. - J'''' - \ .... v' ,/" l'f I r .( '(' d \. , / I i" '-' Royal RCAJll0SRROADSHEETIO Traversing some of the most beautiful scenery - W il son and Robert McAlpine & Sons which wo rl d th e versatili ty, strength and relative Bell. But in other fea ts of gre at technjcal daring, Royal and some of the most difficult terrain - in tbe realised that prospect at the formal opening of the cheapness of mass concrete used 011 an extensive engin eer and contractor together took concrete Commission on the British Isles, the 40-mile (64.5km) extension of line on I April 190 I, almost one year ahead of scal e for major bridge-b uilding purposes. bridge con struction Ii tcra Il y to new lengths. One Commission on the Ancient and The Mallaig Railway the Wcst Highland Railway runs from Banavic schedule. The results were - and remain - truJy of the arches of the four-arched Morar Viaduct Ancient and NATIONAL Historical near Fort William on the shores of Loch Linnhe to Alexander Simpson ( 1832-1922) and Robert spectacu lar, and s ix concrete viaducts constitute ( 1897) extended the li m it of concrete spans from Historical Monuments of The West Highland Extension the Atlantic seaboard at Mallaig. Built between McAlpine (1847-1934), heads of their respective the line's most outstanding engineering 60 to 90 feet (18.3 m to 27.4m), and a li ttle later at Monuments of RAILWAY Scotland 1897-1901 1897 and 1901 , it was one of the last major firms, were both of Lanarkshire origin and had mOlluments . Designed by W S W il son and built by th e Borrodale Burn, confronted by a local laird 's Scotland rai lway enterprises in Britain, and the ' [ron Road first become acquai nted in 1876, the year in which Robert McA lpine, they are most famously insistence 011 cladding in term ediate pi ers in MUSEUM to the Isle s' , as it is known, ranks among the McAlpine first began to use the building material symbolised by the Glellfinnan Viaduct which expensive granite, Wil son and McAlpine decided greatest triumphs ofViclorian railway engineering wh ich earn ed him the enduring nickname of sweeps dramatica Ily across the valley at the head upon a breathtaking 127 fe et 6 inches (3R.9m) for and construction. It was the prospect of a lucrative 'Concrete Bob'. His eldest son, Robert .fnr, of Loch Shiel in a grcat cresccntic arc 1,248 fe et a central span of a three-arched viaduct, twice Royal Commi:;sion on the Ancient and Historical The National Railway Museum (NRM) in York is traffic in sea f ish which drove the ra ilway assisted by one of his younger sons, Ma\Colm, was (380.4m) in length and 100 feet (30.Sm) in what the world had witnessed pri or to the building Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) the world's leading museum dedicated to the National Monumcnts Record of Scotland company westward from its 1894 terminus, and it placed in charge of contracting work on the maximum height 0 11 2 1 a.rches of stand ard 50-feet of this railway. 'story of the train' . The NRM collection includes was the pairing of the tal ented and determined MalJaig extension which provided the perfect ( 15.2m) span, ' a thing so delicate that the fairi es (:JMRS) the record breaking Mallard, the Japanese 'Bull et engineering and contracting f inns of Simpson & opportun ity for MeAl pines to demonstrate to the mi ght have bui lt it', according to the author J J John Sinclair House Train' and thousands of images of railways past 16 Bernard Terrace and prescnt. Award-winning imaginative and Edinburgh EH8 9NX interactive displays have something for everyone. Admission to the NRM is free although the Tel: 0131-6621456 Museum reserves the right to charge for some Fax: 01 3 1-662 1477 special cvcnts. Wcb site: www.rcahms.gov.uk E-mail: nmrs@ rc ahms.gov.uk For more information about the M useum telephone 01904-62126 1 (office hours), Further information about the West Hi ghland 01904-686286 (24 hour information line) or visit Railway Extension and about the sites illustrated the website at http://www.nrm.org.uk in thi s broadsheet is available from the NMRS at the address given above. The N"NfR S is open Monday to Friday 9 .30 - 16.30 . RCAHMS is grateful to The National Railway Museum , York, for permission to reproduce the hi stori cal photographs held in its collections. In the preparatiun of background material for this broadsheet ReAHMS acknowledges th e assi stance of Professor Roland Pax ton of Heriot­ Watt University, RCAHMS Commissioner and Chairman of The Institute of Civil Engineers' , Panel for Hi stori c Engineerin g Works (PHEW), and Mr J S Shipway, PrIEW, Gl asgow & West of Scotland. The publ ication of the broadsbeet has been made possible by the generolls support of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. Crown Copyright: RCAI-IMS 2002 ISBN 1-902419-31-6 Front cover: Timber arch ce/1.lering in the construction of Glen[innan Viaduct, c. 1897. GlenfinJlan Viaduct. wilh last jive cenltal arches under construction. (NRMI IOO/ OO) Inset (fe/i) oblique genera' view of construction works (NRiY/I I! 8/00) and (right) delail oIIimbcf' arch cCfllering (NRMI / 14/00). National Railway Museum / Science & Society Picture Library Glenfinnan Viaduct Fom west. Borroda/e Via duct .under constructiol1 . (NRMIl OJIO O) © National Rail way Museul11 I Science & Society Pi cture Library Arielliskil! Bridge on completion. (NRMI/ / 7100) Cl National Railway Museum I Sc ie nc e & Society Picture Library Loch non Ua l11h V;aducf nearing complelion. (NRMI99!OO) © Natio ll<ll Ra ilway Museum / Science & Society Picture Libra ry Borroda/e Viaducr 011 completion. (NRMI128/00) © Na ti onal Ra ilway Museum / Science & Society Pict.ure Lib ra ry Anlllbol Glen Viadl.Jct in early stage." a/construction. (NRMI12110()) © National Ra ilway Museum I Science & Society 11icture Library The mountainous terrain through which thi s powered the drills were d,·iven by steam engin es railway was built required no less than II tunnels which consumed much coal. Observing a water­ gravely injured in a blasting accid ent. The story among the wo ,-kforce, but in order to cope with and almost a hundred rock cuttings. The region is powered dri ll used by bi s denti st, the young of bi s emergency treatment by Glasgow's most such accidents Robert McAlpine Jnr can claim the made up of som e of the world 's hardest rock - Malcolm McAlpine suddenly saw the distinguished surgeon, Professor Sir WiJl iam credit for the fi rst field hospital to bc set up on a mica-schi st, quartz and gneiss - which, in th e considerable advantages of using water as a MacEwan, and his subsequent long, slow journey construction site in Britain. Using profits from a engineer's own words, 'was admirably sui ted for power source for the compressors. It was more with an escort of navvies to MacEwan's nursing licensed canteen which he had instituted in an concrete, [but] wa~ quite impossible to use ... for chcaply avail abl e, and tb e changcovcr to water home in Gla sgow was the single most dramatic attempt to curb drunkelllless, Robert had masonry on a large scale.' Blasting and removing turbines immediately brought about a fourfold human episode associated with thi s work. converted a schoolhouse at Polnish into an eight­ this rock with pneumatic drills was a notoriously iucrease in the rate of dr illing, later providi ng Happily, Malcolm made a comp lete recovery and bed hospital staffed by a doctor and two nurses. difficult operation, made particularly expensive direct power for electric drills. Polnish Field Hospital. (NRM/9/IOO) © National Railway Museum / Scie nce & Society Picture Library P llelllllallC rock drill. (NR M176100) Stcam-powcred rock crusher ill operatioll. (NRM1126100) li ved to the ripe old age of 89. Unfortunately, This was th e place where his own brother by the fact that the air compressors wh ich Ironically, in May J 898 MaJcolm himself was © Nl1 ti olll1 l RailwHY M useum ! Sc ience & Society Pi cture Library © Nl1tional R(l ilway M useu m ! Sc ience & Soc iel'y Pi cture I.ibrary however, such blast injuries were commonplace Malcolm was taken and first treated by MacEwan. Royal G lenfinnan Monument was built to mark th e Commission on the vicinity where the Jacobite standard wa s Ancient and The Mallaig Railway raised in 1745 to signal the start of the Historical uprisi ng led by Prince Charles Edward Monuments of The West Highland Extension Stuart. Completed in 18 15, it a lso Scotland 1897-1901 cOIJunemorates the death in that year of th e local landowner, Alexander Macdonald of Gl ena ll adale, who had the monument built. D esigned in Tudor Gothi c style by the distingui shed architect, l ames Gi ll espie Graham (d.1855), it is surmounted by a statue of a Highland chief carved by John Greenshields (d.1838), possibly intended to represent tbe Sruart Prince. ForI Wi!liam Railway Station, 1952. (RCA HMS, liokeby Collection: IN14579) Morar Viaduct/mm west-south-west with Falls a/Mom,- illjoregrol1lld. (RCAHMS: D48 J061CN) Glefljiflnan ViaductJrom "·est. (RCAl/MS: D47918/CN) Glenji'1Ilo11 MOllume1tl; high-level view/rom liorth-east. (RCAHMS: D13553/CN) (ilel1finnan Railway Slalioll; former booking office, 1I0wa museum. (RCAHMS D4 02 li eN) Relief 600111 450111 Sg r na 30001 ( ,he <'J ISOm 1- 1, ~ Om Or ll} ~ o lClr 90 Sgu fhllilm Mora r Arieniskill Bridgefrom south-east.