The viaduct over the River Boyne links the Dublin-Belfast railway line. Prior to its construction the travel time by rail from Dublin to Belfast took almost 17 hours with passengers ferried from the Railway Station on the South of the Boyne , by horse and car to the North Station which was located north of Newfoundwell bridge , where Newfield is today .The Dublin to Drogheda line opened in May 1844 .  

It was opened in 1865 and at the time  was the seventh larest bridge of its kind in the world  and was considered one of the wonders of the age. The designer was Sir John MacNeill, who was born at Mountpleasant, Co. Louth, in 1793.