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Railway Viaduct, Newcastle
Photograph: E. de Mare (1960s)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection

Like an iron giant, the railway marched stridently across Victorian Britain. Mountains, rivers and valleys proved no obstacle. Great bridges and viaducts sprang up cutting across the landscape; endless tunnels bored through hills, and deep under the swelling cities.

These engineering marvels were created by men of genius, like Robert Stephenson. Most iconic is Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59), legendary even in his own time, the engineer-creator of the Great Western Railway. But these engineers were not solitary geniuses: they relied on speculators to fund these massive projects, and an immense workforce of navvies to realise their dreams. And the construction itself demanded the materials produced in the new factories – bricks, cast iron and plate glass, plus stone quarried by steam engines.

This stark photograph brilliantly displays the might of the railways. The viaduct looms over the terraced streets of Newcastle, the houses beneath dwarfed under its rugged stone pillars and arches. The railway may appear alien, imposed upon the town. However, it probably was built long before the houses in its shadow.