Glebe Railway Viaduct

About

The Glebe and Wentworth Park railway viaducts are a series of two heritage-listed railway bridges and arch viaducts that carry the Inner West Light Rail across Wentworth Park, Jubilee Park, and Johnstons Creek in the inner western Sydney suburb of Glebe, New South Wales, Australia. They were designed by the New South Wales Government Railways and built from 1892 to 1922 by day labour. They are also known as Wentworth Park Viaduct, Jubilee Park Viaduct and Glebe Viaducts. The viaducts were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. Established to initially carry the Rozelle–Darling Harbour Goods Line, the viaducts were converted for use by the Inner West Light Rail in 1996, at the time of their electrification.

By 1900, the Sydney metropolitan railway network was fast reaching congestion through the combined, and conflicting, demands of the suburban and country passenger services and the movements of freight trains. Segregated running periods and special timetables were only short-term solutions and did not address the differing traffic requirements.

The decision was made to build a separate rail system for freight trains so they could move independently of the passenger services but could link into the four main lines (north, west, south and Illawarra ) at specific locations. Also, a large marshalling yard would be built in the middle of the goods line network (at Enfield ) to centralise the interchange of freight traffic.

The completion of the goods line was directly associated with the Sydney Harbour Trust 's completion of the Pyrmont (Jones Bay) wharves, which were considered the most up-to-date and advanced in the port, with rail lines running along each of the wharves. The goods line provided a continuous loop connection through Central station Yard, Darling Harbour Yard and the Pyrmont wharves, with connections to Rozelle Yard, White Bay and Glebe Island. In this period, Sydney Harbour was the main port for NSW and the goods line provided a direct connection between rural Australia, growing wheat and wool and mining coal, and the ships carrying the goods to export markets. Imported goods arriving on the docks were back-loaded onto the empty trains for distribution around the state. Work began around 1910 with the goods line from Rozelle to the northern end of Darling Harbour completed and opened for traffic on 23 January 1922.

The construction of brick arch underbridges occurred in two periods: 1892 for the duplication of the Main Southern railway line from Granville to Picton, then from 1914 to 1922 mostly for main line duplications. The former had bricks supplied from private brickworks whereas the latter's supply came from the State Brickworks at Homebush. The construction of the Jubilee Park and Wentworth Park viaducts was the first large-scale project to use bricks from the State Brickworks. Approximately three million four hundred thousand bricks were used for these viaducts. The viaducts were built using timber piles driven into the ground below them, to shore up the structures, as both Parks had been themselves created on land resumed from swamps and sandflats.

Conversion of the goods line to light rail included the installation of new stations and infrastructure such as overhead catenary systems to carry the required electric wiring.

Nearly all the underbridges – a mix of brick arches, steel girders, and steel trusses – on the former Metropolitan Goods Line are still in use.

Jubilee Park viaduct is a 28- span brick arch viaduct built on a curve extending from the east of Jubilee Park at Victoria Road to The Crescent, Annandale. The viaduct contains more than two million bricks from the former State Brickworks at Homebush Bay. The bricks are laid in English bond pattern with soldier courses defining the archways. The arches are evenly spaced, being 28 x 10.06-metre (33.0 ft) clear spans. The viaduct stretches approximately 446.5 metres (1,465 ft), making it the largest brick viaduct in the NSW rail system.

Jubilee Park Viaduct, panoramic view from Jubilee Park, looking across Johnstons Creek and Federal Park

- Jubilee Park playing field with another portion of the Jubilee Viaduct in the background

The Wentworth Park viaduct consists of a long, curved brick arch viaduct of 11 x 10.97-metre (36.0 ft) clear spans and 10 x 11.58-metre (38.0 ft) clear spans. The viaduct is estimated to contain 1.4 million bricks and stretches approximately 274 metres (899 ft) across the park, making it the second longest brick viaduct in the NSW system after the Jubilee Park viaduct which is part of the same line.

- Wentworth Park Viaduct, panoramic view from north of the viaduct in Wentworth Park, Glebe

As at 15 May 2023, the viaducts are in good condition. The viaducts retain most original fabric and structure, except for some closed-in arches.

- 1996: Both bridges modified to carry metro light rail network, including addition of overhead electric wires and catenary poles to support them.

is a 28- span brick arch viaduct built on a curve extending from the east of Jubilee Park at Victoria Road to The Crescent, Annandale. The viaduct contains more than two million bricks from the former State Brickworks at Homebush Bay. The bricks are laid in English bond pattern with soldier courses defining the archways. The arches are evenly spaced, being 28 x 10.06-metre (33.0 ft) clear spans. The viaduct stretches approximately 446.5 metres (1,465 ft), making it the largest brick viaduct in the NSW rail system.

Jubilee Park Viaduct, panoramic view from Jubilee Park, looking across Johnstons Creek and Federal Park

- Jubilee Park playing field with another portion of the Jubilee Viaduct in the background

The Wentworth Park viaduct consists of a long, curved brick arch viaduct of 11 x 10.97-metre (36.0 ft) clear spans and 10 x 11.58-metre (38.0 ft) clear spans. The viaduct is estimated to contain 1.4 million bricks and stretches approximately 274 metres (899 ft) across the park, making it the second longest brick viaduct in the NSW system after the Jubilee Park viaduct which is part of the same line.

Wentworth Park Viaduct, panoramic view from north of the viaduct in Wentworth Park, Glebe

As at 15 May 2023, the viaducts are in good condition. The viaducts retain most original fabric and structure, except for some closed-in arches.