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Email to Branch Lines inbox with anecdotal history 19.11.21. Note added
[[File:Viaduct - geograph.org.uk - 499261.jpg | thumb|200px|right| Falling Sands Viaduct (Geograph)]]
'''Falling Sands Viaduct''' (Bridge 3) was designed by Edward Wilson, West Midlands Railway engineer, and was completed in 1877 as part of the [[Kidderminster Loop Line]]. <ref name="CT">[https://www.fallingsandsviaduct.org.uk/post/journey-to-the-finish-line-a-look-back-at-phase-2-by-nick-yarwood CVR Charitable Trust's Falling Sands Viaduct website] (Retrieved 20 November 2021)</ref> It carries the railway across the [[Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal]] Conservation Area and 64 feet above the [[River Stour]], about a mile from [[Kidderminster]].
The [[Loop Line specification and contract]] of 1874 specified that the masonry of the viaduct should be "''...of the best quality of Red Sandstone of the district''". In May 1875 the contractor Charles Dickinson wrote to the GWR explaining his difficulty in obtaining suitable stone for the piers of the viaduct and requesting the difference in price for it to be built entirely of brick, to which the GWR agreed.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] pp. 81-82.</ref> Accordingly the viaduct was built of red brick. It is 132 yards in length, with seven arches of 46ft span.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Marshall (1989)]] p. 92.</ref>
The Viaduct was also numbered as Bridge 3 during the BR era; the BR-era numbering plate, which may still be seen on the northern parapet, gives its location as [[Gradient profile and mileages#Mileages|135 miles 78 chains]].
During the early 1970s British Rail dismantled and rebuilt the parapets from the Bewdley end but stopping over half way across, between the canal and the river. This destroyed the stone-capped pilasters at the Bewdley end and the attractive blue brick bull-nosed corbelling running across the viaduct, which the original designers had provided to deflect water.<ref name="CT"/> It is believed that BR engineers were undertaking as much work as possible to the main structure within the budget, but were instructed 'decorative' work would be left off<ref group="note">The Charitable Trust's website refers to the 1980s. The SVR's consultant engineer, Jonathan Symonds, told Branch Lines in March 2020 that the Falling Sands Viaduct stonework was taken down by British Rail in the 1970s. A programme of replacement started but the project stalled half way across; the stonework being removed but never replaced. A reader, Allen Morgan, responded by email on 19 November 2021: "From mid 1969 to late 1972 I worked at the sugar beet factory. I was involved in the model railway exhibition circuit and the factory manager was also a rail enthusiast. During part of that time repair work was being carried out by BR on the viaduct. It was suggested to the manager, and passed to me, that as much as possible was being done to the main structure but within the budget some 'decorative' work would be left off. True or not I can't confirm, but I think likely"</ref>.
==Closure==
File:Falling Sands 2020 repairs 1.jpg | View of the viaduct in January 2020 with the infill removed.
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==Note==
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== See also ==
