Dowery Dell viaduct and the Southwell branch: Midlands railway gold

The first parliamentary by-election I worked in was Birmingham Northfield in 1982. I can recall looking over the parapet of a railway bridge into British Leyland's Longbridge works and seeing a substantial disused railway station.

What I didn't know at the time is that line used to turn to the north and, a few miles later, cross the extraordinary Dowery Dell Viaduct.

The video above, taken from a 1958 edition of the television programme Railway Roundabout, shows the viaduct in use and also the branch that served Southwell in Nottinghamshire.

Midlands railway gold.