Kim Thurlow's Portfolio of Queensland Railways Pictures.
Lockyer Creek Bridge west of Brisbane
Construction in 1910.
The bridge is about 80km west
of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on the main line to Toowoomba and further
west. The Lockyer Creek, which it crosses, is a major tributary of the Brisbane
River. This area was first settled by Europeans in the 1830/40's, and the
railway built in 1867.
The concrete bridge was built during 1910/11, and opened for traffic in November
1911, replacing the earlier erection
of iron and timber. It is a reinforced concrete bridge with a concrete
deck and bulustrading. It was built only a decade after the first reinforced
concrete bridge of any size was erected in Chatellerault in France. It features
three double semi-elliptical arches, supporting a deck for a single railway
track. Supplementary arches with cross bracing, complete the span between
the abutments and the arches. The bridge was built when William Pagan was
chief engineer of the Queensland Railways in Australia, and it still carries
3,000 tonne coal trains (10 a day).
This photo is owned by Queensland Railways. The photo shows the original 1867 bridge as a backdrop to the construction work in 1910. This original bridge was built in 1866-67, and this photo is taken from the north-western side. The extent of the southern earthern embankment on the original bridge was not replicated in the 1911 construction, rather it used supplementary concrete piers for a greater distance.
The shuttering (boxing) for the main pier caisson and second pier is shown. Detail of construction materials is interesting. A hoist for use in hoisting material for the arch construction shows near the second pier shuttering, as do the reinforcing rods from the main pier caisson.
