Book Launch: A Thing So Delicate: The Hidden Voices of Scotland’s Mass Concrete Viaducts. By Moira McPartlin and Colin Baird

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Book Launch: A Thing So Delicate: The Hidden Voices of Scotland’s Mass Concrete Viaducts. By Moira McPartlin and Colin Baird

27 August, 2026, 6.30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

The Alchemy Experiment, 127 Byres Road, Glasgow G12 8TS

‘A thing so delicate that the fairies might have built it’ (Journalist, JJ Bell, said of the Glenfinnan Viaduct)

A chance encounter 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 2^nd 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.

Season adventurers, Moira and Colin, found twenty significant mass concrete viaducts built in Scotland between the years 1880 and 1904. What they discovered was 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, they recorded their adventures to find these delicate creatures who have carried railways 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.

About the Authors

Moira McPartlin

After leaving Shell in 2005 Moira McPartlin became a full-time author. She has four novels published by Fledgling Press. Her last novel, Before Now: Memoir of a Toerag, was written entirely in the Fife dialect and was published by her own imprint, Trilleachan Press. She is a Hawthornden Fellow, past Scriever for The Federation of Writers (Scotland) and recipient of a Bridges Award residency at Cove Park, Argyll. Moira’s short prose and poetry have been published widely in anthologies and literary magazines.

Instagram @moiramcpartlin

Colin Baird

Colin Baird is a retired Chartered Civil Engineer with a passion for the outdoors and mountaineering. His engineering career took him to many parts of the world and his work on energy projects has given him an understanding of the importance of climate change and sustainability. Colin’s photographic work can be seen online at:

instagram Colin Baird

Images flickr