Loughor railway viaduct

The Loughor railway viaduct is a railway viaduct carrying the West Wales Line across the River Loughor. The structure is adjacent to the Loughor road bridge. The recently replaced 1880 structure was Grade II listed.

The Loughor viaduct was built for the broad gauge South Wales Railway west of Swansea to Carmarthen. The line across it opened in 1852. The viaduct has since been rebuilt several times.

The original viaduct was designed by Brunel, with Fletcher as resident engineer. It was of typical design for one of Brunel's many viaducts, especially those on the coastal parts of the SWR, with timber construction and a small opening span to permit river traffic. It was 750 ft long with a 40 ft opening swing bridge at the Swansea (east) end. The seventeen fixed spans were of similar size.

When first constructed, it was supported on timber piles driven 14 feet into the sand and clay bed of the river. These piles were arranged in groups of three, across the width of the viaduct. Above this was a timber deck and a double track railway, laid on timber baulks. These tracks were both laid as mixed-gauge track, both broad gauge for the SWR and standard gauge for the Llanelly Railway.

In 1880 the viaduct was rebuilt for the first time. The original piles were retained but a new deck was provided. Three longitudinal wrought iron H-girders were laid along the bridge with an iron deck above this. This deck was made of surplus Barlow rail, laid widthways. As the SWR had converted to standard gauge in 1872, the two tracks were laid as a baulk road, but now only to standard gauge.

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