Wharncliffe Viaduct
Brunel's first major work for the Great Western Railway, completed in 1838.
Region:
Red Wheel Site:
Transport Mode(s):
Address:
Hanwell Station, Campbell Road, London W7 3EB
Postcode:
Visitor Centre:
Website:
Visit website
In 1833, at the tender age of 27 Brunel was appointed Engineer of the Great Western Railway. His first major work for the railway was this viaduct over the river Brent, just west of Hanwell station. It was built to accommodate two broad gauge tracks. In 1877 the railway company was already operating trains on the standard gauge as well as the broad gauge, and when the growth in traffic called for additional tracks on the viaduct, the structure was widened on the north side and two standard gauge tracks were provided. The viaduct survives, virtually unaltered since then.
Lord Wharncliffe, after whom it was named, had been Chairman of the House of Lords Committee which heard the railway's application for an enabling Act.
Pevsner commented on it by remarking, "Few viaducts have such architectural panache." It is listed Grqde 1.
A footpath can be found at the end of Manor Court Road to the north of the railway in Hanwell. It is also visible from the A4020.
Biddle, Gordon, Britain's Historic Railway Buildings, Oxford University Press, ISBN-10: 0198662475 (2003)
Biddle, Gordon & Nock, O.S., The Railway Heritage of Britain : 150 years of railway architecture and engineering, Studio Editions, ISBN-10: 1851705953 (1990)
Biddle, Gordon and Simmons, J., The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, Oxford, ISBN 0 19 211697 5 (1997)
Bonavia, Michael, Historic Railway Sites in Britain, Hale, ISBN 0 7090 3156 4 (1987)
Conolly, W. Philip, British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer, Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 0-7110-0320-3 (1958/97)
Jowett, Alan, Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland, Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. (March 1989)
Macdermot, E. History of the Great Western Railway, revised by C. Clinker. ISBN 0 7110 0411 0 (1989)
Morgan, Bryan. Railways: Civil Engineering. 0 09 908180 6 (1971)
Morgan, Bryan, Railway Relics, Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 0092 1 (1969)
Simmons, J., The Railways of Britain, Macmillan, ISBN 0 333 40766 0 (1961-86)
Simmons, J. The Victorian Railway, Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0 500 25110X (1991)
Smith, Martin, British Railway Bridges and Viaducts, Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 2273 9 (1994)
Turnock, David, An Historical Geography of Railways, Ashgate, ISBN 1 85928 450 7 (1998)