Parkhead Viaduct

Parkhead Viaduct
Coordinates	52°29′55″N 2°05′58″W / 52.498711°N 2.099508°W / 52.498711; -2.099508Coordinates: 52°29′55″N 2°05′58″W / 52.498711°N 2.099508°W / 52.498711; -2.099508
Carries	Railway
Crosses	Dudley Canal
Locale	Dudley, West Midlands
Characteristics
Material	Stone
History
Construction end	1880 (1880)

Parkhead Viaduct is a railway viaduct located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. The original viaduct was a wooden structure erected in 1850 to carry the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway over Parkhead Locks on the Dudley Canal, near to the southern mouth of the Dudley Tunnel. The current brick viaduct was built in 1880 and it is believed that the original wooden structure is still encased within its successor.^[1]

Closure

Use of the viaduct had fallen by the mid 1960s due to the closure of passenger stations on the route, but the line remained open until 19 March 1993, when the section of the railway between Walsall and Brierley Hill was closed. The most recent train believed to have crossed the viaduct is believed to be a cable laying train on 1 July 1993, nearly four months after the line's closure.

The section of track over Parkhead Viaduct was removed in about 1995, with the most of the track between Highgate Road and Blowers Green Road following in 1998 due to the construction of a new road bridge over the line nearby. The structure of the viaduct is still intact, but has fallen into disrepair and would require extensive work for trains to use it again.

Midland Metro

An extension to the Midland Metro from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill utilising the former railway route has been proposed several times in the recent past. Parkhead Viaduct is a listed structure, so its distinctive arches will be retained when the overhead deck is replaced should the project proceed.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parkhead Junction, Parkhead Locks and Parkhead Viaduct.