The Bredbo River railway bridge is a heritage-listed former

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

carrying the

Bombala railway line The Bombala railway line is a branch railway line in the south of New South Wales, Australia. The northern part of it forms part of the main line from Sydney to Canberra, but the southern part is closed. It branches off the Main South line at Jo ...

over the

Bredbo River Bredbo River, a perennial stream that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia. Location and features The river rises on the western slopes of the Gr ...

Bredbo Bredbo is a village on the Monaro plains of New South Wales, Australia. The village is on the Monaro Highway north of Cooma. The village is in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council and had a population of 352 at the . History Located at the junct ...

in the

Snowy Monaro Regional Council The Snowy Monaro Regional Council is a local government area located in the Snowy Mountains and Monaro regions of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a merger of the Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River s ...

local government area of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. It was designed by

John Whitton John Whitton (1820, near Wakefield, Yorkshire, England – 20 February 1898), an Anglo–Australian railway engineer, was the Engineer-in-Charge for the New South Wales Government Railways, serving between 1856 and 1890, considered the Father of ...

in his capacity as Engineer-in-Chief for Railways and built from 1881 to 1889. It is also known as the Bredbo Rail Bridge and the Bredbo River Railway Viaduct. The property is owned by

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It 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. On 1 December 2020, changes were made to exemptions relating to the bridge's heritage status.

History

The railway was extended from Queanbeyan to

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a ...

in 1887-89. At that time, the Engineer-in-Chief for Railways,

, was under government pressure to reduce construction costs. One common method was to build timber bridges, mostly ballast top timber beam bridges. However, for two major waterways, Ingalara Creek ( Michelago Rail Bridge over Ingalara Creek and the

, he chose to use Queen post deck trusses, a type of timber truss viaduct that he had already used on the Main North line between Glen Innes and

Wallangarra Wallangarra is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia on the border with New South Wales. In the , the locality of Wallangarra had a population of 468 people. It is the third-most southerly town in Queens ...

. Nearer to Cooma, at Chakola, he chose a different type of timber viaduct to cross Umaralla Creek. Several of Whitton's other Queen post deck truss bridges - the Breardy River, Severn River and Bluff River viaducts and the Tenterfield Creek bridge - are also listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register.

Description

The Bredbo Rail Bridge is a ten-

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan ester ...

timber

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

viaduct. Each span is , centre to centre, of timber trestles. The Queen deck truss design was copied from one of

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...

's Cornish timber bridges, the St Germans viaduct, which was built about 30 years earlier. The condition of the bridge was reported as fair as at 4 April 2006 due to lack of maintenance since rail services were suspended. All these viaducts retain their original fabric.

Heritage listing

The timber Queen post truss viaduct was an economic bridge for the Queanbeyan to Cooma Railway at a time when the boom years of the 1880s were ending and funding for railway construction was decreasing. The Bredbo viaduct is accessible from the

Monaro Highway Monaro Highway is a highway in Victoria, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, in Australia, linking in Victoria to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) via the Monaro region. From its southern terminus, it fol ...

and is an impressive timber structure. The Cooma Railway made a significant contribution to the development of the

Monaro Region Monaro ( ), once frequently spelled "Manaro", or in early years of settlement "Maneroo" is a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro. While t ...

from the time of its construction 1887-89, and all the timber viaducts were important items of the railway's infrastructure. The timber Queen post deck viaduct was a significant structure in place of the expensive iron lattice bridges preferred by John Whitton. The Bredbo viaduct was technically sound and durable, having been built from renowned ironbark hardwood. The two deck Queen post truss timber viaducts on the Cooma Line, together with four on the Main North Line, are a unique class of railway bridge. Bredbo Rail Bridge was listed on the

on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. The timber Queen post truss viaduct was an economic bridge for the Queanbeyan to Cooma Railway at a time when the boom years of the 1880s were ending and funding for railway construction was decreasing. The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. The viaduct is accessible from the Monaro Highway and is an impressive timber structure. The place has strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The Cooma Railway made a significant contribution to the development of the Monaro Region from the time of its construction 1887-89, and the three timber viaducts were important items of the railway's infrastructure. The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. The timber Queen post deck viaduct was a significant structure in place of the expensive iron lattice bridges preferred by John Whitton. The Bredbo viaduct were technically sound and durable, having been built from renowned ironbark hardwood. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. These two timber viaducts on the Cooma Line, together with four on the Main North Line, are a unique class of railway bridge.

References

Bibliography

Attribution

External links

{{Australian railway bridges, state=autocollapse New South Wales State Heritage Register Railway bridges in New South Wales Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register

1889 establishments in Australia Bridges completed in 1889 Snowy Monaro Regional Council Bombala railway line Queen post truss bridges