Hard-working arches

I enjoyed the article on Smardale viaduct. I first visited in the mid 80s before restoration. It was a wild place, overgrown and heading for collapse. On March 17th this year, a cold and very windy day, my wife and I visited it again, following exactly Route 18 in the November magazine. I read Guy’s article with anticipation, wondering if he had studied the information board at the reserve end of the viaduct. I think he must have missed the amazing sentence which reads to the effect that one million tons of material was carried daily over the route. This seemed a lot to me so a quick calculation: allowing 500 tons per train, that would mean 2000 trains per day, or well over one a minute! I stood there bemused and tried to visualise the scene. No wonder the structure still stands if it was built to withstand such incessant hammer! Of course, the board should read per year rather than per day which would mean at least six trains each and every day. A still very impressive quantity of traffic. Eric Mansfield, by email