A Thing So Delicate: The Hidden Voices of Scotland's Mass Concrete Viaducts

'A thing so delicate that the fairies might have built it' (Journalist, JJ Bell, said of the Glenfinnan Viaduct) A chance finding on the way to the pub led to an unexpected adventure for author, Moira McPartlin, and retired civil engineer, Colin Baird. As they crossed the footpath over the Dochart Viaduct, the second mass concrete viaduct built in Scotland, Moira asked the question, 'What's mass concrete?' That question was the first of many that sparked the couple's collaborative project, A Thing So Delicate: The Hidden Voices of Scotland's Mass Concrete Viaducts. Seasoned adventurers, Moira and Colin, found twenty significant mass concrete viaducts built in Scotland between the years 1880 and 1904. What they discovered were not ugly industrial structures but carefully engineered elegant curves that blended into their environment. They asked the questions 'Who built these?' and 'What are their stories?' Not just stories of the men in the history books but the common men and women whose lives the bridges impacted. As Moira and Colin travelled through Scotland in their campervan, Bessie, they recorded their adventures to find these delicate creatures that have carried railways for over a century of progress into modern day Scotland. Through a curated mix of history, memoir, poems, short stories, travel writing and photographs, they have unlocked the hidden voices of Scotland's mass concrete viaducts.