Albury rail bridge over Murray River

Item details


Name of item:	Albury rail bridge over Murray River
Other name/s:	Albury Lattice Railway Bridge, Murray River Underbridge
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Transport - Rail
Category:	Railway Bridge/ Viaduct
Location:	Lat: -36.0998612806 Long: 146.9093923700
Primary address:	Main Southern railway, 648.465km, Albury, NSW 2640
Parish:	Albury
County:	Goulburn
Local govt. area:	Albury City
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Albury And District

Boundary:

The listing boundary is the bridge structure and its approaches including supports and embankments.

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
Main Southern railway, 648.465km	Albury	Albury City	Albury	Goulburn	Primary Address
Murray River (over)	Albury	Albury City			Alternate Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
Rail Infrastructure Corporation	State Government

Statement of significance:


	The wrought iron lattice Albury Murray River underbridge is a major early structure associated with the ‘father’ of the NSW railways, John Whitton, and geographically linked to Albury Railway Precinct, one of the most significant railway sites in the NSW. It is an excellent example of a wrought iron lattice bridge, a design that was used extensively for bridge construction during the first major phase of railway construction in NSW in the late 19th century. It is a historically and aesthetically significant structure and a prominent landmark on the NSW/Victoria border. It is one of only two double track bridges of this design, the other being the wrought iron lattice Parramatta River bridge at Meadowbank (no longer in use for rail traffic) and is still in use, carrying both standard gauge (NSW) and broad gauge (Victorian) railway lines. It is the 7th oldest lattice bridge in the NSW rail system, being constructed in the second phase of wrought iron lattice bridge construction (one of the 2nd set of six such bridges).
	Date significance updated: 19 Jul 13
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the OEH copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Designer/Maker:	John Whitton, Engineer-in-Chief for Railways
Builder/Maker:	J S Bennett, iron work supplied by Westwood Baillie, England
Construction years:	1883-1884
Physical description:	The Albury Murray River Bridge is a double track, 3 span wrought iron lattice underbridge. It is a two span continuous lattice bridge with overhead transverse frames for stabilising the top flanges. The spans are 159 feet to centres of piers and the lattice work has 6 triangulations. The piers are pairs of cast iron cylinders supplied by Stockton Forge Co. from England. It is the only double track lattice bridge in service, the other was at Meadowbank, and is one of the 2nd set of six wrought iron lattice bridges with 4-triangular lattice. It was also the first of the two-track lattice bridges constructed on the NSW railway system.
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	In use 2008; in satisfactory condition.
	Date condition updated:19 Jul 13


Current use:	Carries standard gauge and broad gauge rail tracks over Murray River
Former use:	Nil

History

Historical notes:

During the 20-year period between 1873 and 1893 there was a massive programme of public works in New South Wales, particularly in expanding the road and rail networks. During this period and despite strong economic conditions, the respective chief engineers, for roads (William C Bennett) and for railways (John Whitton), adopted economic construction methods and materials, for example by using local materials where possible. Consequently an enormous amount of hardwood timber was used for bridge works; mostly timber beam and timber truss bridges.

However, long span bridges were required for major river crossings, making timber bridge construction unsuitable at many locations. Metal bridge construction was adopted for larger bridges at major river crossings with metal supplied from England. John Whitton adopted the use of wrought iron lattice truss bridges, with twelve such bridges built for the NSW Railways in the late 19th century and 24 wrought iron bridges built for roads.

Many of these bridges (for road and rail) remain extant in NSW, including railway lattice bridges at: Bathurst (Macquarie River, 1876), Wellington (Macquarie River, 1881), Woolbrook (MacDonald River, 1882), Dubbo (Macquarie River, 1884), Cowra (Lachlan River, 1887), Tamworth (Peel River, 1882), Albury (Murray River, 1884), and Narrandera (Murrumbidgee River, 1885).

