Caledonian (or New) Railway Bridge. Glasgow, 1899-1905. As one of its names suggests, this was not the first bridge for the Caledonian Railway Company here. It was built to supplement and harmonise with the older bridge of 1876-78, which had carried the original tracks over the Clyde at Broomielaw, to and from the adjacent Glasgow Central Station. Again it was constructed by Sir William Arrol & Co., this time for engineer-in-chief/architect Donald Alexander Matheson (1860-1935), and in co-operation with the firm of Miller and Mason. John Woolfe Barry was the Consulting Engineer. The Canmore site describes it as being "of much more substantial steel construction [than the earlier bridge, since demolished], on granite piers, each of which is founded on five steel caissons." It carries ten tracks.

Photograph by Colin Price, with commentary and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or to the Victorian Web in a print document. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Bibliography

"Donald Alexander Matheson." Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Web. 12 January 2021.

"Glasgow Central Station Bridge." Grace's Guide. Web. 12 January 2021.

"Glasgow Central Station, New Approach, Viaduct." Canmore. Web. 12 January 2021.

Matheson, Donald Alexander. Glasgow Central Station Extension. Minutes of the Proceedings of the institution of Civil Engineers. 175 (1909), Paper no. 3737 (requires subscription or entry through your institution). Web. 11 January 2021.


Created 25 January 2020