The Macquarie River railway bridge is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

disused

railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...

across the

Macquarie River The Macquarie River or Wambuul is part of the Macquarie–Barwon River (New South Wales), Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is one of the main inland rivers in New South Wales, Australia. The river rises in the central highl ...

that was previously located on the Main Western line in Bathurst in the

Bathurst Region Bathurst Regional Council is a local government area in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Great Western Highway, Mid-Western Highway, Mitchell Highway and the Main Western railway line ...

local government area of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It was built in 1876. It is also known as Bathurst Rail Bridge over Macquarie River and Bathurst – Kelso Railway Bridge. The property is owned by

Transport Asset Holding Entity The Transport Asset Manager of New South Wales (TAM) is an agency of the Government of New South Wales under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was previously a state-owned corporation known as the Transport Asset Holding Entity of ...

, an agency of the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

. The bridge was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999 and was added to the (now defunct)

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

on 18 April 1989.

History

The bridge opened with the extension of the railway line into Bathurst in April 1876. It was designed by

John Whitton John Whitton (1820 near Wakefield, Yorkshire, England – 20 February 1898), an English people, Anglo–Australians, Australian Railway systems engineering, railway civil engineer, engineer, was the Engineer-in-Charge for the New South Wales Gov ...

, with the ironwork by Messrs. Andrew Handyside & Co. of the Britannia Ironworks, Derby, imported from England by the contractor, William Mason. The bridge is a significant technical accomplishment. Placed in service in 1876 it has three main

lattice truss A lattice truss bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a lattice. The design was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town. Originally a means of erecting a substantial bridge from mere p ...

spans, each of . It is one of a series of twelve related bridges, all with lattice trusses, built between 1871 and 1887. The bridge at Bathurst is the second of a series and is the oldest of the eleven that remain; the earlier 1871 Hunter Bridge at Aberdeen, with three spans, no longer remains. The bridge is of considerable age and size for its type. It is the ninth oldest of existing Australian metal truss bridges. When completed in 1876, the only metal truss bridges of longer span were the South Esk River Rail Bridge at Longford (1871, , still existing) and the original Brisbane River Rail Bridge at Indooroopilly (1876, , destroyed by flood). The only metal truss bridges of greater total length were at Moorabool (1852, , replaced), the original bridge at Indooroopilly (as above, ), and the bridge at Aberdeen (1871, same spans as this bridge). The present bridge is therefore the longest remaining metal truss bridge of its age. The series of lattice truss bridges, of which this is the oldest surviving example, was designed by Sir John Fowler (co-designer of the World Heritage-listed Firth of Forth Bridge) for Whitton, and was one of the subjects of the 1884-86 Railway Bridges Enquiry, which finally approved their design.

Description

The Macquarie River underbridge is made of

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

with lattice girder. The bridge carries a single railway with transomes on timber stringers on metal cross girders which frame into the sides of the lower chords. The main trusses are through type lattice trusses, continuous over three spans. They are of constant depth with seven triangulations and are connected together above the track by characteristic arched latticed braces. They are supported on twin, cast iron cylinder piers. The superstructure was fabricated by Handyside and Company, Derby, England; the principal contractors were Cummings, Mason and Mason and Ellsington. The bridge was load tested on 8 March 1876 and placed in service on 4 April 1876. In , work commenced on replacing the bridge but this was held up until 2008 when funding was approved via a concrete girder bridge that is located a few meters upriver of the heritage-listed bridge. Previous work was removed and adjusted to the new specifications and new construction completed.

Heritage listing

This is one of John Whitton's major 1870s wrought iron bridges and is an excellent example of early bridge construction. The lattice girder is one of Whitton's original twelve bridges of that design and they represent the third stage of bridge construction in NSW following the stone viaduct and iron tubular bridges. Bathurst rail bridge over Macquarie River was listed on the

on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. This item is assessed as historically rare. This item is assessed as scientifically rare. This item is assessed as arch. rare. This item is assessed as socially rare.

Gallery

Railway bridge over the Macquarie River, Bathurst 2.jpg, The heritage-listed bridge (right) and the replacement concrete girder bridge (left), looking east.

References

Bibliography

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Attribution

External links

{{Australian railway bridges, state=autocollapse New South Wales State Heritage Register Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register 1876 establishments in Australia Bridges completed in 1876 Bathurst Lattice truss bridges Main Western railway line, New South Wales New South Wales places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate