1. Architecture

2. History
    Reuse as a cycleway 

3. Listing

4. References

The Midland Counties Railway viaduct is a disused railway viaduct at Rugby, Warwickshire, which crosses over both the A426 Rugby to Leicester road, and the River Avon to the north of Rugby town centre.^[1]

Architecture

The viaduct is approximately {{convert|700|ft|m|abbr=off}} long, and consists of eleven elliptical arches, elevating {{convert|40|ft|m}} above the valley floor. It is built of red brick, with a facing of Staffordshire blue bricks and sandstone.^[1][2][3]

History

The double track viaduct was built during 1839-40 as part of the Midland Counties Railway line from Derby to Rugby, and was opened in June 1840, as such it is one of the UK's oldest disused railway viaducts. It was engineered by Charles Vignoles.^[1][2]

The main line over the viaduct was closed in January 1962, but trains continued to use it until May 1965, serving the Oxford Canal basin at nearby Newbold-on-Avon.^[1]

Reuse as a cycleway

After being derelict for decades, the viaduct was brought back into use as a footpath and cycleway in 2012, as part of a £1 million scheme by Rugby Borough Council and the cycling charity Sustrans, in order to create a traffic free route from Rugby town centre to the northern suburbs of Newbold and Brownsover, and the Brownsover industrial estate.^[4][1][5]

Listing

The viaduct gained Grade II listing in February 2000. It met the criteria for listing because of its "age, design quality, unaltered nature and its association with an important engineer and railway company."^[2]

References

• The broad eye windmill
• The Broad Highway
• The Broadmeadow School of Performing Arts
• The Broad Ripple Gazette
• The Broadside Ballads
• The Broads (New Hampshire)
• The Broadsword March
• The Broadway Bubble
• The Broadway Building
• The Broadway Malady
• The Broadway Theatre
• The Broath
• The Broath (How I Met Your Mother)
• The Brockton Blockbuster
• The Brockton Bomber
• The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men
• The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University
• The Broken (album)
• The Broken Chain
• The Broken Circle Breakdown
• The Broken Code
• The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way
• The Broken Cross
• The Broken Disk
• The Broken Empire Trilogy