WORLD'S OLDEST RAILWAY BRIDGE

This beautiful historical English bridge known as Causey Arch looks lost in the overgrown bushes and trees near Stanley in County Durham. But it's in pretty good condition seeing as it was built between 1725-1726.

A stonemason called Ralph Wood made it and the project was founded by some coal owners known as The Grand Allies at a total cost of £12,000.

At the time nothing like this had even been attempted to be built since Roman times and no one really had any knowledge or experience of building a bridge apart from referring to the 'Roman Way', so this was a challenge for Ralph. So much so that his first attempt collapsed and he had to rebuild it.

This former busy mining town had two railway tracks that crossed the bridge for taking coal to the River Tyne and for bringing back the empty wagons and 900 horse drawn wagons crossed over each day.

The builder was that panicked by the prospect of the bridge collapsing for a second time he took his own life by jumping off his own creation. A sundial at the site still reads Ra Wood, mason 1727 to show the work he did.

If only he would have known at the time it would become the world's oldest surviving railway bridge.

Sadly the archway became disused when the Tanfield Colliery was struck by fire in 1739. The bridge was eventually restored again in the 1980's and has survived for a further 30 years as we know it today and hopefully many more years to come too.