Castlefield Viaduct, Manchester

This in a National Trust property, but a rather unusual one because it is a viaduct. Built in 1892 by Heenan and Froude - also responsible for Blackpool Tower - it carried passenger traffic in and out of Manchester Central Station and freight in and out of the Great Northern Warehouse.

The railway was closed in 1969, but still maintained, I guess for safety reasons, though it is listed. It was recently adopted by the National Trust for a two year period, and turned into a "garden in the sky".

Only about half the viaduct is in use, this is the view beyond and shows what it all looked like two years ago.

Much of the garden is a walkway between flower bed.

While other parts are more formally laid out in planters.

Got to be honest, I am more interested in bridges than plants... 

The viaduct is made up of sections, and this photo shows where bridges sections meet. Note that they do not actually join, to allow for expansion.

On the north side, you look down on the existing railway. This train id may have come from Preston (or perhaps Wigan). It is about to go under this viaduct and the tram line as it approaches Deansgate.

Here is a photo I took a couple of months ago from a similar train, looking up at the viaduct.

To the south is another viaduct, now used by the trams.

And beyond a further railway bridge, at a lower level. This image shows the the view from the south, with the existing railway on the lower bridge - not the one to Preston; this a different line to Altrinham and Warrington, they split at the east end of the viaduct. The tram is on the upper viaduct; the disused viaduct would be behind that. 

And a view underneath. You can see the brick viaduct of the railway to the left, the disused railway on the right, and the tram between them.

You exit the sky garden into a car park beside the trams, which would have been railway lines and siding at at one time.

Heading back to Deansgate tram stop, you can see where the railway continued, and now stops rather abruptly.

But at one time, this took trains to the Great Northern  Railway Company's Goods Warehouse, now Great Northern Shopping Centre.

While what is now the tram line took trains to Manchester Central Station, now Manchester Central Convention Complex (and once called G-MEX)...

There is not much too it, but it is free and an easy walk from Deansgate tram stop, so if you are in the area, well worth a visit. Check if it is open first; it is not open every day and its future after September 2025 is uncertain.