Todmorden Railway Viaduct

The sketch and description are from The Calderdale Sketch Book by JL Berbiers, published in 1973 by The Halifax Courier Ltd. One of the most impressive structures built for the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company in the late 1830s on the route of the trans-Pennine line was Todmorden Viaduct. The great archways carry what is now the Calder Valley line (fully opened in 1841) from the east of Todmorden into the town’s station on the western side of this busy industrial settlement. The engineer for the railway was George Stephenson, whose locomotive, the Rocket, must rank as the most famous of all railway engines. The picture was sketched from the grounds of the Abraham Ormerod Medical Centre alongside Burnley Road. PH/25.