(Photos 1-5 © David Gilks, photos 6-7 © Richard Croft)

An extraordinary feat of engineering, the 59 arches and 9 million bricks of Fledborough viaduct - not forgetting its central girder spans - formerly carried the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway over the River Trent. Its contractors were rewarded to the tune of £65,000 for their troubles.

The line came under the Great Central's control in 1907 but traffic ended prematurely in 1980 following a derailment at nearby Clifton-on-Trent. Closure was deemed preferable to the necessary repair work.

(Richard Croft's photos are used under this Creative Commons licence.)