from a junction on its leased Weardale Railway.〔 As a result, the DIC proposed an extension from Crook to the foot of the Meeting Slacks incline, which later became , to provide a southern shipping route for their lime and iron products. Having obtained an extension of their right of way from the Bishop of Durham, the DIC submitted the planes to the S&DR, who agreed to the extension as long as the DIC leased the entire southern section of the former S&TR to them. The Stanhope to Carrhouse section passed into the possession of the S&DR on 1 January 1845, with the completed Weardale Extension Railway from the to Waskerley opening on 16 May 1845.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hownsgill Viaduct」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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