The Albury Murray River Bridge consists of two 48.463 metre wrought iron lattice girder trusses, a steel opening transom top, and cast iron piers. The cylinders, made by Stockton Forge Co. in the UK weighed 290 tonnes and were delivered between 3 April 1883 and 11 June 1883. The superstructure, made by Westwood Baillie & Co. weighed 594 tonnes and was delivered between 3 April 1883 and 11 June 1883.

The total cost of the bridge was estimated at £32,519.19.0, including:

Cylinders, superstructure: £12,313.0.3
Railway carriage of above: £5,318.19.9
Sinking & fixing of cylinders: £10,005.3.9
Erecting superstructure: £3,775.3.3
Cost of trial borings: £2,11.5.0
Permanent Way materials on bridge: £103.3.7
Engineer’s expenses for supervisor: £793.3.5

Few major modifications have been made to the Albury Bridge with the most significant change probably being the opening of a Standard Gauge track linking Albury to Melbourne on 12 April 1962, with normal passenger services commencing on 16 April 1962.

Two former railway lattice bridges (1885 Georges River bridge at Como and 1886 Parramatta River bridge at Meadowbank) were decommissioned for railway use but remain in use as pedestrian walkways /cycle ways. The 1871 wrought iron rail bridge over the Hunter River at Aberdeen was replaced by another bridge and demolished and the 1881 rail bridge over the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga was demolished in 2006 and replaced by a concrete structure.

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Transport-Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements	(none)-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Transport-Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements	Building and maintaining the public railway system-
7. Governing-Governing	Government and Administration-Activities associated with the governance of local areas, regions, the State and the nation, and the administration of public programs - includes both principled and corrupt activities.	Developing roles for government - building and administering rail networks-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	Twelve wrought iron lattice railway bridges were built in NSW during the boom period for railway construction 1871-1887, starting at Aberdeen and ending at Cowra. Eight of the bridges survive for rail use, and two have been converted for pedestrian use.
SHR Criteria b) [Associative significance]	Associated with Engineer-in-Chief of the NSW Railways, the 'father' of the NSW railways.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	The wrought iron lattice railway bridge at Albury is an imposing structure.
SHR Criteria d) [Social significance]	Every wrought iron lattice railway bridge crossed a major river which made it possible for the railways to make a social and commercial contribution to the districts reached by the railway.
SHR Criteria e) [Research potential]	The wrought iron lattice bridge is a technically sound structure and as such is an example of bridge technology in the late colonial period in NSW (late 19th century). Its strength and durability have shown it to have been a very cost-effective form of bridge construction.
SHR Criteria g) [Representativeness]	The Albury Murray River wrought iron lattice bridge is an excellent representative example of a series of similar bridges constructed by the NSW railways in the late 19th century, most of which remain extant.
Integrity/Intactness:	Apart from relatively minor technical works, repairs and strengthening, the Albury bridge is highly intact.
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	SCHEDULE OF STANDARD EXEMPTIONS HERITAGE ACT 1977 Notice of Order Under Section 57 (2) of the Heritage Act 1977 I, the Minister for Planning, pursuant to subsection 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales, do by this Order: 1. revoke the Schedule of Exemptions to subsection 57(1) of the Heritage Act made under subsection 57(2) and published in the Government Gazette on 22 February 2008; and 2. grant standard exemptions from subsection 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977, described in the Schedule attached. FRANK SARTOR Minister for Planning Sydney, 11 July 2008 To view the schedule click on the Standard Exemptions for Works Requiring Heritage Council Approval link below.	Sep 5 2008

Standard exemptions for works requiring Heritage Council approval

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register		01020	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - s.170 NSW State agency heritage register

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Rail Infrastructure Corporation s.170 Register	2003		Rail Infrastructure Corporation		Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title
Written	Don Fraser	1995	Bridges Down Under
Written	John Forsyth		Historical notes for each of the railway lines for each bridge
Written	Ross Best and Don Fraser	1982	Railway Lattice Girder Bridges in New South Wales

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

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Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Heritage Office
Database number:	5045524

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