The Langå bridges - more than 150 years of railway history
Since 1862, earth-built dams and solid iron and concrete bridges have carried the Jutland long-distance railway Fredericia-Ålborg safely over the Gudenå valley here at Langå. Langå is a hub on the long-distance railway, as the Langå-Viborg-Holstebro line has also started from here since 1863. The oldest and now protected iron-built box bridge, which you are standing by, was built in connection with the inauguration of the longitudinal railway in 1862. The English-built box bridge is traditionally constructed of riveted iron plates supported by steel girders. In 1908, the drawbridge was replaced by two now decommissioned self-supporting iron grid bridges just west of the drawbridge, which then functioned as shunting tracks. The grid bridges functioned until 1952, when they were replaced by today's concrete bridge and the track was moved to the west of the Lilleåen outlet in Gudenå. At the brook, the solid granite bridgeheads of the grid bridges can still be seen and to the south, a now protected embankment led the double-track railway from the Lilleå valley to the bridge.