The Rydal rail underbridges are a series of heritage-listed

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

underbridge Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United St ...

s and

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

s that carry the Main Western line over Solitary Creek at Rydal, in the

City of Lithgow The City of Lithgow 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 and the Main Western railway line. The Mayor of the City of Lithgow Council is ...

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. The property is owned by

Transport Asset Holding Entity Transport Asset Holding Entity of New South Wales (TAHE) is a state-owned corporation of the New South Wales Government in New South Wales, Australia, established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was converted and renamed fro ...

, an

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

of the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

. 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.

Historical context

By 1900 some sections of the single-track railway network in New South Wales were operating at or near saturation. These included The Great Zig Zag near , the Main West from

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

to Bathurst, the

Main South Main South (or South Main) is a neighborhood in southern Worcester, Massachusetts. The area's eponymous feature is Main Street, the central roadway of the city. Main South experienced rapid economic development from the 1890s until the 1950s. H ...

from Picton as far as Harden and the Main North between

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

and

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney basin, bordering the New Englan ...

. Also, the metropolitan railways were congested due to the combination of suburban and freight traffic. The solution was a series of deviations to ease the gradients, and double tracks (duplications) to increase traffic capacity. The programme of duplications and deviations began around 1910 and was largely completed by 1922. Some sections were not completed until the 1950s.As part of the duplication and deviation works, new bridges were required, with the principal material for new bridges and culverts being bricks. Steel was an expensive option (requiring importation from Britain) whereas the use of bricks complied with a long-standing policy to use local materials as far as possible to contain costs. The establishment of the State Brickworks at in 1912 greatly increased the supply of bricks in the early 20th century. The period from 1910 to 1922 was dominated by the use of bricks. Thereafter, supplies of imported steel increased and

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

was able to meet local demands for structural steel products, resulting in the cessation of the use of bricks for the construction of railway bridges. On the Main West, deviation work began on both sides of the Blue Mountains in 1910, with the Glenbrook 1913 double-track deviation (1910–13) starting at Emu Plains, the

Ten Tunnels Deviation The Ten Tunnels Deviation is a heritage-listed section of the Main Western Line between Newnes Junction and Zig Zag stations in Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built by the New South Wales Government Railways and bui ...

of the Lithgow Zig Zag (1897-1910), and the section at Solitary Creek (from Rydal to Sodwalls) completed between 1910 and 1915.

Description

The complex consists of six stone single-track viaducts and bridges, dated from 1872 and 1916, either in use and extended for double line or abandoned on deviation in 1906. The physical condition of the complex was considered good, with some bridges and viaducts still in use for the carriage of passenger and freight rail. The single track Main Western Railway reached Sodwalls and Tarana in April 1872 along a more-or-less direct route from Rydal. This route involved a number of steep grades and crossings of Solitary Creek. Around 1906, a deviation was built where the line went in a longer route with reduced grades. The old route retains a number of viaducts, the longest “No. 6 Viaduct” with four arches.

Heritage listing

Rydal rail underbridges 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.

References

Attribution

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External links