Dowery Dell, between

Rubery Rubery is the name of two adjacent settlements; one a village in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, the other a suburb of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is from Bromsgrove town centre, and from Birmin ...

and

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, was a , nine span lattice steel, single-track railway viaduct that carried the Halesowen to Longbridge railway. A 10 mph speed limit was in operation. The line opened in 1883. Trains ran until 1964 and the viaduct was dismantled in 1965.

Similar structures

The viaduct was remarkable in being a rare example of a

lattice girder A lattice girder is a truss girder where the load is carried by a web of latticed metal. Overview The lattice girder was used prior to the development of larger rolled steel plates. It has been supplanted in modern construction with welded ...

supported on trestles, a combination of which there may have been only one other example in Britain, at

Bennerley Viaduct Bennerley Viaduct (originally Ilkeston Viaduct and known informally as the Iron Giant) is a former railway bridge, now a foot and cycle bridge, between Ilkeston, Derbyshire, and Awsworth, Nottinghamshire, in central England. It was completed ...

(extant), though in that instance the trestles are not as high. On other well-known trestle-supported viaducts, such as Meldon,

Belah Belah is a suburb of Carlisle in the Cumberland district, in the county of Cumbria, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of whic ...

, and Crumlin, the superstructure is not a lattice, being typically a

Warren truss In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...

; and other lattice girders are low structures supported typically on iron caissons, such as

Kew Railway Bridge Kew Railway Bridge spans the River Thames in London, England, between Kew and Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick. The bridge was opened in 1869. History The bridge, which was given Grade II listed structure protection in 1983, was designed by W. ...

Remains

A walk along the footpath that follows the railway route reveals the brick pillar bases that remain in the dell.

References

External links

Two colour slides of the viaduct and track taken by photographer D J Norton in May 1955

Black & white photograph taken from a train crossing the viaduct in November 1963 by ricsrailpics
{{coord, 52.423374, -2.039359, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Geography of Worcestershire Viaducts in England Demolished bridges in England Buildings and structures demolished in 1964 Great Western Railway Midland Railway