Killiecrankie Viaduct
The gorge is so narrow in this location that a long viaduct was needed to carry the railway through it. The result is one of the most spectacular railway scenes in Scotland. It is listed Grade B.
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Killiecrankie House, PH16 5LG
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The railway northward from Perth was built by the Inverness & Perth Junction Railway whose engineer was Joseph Mitchell (1803-1883). He was the son of the Chief Inspector who worked for Telford on the great road building programme in the highlands, and succeeded his father before turning to railways. In a remarkably short time this 104 mile line between Dunkeld and Forres over difficult terrain was constructed in a mere two years and opened in 1863. As was the case on the Inverness & Nairn, Mitchell designed some impressive bridges and viaducts.
At the Pass of Killiecrankie north of Pitlochry the river Garry forces its way through a narrow gorge. For 631 m. it was necessary to carry the railway on a retaining wall up to 17 m. (55 ft.) high. It is punctuated with crenellated turrets. Then even this was impossible and a stone viaduct was constructed with ten arches on a curve 100 m. long. It leads directly into a tunnel. Both viaduct and tunnel are also crenellated.
Together the trio assist in calling to mind the famous battle of the first Jacobite uprising in 1689.
Photo credit: cc-by-sa/2.0 - © The late Dr P E G Clements - geograph.org.uk/p/6562165
By road: A footpath passes along the foot of the viaduct through the Pass of Killiecrankie. It can also be seen from the A 9.
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