The West Highland Railway was built to Fort William by Lucas and Aird, but there were delays with the West
Highland Railway Mallaig Extension (Guarantee) bill for the Mallaig Extension Railway in the House of
Commons as the Tory and Liberal parties fought over the issue of subsidies for public transport. This Act
did pass in 1896, by which time Lucas & Aird (and their workers) had moved south.New contractors were
needed and Robert McAlpine & Sons were taken on with Simpson & Wilson as engineers.Robert McAlpine & Sons
was headed by Robert McAlpine, nicknamed "Concrete Bob" for his innovative use of mass concrete.Concrete
was used due to the difficulty of working the hard schist in the area.McAlpine's son Robert, then aged
28, took charge of construction, with his younger son Malcolm appointed as assistant.Construction of the
extension from Fort William to Mallaig began in January 1897, and the line opened on 1 April 1901.The
Glenfinnan Viaduct, however, was complete enough by October 1898 to be used to transport materials across
the valley.It was built at a cost of GB£18,904.A long-established legend attached to the Glenfinnan
Viaduct was that a horse had fallen into one of the piers during construction in 1898 or 1899.In
1987, Professor Roland Paxton failed to find evidence of a horse at Glenfinnan using a fisheye camera
inserted into boreholes in the only two piers large enough to accommodate a horse.In 1997, on the basis
of local hearsay, he investigated the Loch nan Uamh Viaduct by the same method but found the piers to be
full of rubble.Using scanning technology in 2001, the remains of the horse and cart were found at
Loch nan Uamh, within the large central pylon
Design
The viaduct is built from mass concrete, and has 21 semicircular spans of 50 feet (15 m).It is the
longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland at 416 yards (380 m), and crosses the River Finnan at a height
of 100 feet (30 m).The West Highland Line it carries is single track, and the viaduct is 18 feet
(5.5 m) wide between the parapets.The viaduct is built on a curve of 792 feet (241 m).
The concrete used in the Glenfinnan Viaduct is mass concrete, which unlike reinforced concrete does not
contain any metal reinforcement.It is formed by pouring concrete, typically using fine aggregate, into
formwork, resulting in a material very strong in compression but weak in tension
Railway services
The West Highland Line connects Fort William and Mallaig, and was a crucial artery for the local fishing
industry and the highlands economy in general, which suffered enormously after the Highland Clearances of
the 1800s.
The line is used by passenger trains operated by ScotRail between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig, usually
diesel multiple units. Additionally in the summer the heritage Jacobite steam train operates along the line.
It is a popular tourist event in the area, and the viaduct is one of the major attractions of the line.
Depiction
The viaduct is commemorated on this Bank of Scotland £10 note
Glenfinnan Viaduct has been used as a location in several films and television series, including Ring of
Bright Water, Charlotte Gray, Monarch of the Glen, Stone of Destiny and The Crown. After it appeared in four
of the Harry Potter films, British Transport Police warned fans not to walk on the viaduct after a handful
of near misses with trains had occurred.[16] It is also featured in the 2018 videogame Forza Horizon 4.
The Glenfinnan Viaduct features on some Scottish banknotes. The 2007 series of notes issued by the Bank of
Scotland depicts different bridges in Scotland as examples of Scottish engineering, and the £10 note
features the Glenfinnan Viaduct.