| Re: Meldon Viaduct - in need of major repairs Posted by Mark A at 22:46, 14th November 2025 |     |
With quarrying restarting at Meldon, depending on where the 'Quarriable' stuff is, the excavations could do worse than make some passive provision for the route that the railway will need to take for the new structure that will enable a faster alignment & also bypass the historic viaducts.
Mark
| Meldon Viaduct - in need of major repairs Posted by grahame at 21:37, 14th November 2025 | |
From the BBC
Published - 13 November 2025
A historic viaduct on Dartmoor will need up to £3m of repairs over the next 10 years it has emerged.
Meldon Viaduct is 165m (540ft) long and was constructed just outside Okehampton in the 1870s to cater for the London and South West Railway line.
The viaduct is a scheduled monument and one of only two surviving railway bridges in the UK built with wrought iron lattice piers and trusses.
The Meldon Viaduct Company that was set up in 1998 to maintain the viaduct and attract funding for repair works is being dissolved with Devon County Council taking on full control of the management of the viaduct.
A report for Devon County Council's cabinet said: "The viaduct requires significant renovation works estimated at £2m-3m over the next decade.
"Survey works have been initiated to prepare for these renovations, but the funding has not yet been found."
The idea behind setting up the Meldon Viaduct Company had been that it would be able to apply for funding not available to local authorities.
However, the report said the company had raised funds "at a very slow rate" and the county council would now be exploring funding from bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.
The viaduct now carries the Granite Way, a cycle and footpath connecting Okehampton with Lydford, which is part of a route known as the Devon Coast to Coast, external.
A historic viaduct on Dartmoor will need up to £3m of repairs over the next 10 years it has emerged.
Meldon Viaduct is 165m (540ft) long and was constructed just outside Okehampton in the 1870s to cater for the London and South West Railway line.
The viaduct is a scheduled monument and one of only two surviving railway bridges in the UK built with wrought iron lattice piers and trusses.
The Meldon Viaduct Company that was set up in 1998 to maintain the viaduct and attract funding for repair works is being dissolved with Devon County Council taking on full control of the management of the viaduct.
A report for Devon County Council's cabinet said: "The viaduct requires significant renovation works estimated at £2m-3m over the next decade.
"Survey works have been initiated to prepare for these renovations, but the funding has not yet been found."
The idea behind setting up the Meldon Viaduct Company had been that it would be able to apply for funding not available to local authorities.
However, the report said the company had raised funds "at a very slow rate" and the county council would now be exploring funding from bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.
The viaduct now carries the Granite Way, a cycle and footpath connecting Okehampton with Lydford, which is part of a route known as the Devon Coast to Coast, external.
I have posted this in "new and improved services" and not historic. I would love to see it improved for trains - from Okehampton in one direction and from Tavistock and Bere Alston in the other.
