Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Narrandera

About

Murrumbidgee River railway bridge is a heritage-listed disused railway bridge on the Tocumwal railway line crossing from Narrandera to Gillenbah, both in Narrandera Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Whitton in his capacity as Engineer-in-Chief for Railways, and built in 1884–85 by Halliday & Owen with ironwork supplied by English firm Westwood, Baillie. It is also known as Narrandera Lattice Railway Bridge. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 and was added to the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate on 15 May 1990.

During the 20-year period 1873–1893 there was a massive programme of public works in New South Wales, particularly in expanding the road and rail networks. It was a boom period that ended with a severe economic depression.

Despite the boom conditions, the respective Chief Engineers, for Roads (William C. Bennett) and for Railways (John Whitton) were constrained to economise by using as much local material as possible, consequently an enormous amount of hardwood timber was used for bridgeworks, mostly timber beam and timber truss bridges. However, there were many major rivers to be crossed, requiring long span bridges, for which no form of timber bridge was suitable. These large bridges had to be metal and supplied from England, a very expensive import cost to the successive colonial governments.

Both Chief Engineers were British so they chose the widely used wrought iron lattice truss bridge in the half-through form. Twelve of these were built for the railways and 24 for roads. These two sets of iron lattice bridges are the most significant group of bridges of the colonial period. A high percentage are extant and still in use, 10 on railways and 18 on roads.

The current railway lattice bridges are:

- 1876 – Macquarie River bridge at Bathurst

- 1882 – MacDonald River bridge at Woolbrook

- 1884 – Macquarie River bridge at Dubbo

- 1885 – Murrumbidgee River at Narrandera

- 1887 – Lachlan River bridge at Cowra Two former railway lattice bridges (1885 Georges River at Como and the 1886 Parramatta River bridge at Meadowbank ) were converted for use by pedestrian/cycle ways.

The 1871 lattice railway bridge over the Hunter River at Aberdeen was replaced by steel girders and demolished.

The bridge was built in 1884-85 by Halliday and Owen, the contractors for the overall Narrandera-Jerilderie railway project. It was reported to be the only great engineering challenge on that stretch of line. A temporary bridge was erected during construction which carried the initial services over the river. Delays in the completion of the permanent bridge resulted in the formal opening of the line being delayed until July 1885.

The Tocumwal railway line was formally closed in December 1988. The possibility of reopening the Tocumwal line remains a subject of occasional discussion, with reports supporting returning the bridge to active use were the line to reopen.

During the 20-year period 1873–1893 there was a massive programme of public works in New South Wales, particularly in expanding the road and rail networks. It was a boom period that ended with a severe economic depression.

Despite the boom conditions, the respective Chief Engineers, for Roads (William C. Bennett) and for Railways (John Whitton) were constrained to economise by using as much local material as possible, consequently an enormous amount of hardwood timber was used for bridgeworks, mostly timber beam and timber truss bridges. However, there were many major rivers to be crossed, requiring long span bridges, for which no form of timber bridge was suitable. These large bridges had to be metal and supplied from England, a very expensive import cost to the successive colonial governments.

Both Chief Engineers were British so they chose the widely used wrought iron lattice truss bridge in the half-through form. Twelve of these were built for the railways and 24 for roads. These two sets of iron lattice bridges are the most significant group of bridges of the colonial period. A high percentage are extant and still in use, 10 on railways and 18 on roads.

The current railway lattice bridges are:

- 1876 – Macquarie River bridge at Bathurst

- 1882 – MacDonald River bridge at Woolbrook

- 1884 – Macquarie River bridge at Dubbo