GWR Route: Alcester to Hatton Junction

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Bearley Junction: gwrbj3900

View along the Alcester Branch line towards the Edstone Aqueduct on Sunday 9th September 1928. In the foreground is the first mile post as measured from Bearley East Junction which was the start point of the branch when this was originally opened in 1876. W James (see 'gwrmt3135') and engineer W Whitmore had designed and built the Edstone aqueduct to carry the Stratford-on-Avon Canal across the valley in 1816. The aqueduct was unusual being constructed from a series of prefabricated cast iron panels (each 14 foot 2 inch long) bolted together to form a trough for the canal and floor for the adjacent towpath. The 497 foot, 6 inch long canal trough was seated on trusses and supported by thirteen brick piers making it the longest aqueduct in England. The embankment in front of the aqueduct marks the position of the North Warwickshire Line, the tracks of which pass under two separate spans of the aqueduct.

Robert Ferris

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