[9][10] The viaduct was built from solid stone blocks, assembled using a method called 'block-in-course', which the engineer described as "requiring great care in its execution.

"[note 3][12] Stone for the first viaduct was sourced from a quarry in Walk Mill, a part of the settlement of Oxspring, just to the east of Penistone.

[14] Ironically, the train had stopped a little too short of the station as people falling off the viaduct was anticipated when it was built, and a short length of iron fencing was placed upon the eastern parapet on the southern end to prevent such an eventuality as someone stepping off the viaduct.

The driver and fireman had noticed that the arch they were on was collapsing slowly, and managed to get away safely before total loss, however the steam engine fell into the void.

[17] The Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce held a meeting to complain to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway about the situation with the collapsed viaduct.