Aspen Viaduct (Lancashire)
Also known as Aspden Viaduct and Aspen/Aspden Valley Viaduct.
This was an impressive timber trestle viaduct, now buried within an embankment.
1848 'OPENING OF THE EAST LANCASHIRE RAILWAY: BLACKBURN TO ACCRINGTON. On Saturday last, Captain Wynne, R.E. the government engineer, inspected the works on the portion of the East Lancashire Railway Comnpany's line between Blackburn and Accrington. ..... In Rishton the canal is crossed by a very substantial viaduct of three spaces. This structure is of heavy timbers, on four substantial stone piers, the wood work being knitted together in a peculiar manner, securing very great power. Beyond the canal, the line proceeds on a high embankment, and then through a very deep cutting, till it reaches the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company's reservoir, at Rishton.
The reservoir is crossed towards its upper end by a viaduct of much greater magnitude and importance as a work than it seems, the reservoir being in its ordinary state. This viaduct is 240 feet long and 30 feet wide, being constructed of timber strongly knitted together by iron plates and bolts. The roadway over the reservoir rests on 19 bearings, the crossheads of which are generally at a height of 45 feet from the iron points of the piles, of which there are six to each bearing. The piles are 10 feet above water, 20 feet in the water, and 15 feet in the earth.
Beyond the reservoir, the line crosses, at a very oblique angle, under the old Blackburn and Burnley road, and proceeds alternately on embankments and through cuttings, till it again reaches and crosses the canal in Church-parish,, where a series of works of stupendous magnitude occur. The most imposing of these is the second viaduct, which is a part of a continuous series of nearly half a mile long. This structure contains 31 spaces of 25 feet wide each, the extreme height of the line above the brook being 72 feet. This viaduct is of timber, set upon piers of massive masonry; at its further extremity, the canal is again crossed, and immediately thereafter, the Blackburn and Burnley mail road.
The line then crosses the property of James Simpson, Esq., of Foxhill Bank....'[1]
1886 'CHURCH AND OSWALDTWISTLE. The Aspden Valley Viaduct.— The Aspden Valley Viaduct, near the Church Railway Station, which has long been regarded as very unsafe, is expected to be completed at the end of the present week. The work was commenced in May last, since which time traffic over the viaduct has had to be worked on a single line. This has caused delay, and there have been loud complaints on the part of passengers, many of whom have missed the connectional trains at Blackburn, Preston, and Accrington through delay at the viaduct. The repairs at the viaduct have involved an outlay of several thousands of pounds.'[2]. Strengthening work occupied about 4 months [3]