Gayndah Railway Bridges

Burnett River, Gayndah, Queensland

The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (RGSQ) members visited the Gayndah area in June 2011, in particular, to view several of the most interesting and different railway bridges in Queensland. Some of these bridges are heritage listed, unfortunately, floods in the area in 2013 damaged the Burnett River Bridge and destroyed the Reids Creek Bridge superstructure. The Queensland Government let a tender in 2017 to remove materials that were deteroriating or hazardous. Parts of the route are now included in tourist and recreational activities.

Brief History

The railway reached Maryborough in late 1881 which generated interest in a branch line through the Burnett district. Work began in 1889 from Mungar and reached Degilbo in 1893, but the depression of the 1890s and early 1900s delayed further work until 1905 when the Chowey Bridge was built. The line reached Wetheron in late 1905, Gayndah in 1907 and on to Mundubbera by 1914.

During this period the Chief Engineer, Wiliam Pagan, was apparently given free reign and every bridge between Degilbo (a semordnilap of obliged - really?) and Munduberra is a different design.

Initially it served grazing operations - mainly sheep - in the region, but agriculture gradually gained the ascendency, and although dairying continued to be an important, it predominantly served fruit-growing and other agricultural products.

The line ran through to Monto but was closed in 2004 and all maintenance ceased about 2012.

Viewing this map full size (click map top RH corner) offers the opportunity to also select Google Earth view.

Each one of these bridges exhibits both creativite and technical achievement which are exemplary of the era in construction and the reuse of spans and materials from earlier bridges.

Deep Creek (Chowey) Railway Bridge (1905)

The bridge is a concrete viaduct with an 80 foot (24.4m) concrete arch flanked by two smaller 15 foot (4.6m) arches, with the track run on sleepers and ballast in a trough. It has the date of construction, 1905, cast into the sides. The bridge represented a substantial development in concrete arch bridge design, which William Pagan (Chief Engineer) described in his annual report for that year as "a concrete bridge of somewhat novel design". Construction was facilitated by a slender tramway with sand agregate being brought up from Deep Creek.

Deep Creek (Chowey) Bridge 2011

Scaffolding erected during the construction of the Deep Creek railway bridge, Gayndah district, 1905, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland Image number: API-073-0001-0005

Burnett River Bridge (1907)

This bridge, which crosses the Burnett River at Mount Lawless, is a long (294m) fairly conventional design constructed of timber. It featured extensive bracing to allow the bridge to be submerged during flood periods. Tall vertical poles standing in the main channel upstream of the bridge functioned to turn large flood-bourne logs so as to pass between the bridge trestles to prevent a large accumulation of material against the bridge. Unfortunaly, it didn't stand up to the 2013 floods and several sections of the bridge were washed away.

The bridge has 58 spans varying between 4.3m and 5.5m with flood bracing on both sides in the main channel stream

Burnet River Bridge 2011

Bridge construction showing the downstream flood bracing (left) and the upstream vertical poles (right) to align large logs to slide between the trestles.

Trestle construction

Flood Bracing

Barambah Basalt lava flow

A long lost sheep or a troll patiently waiting?

Barrambah Basalt - Coalstoun Lakes NP on the road between Biggenden and Ban Ban Springs is the site of a volcanic eruption over 600,000 years ago, yet is one of the youngest volcanic geological formations in Australia. Lava from the eruption at Mt Le Brun flowed down the local creek valley, into what is now called Barambah Creek near Ban Ban Springs, then to the Burnett River and downstream some 150 km.

Ideraway Creek Bridge (1907)

The Ideraway Upside-down Bridge is unique in Australaia. The main span of the underslung truss was originally used as an erection truss in the new Macrossan bridge between Townsville and Charters Towers in 1899. A section of this truss was then used as a replacement bridge at Sadler's Crossing (near Ipswitch, Queensland) in 1902. The remaining 150 foot section was placed at its final resting place at Ideraway in 1907. The pin-jointed contruction was originally designed for rapid assembly and disassembly.

Ideraway Creek bridge 2011
The four central spans are pin-jointed fish-belly trusses with a timber girders at each end supported by concrete abutments.

Oh no - will we have time to save fair maiden? Probably since there hasn't been a train since 2004!

Steep Rocky Creek Bridge (1907)

Steep Rocky Creek Bridge features 5 concrete arches crossing a ravine north of the Burnett River near Gayndah. It represents a further stage in reinforced concrete bridge design following on from the Deep Creek (Chowey) bridge, as it departs substantially from the designs used for stone arches.

Reids Creek Bridge (1911)

The bridge across Reids Creek near Gayndah was constructed in 1911, and its arrangement of Pratt Truss main spans and half-through Pratt Truss approach spans is not common in Queensland. Some of the cylinders (span rollers) used in this bridge were cast by Walkers at Maryborough, Queensland. Some trusses were originally intended to be used in a proposed high-level bridge across the Burdekin River at Home Hill in 1910.

Reids Creek bridge 2011

Reids Creek bridge after the 2013 floods

The steel and cast iron super structure ended up in mangled pieces, some more than 100m from the pylons. Two of the concrete pylons are no longer there. Local Gayndah resident and history buff, Mr John Mellor, said it was hard to imagine the pressure build up of debris against the bridge to cause such catastrophic damage.

Humphery Nr 1 Bridge (1913)

Humphery Nr 1 Bridge is one of a number of Queensland rail bridges which had reused trusses. These riveted lattice truss main spans were originally part of a bridge over Neerkol Creek near Rockhampton, built in 1867 and modified for reuse here.

Humphery Nr 2 Bridge (1913)

Humphery Nr 2 Bridge is situated some 0.5km to the west of Humphery #1 bridge, and for the shorter span required at this crossing, Pagan returned to the concrete arch form, designing discontinuous wall-type pinned arches in concrete. This was the sixth and last concrete arch rail bridge built in Queensland.

Bayntuns Bridge (1913)

Baynton's Bridge is another of the bridges with reused trusses, similar to Humphery Nr 1.

Castor Oil Gully Bridge

Castor Oil Gully Bridge is thought to have had its girders reconstructed from an earlier bridge over Wide Gully, in around 1865, on the first rail line in Queensland, which ran from Ipswich to Grandchester. As such, it would comprise the oldest bridge spans in the State.

Andersons Gully Bridge

Anderson's Gully (Wain's) Bridge also features lattice trusses which were recycled from an earlier rail bridge.

Slab Creek Bridge

Slab Creek Bridge and Philp0tt Creek Bridge are examples of plate girder bridges on the Mungar to Monto line, and are the 11th and 12th significant bridges on that section of line between Muan and Mundubbera, a section of the line more or less centred on Gayndah.