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1852: A man is thrown over a train viaduct but it turns out that he was already dead….
The Railway Viaduct (The Railway Detective 3)
What you need to know before your trail
As a train speeds over the Sankey Viaduct, a man is hurled from a carriage and plummets into the canal below. It later transpires that he has been stabbed to death. The police find it difficult to identify the man and later discover he may not be British
The police take the case to France where a new railway is being built by a British contractor. Anti-British feeling is rife and there might have been not just a revolution between the two countries but a war of the railways
Locations
Reset- England - London
- D: Great Scotland Yard
- France - Ile de France
- E: Paris - the Marais
- F: Mantes-la-Jolie - river Seine
Travel Guide
Liverpool
The Sankey Viaduct
Viewed from below, the Sankey viaduct was truly imposing. It had been opened in 1830 as part of the Liverpool and Manchester railway and was roughly halfway between the two places. Straddling a valley that contained both a canal and brook, the viaduct was supposed by nine identical arches, each with a span of fifty feet.
It was a predominantly brick structure, finished off with dressings and facings that gave it an added lustre. In the bright sunshine, it was a dazzling piece of architectural masonry.
France – Mantes
There is a lot of ill feeling with the French at the time and not just because of the 1789 Revolution and the subsequent fighting in 1848. There was also a war going on in the world of the railways and there was a lot of mistrust with French men coming over to the UK to work on the railways. Engineers, navvies and the like were not welcome.
Mantes – the visit here is described as a “Revelation” the police go here to see Gaston Chabral’s home and to go on the short journey to Paris which is the next stop in the investigation.
France, Paris
Described as the city of the arts, and the place where lots of people come to be inspired. It’s the quirky and still boho area of the marais where the police investigate for links to the viaduct murder
Streetview Maps
A) Merseyside - the Sankey Viaduct
C) Liverpool - Lime Street station
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Railway Viaduct (The Railway Detective 3)
Destination: Liverpool, Newton-le-Willows, Mantes, Paris Author/Guide: Edward Marston Departure Time: 1852
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