Railway Herald
On the Devon, Dorset border the 10 arch Cannington Viaduct at over 600 feet in length, 92 feet high at it's tallest pier but just 16 feet wide was the major engineering feature of the 6 mile Axminster to Lyme Regis branch line. Prior to the opening of the line in 1903 the western extremity of the concrete viaduct began to suffer from subsidence. To counter this the third pier, to the left in this image, had a permanent supporting jack also made of concrete inserted which gave the viaduct a pronounced hump at it's western end. The branch became a victim of the BR cuts and closed on 29th November 1965 after just 62 years use. This image, taken on 30th June 2017, shows the viaduct 52 years after closure with the strengthened third arch, and hump, clearly visible.
Bob Woolnough
