The track bed approaching the bridge. Beamish Museum donated large amounts of hardcore and road planings. These were all brought up the hill using a tractor trailer and a dumper. This was a joint effort by the Friends of Beamish and BMEG

The completed bridge, Signal box and rack railway. ( Note the rack was still to be installed)

The site of the rack viaduct. The slope was about 1 in 10, extremely wet, and with a road and high voltage cable on the right side. The pond is the foundation of the lower abutment.

The partly completed lower abutment. Note the 1in 10 slope, and the short length of rack rail

The piers were tram and trolley bus standards with welded bases. Note the four adjusting nuts.

The piers were placed on adjustable level mounts made by ken Swan and John Lambard. After erection of the pier these are now hidden in concrete.

One of Ken Swan’s original plans for the bottom abutment. Note strictly imperial measurement.

The connecting girders were positioned using a JCB. On the steeper section this was impossible and a flexible block and tackle system was used.

One of the first ascents of the rack railway with Ken Swan at the controls of Koppel