The long-abandoned Grade II-listed Castlefield Viaduct is set to be completely transformed into an urban park that could make a real mark on the city. With plans reminiscent of New York’s famous High Line, The National Trust is set to open around half of the 330m viaduct to the public from summer 2022. It will form the first part of a phased trial that will inform permanent plans for the site. The Castlefield corridor is a railway corridor between Castlefield junction and Fairfield Street junction in Greater Manchester, England. The corridor forms the eastern end of the southerly Liverpool–Manchester line. Castlefield is one of three-dozen listed viaducts on the inventory of British Railways Board (Residuary) – its owner and maintainer.
Predominantly wrought iron, it is a through lattice girder design of around 330m in length, comprising eight spans. Formed from segmental castings and founded at a depth of 6.1m, the piers’ diameter tapers from 4.6m at their base to 3.2m at ground level. They are concrete-filled and tied to their neighbour by a girder dealing with lateral forces. Behind decorative castellations, bearing plates support the heavy end posts of 16 trusses, the longest of which reaches 53m. Each pair is restrained by brace beams at 6.4m centres. Span 7 is acutely trapezoidal, allowing Span 8 to cross the Ordsall Lane line on a skew of around 65° – its southern truss benefits from an additional orphaned column. The bottom chord of each truss forms a channel which has become a corrosive water trap. It carries the transverse bearers which, in turn, hold the deck plates and ribs to which the running rails were fastened.
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