Work will begin at the beginning of April on the refurbishment of the historic Reddish Vale viaduct.

The 16 span viaduct was built in 1875 and carries the rail line over the River Tame and Reddish Vale Country Park. A local legend states that during construction a local witch cursed the viaduct and anyone who counted the number of arches.

Network Rail’s engineers, the ‘orange army’, has been carrying out foundation works for a number of weeks on the Grade II listed 19th century-built structure in preparation for the main body of work in April, which will close the Ashburys to Romiley and Marple Wharf Junction to New Mills Central lines for nine days between 2 and 10 April 2016.

The orange army will be working around the clock while the line is closed to trains. This will allow engineers to completely remove the railway track and ballast – the foundation stones which supports the tracks – and place a special waterproof system with new drainage along the viaduct before relaying the track ready for trains on the Monday morning.

In addition the scheme will repair and stabilise the main supporting columns on each of the four corners of the viaduct to strengthen and protect the structure for many years to come.

Mark Ashton, Network Rail’s scheme project manager, said: “The Reddish viaduct is stunning and the essential work we are doing should mean that it will remain that way for another century.

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