A selection of images relating to the construction of the Walnut Tree Viaduct of the Barry Railway Company at Taff's Well, taken from the 'Album of Manufactures - Sections I to XI - Head, Wrightson & Co. Ltd., Engineers' - 1903 Edition. [1315] [499]

MESSRS. HEAD, WRIGHTSON & Co., LIMITED, the well-known proprietors of this establishment, are probably the most extensive Bridge Builders and makers of general engineering construction work in Great Britain. Other concerns are famed the world over for Shipbuilding, Marine Engineering, the Manufacture of Steel or Iron, and so on, but for the class of work for which they are specially laid out, no other firm in England, and perhaps only two or three others anywhere else, can vie with them.

HISTORY AND PERSONNEL OF THE FIRM. This important concern has grown from small beginnings, like many other of the now famous industrial establishments of the country. Its origin dates back to about the year 1840, when a small foundry was commenced by Mr. Skinner. That was at a period when South Stockton (now known as Thornaby-on-Tees) had just commenced its existence, the plans for a town on the Yorkshire side of the Tees having been laid out only two years previously. After various vicissitudes, the foundry passed into the hands of Messrs. Head and Wright, then to Head, Ashby and Co., and eventually - in the '60's - to Messrs. Head and Wrightson.

BARRY RAILWAY VIADUCT - Crossing the Taff Valley - THE HUGE STRUCTURE COMPLETED - The permanent way has been laid across the immense railway viaduct running across the Taff Valley at Taff's Well. It carries the railway and connects the Barry system with the Rhymney system, and in crossing the Taff valley there runs beneath it two roadways, two railway lines — the T.V.R. and the Cardiff Railway — the river Taff, a feeder for the tin works, and the Glamorganshire Canal.

At its highest point it is 112 feet from ground to parapet, while the foundations for one of the pillars run down to a depth of about 30 feet. It is a fine structure with seven large spans varying in size from 120 to 180 feet, and at each end are two brick arches on the mountain slopes. The total length of the structure is 1,420 feet, or nearly double the length of the Porthkerry Viaduct on the Vale of Glamorgan Railway. At its highest point also it is a few feet higher than the latter, while the spans are each nearly four times larger.

The contractors who have executed the work are Messrs Price and Wills, of Westminster, the firm who constructed the No 2 Dock at Barry, Barry Island Railway extension and passenger pontoon. The method adopted was peculiar, although probably the less dangerous for life and limb. The huge icon girders, weighing many tons, were placed on the pillars when these were raised only a couple of feet from the ground, and they were then raised four feet every time the masonry reached the girder, so that when the summit was gained the girders were in position.

The viaduct was designed by Sir John Wolfe Barry, consulting engineer to the Barry Railway Company, for whom Mr. J. Bell, the resident engineer to the company, superintended the progress of the work. It has taken over three years to construct, and is ready for traffic as soon as the cuttings on the Tongwynlais side are finished. There remains, however, little to be done before the line will be ready for opening. - The Cardiff Times [019] [361] 23rd February 1901.