Following receipt of the Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek Railway Bridge plans, a comparison was made with my previous statements based on photographic evidence of the now demolished Tallebudgera Creek Bridge.
Currumbin was not the only one with three piers per cross bearer as the Tallebudgera creek bridge [12 metal spans of 27 foot] had both two and three cylinder piers per cross bearer. The two cylinder piers at Tallebudgera Creek were sections # 1 to 8 and were founded on “Monier Piers” which are reinforced concrete pipes filled with concrete. The other few remaining pier sections consisted of three screw piles per cross bearer. Pier #1 was the Nerang end so two thirds of the Tallebudgera Creek Bridge were two piers each section. Currumbin’s bridge is all three pier sections per each cross section so that is possibly still a useful point to help determine which bridge is in the picture.
Following the Tallebudgera Creek pier investigations and emails from others studying the engineering plans, I located a revealing picture of the three pier section of the Tallebudgera Creek bridge on P.36 of Alan Arundell’s “The South Coast railway”, Water Street Productions, Brisbane, 2011 http://railshop.com.au/prod78.htm
My Tallebudgera Creek Railway Bridge picture http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk478...ge1991.jpg was taken in 1991 but Alan Arundell’s picture was dated c1962. The mangroves had increased on the Elanora end in those thirty years and hid the three pier sections on the far end! Just goes to show pictures can be misleading sometimes as well as showing the benefits of checking primary sources such as the plans or similar.
The bridge plans reveal all three metals, cast iron, wrought iron and steel, were used in the Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek railway bridges. Working Plans and Sections SCL N-C s8 West Burleigh tunnel http://www.4shared.com/photo/uvg4mAGq/SC...unnel.html also reveals the Elanora side of the Tallebudgera Creek Bridge also had 13 timber spans each 18 foot long. I have amended the caption of http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk478...6d7ea0.jpg as that previously stated the Currumbin one was the only three pier bridge.
I have more data to share eventually as we spent some time in the State Archives at Runcorn. I actually saw the original plans and letters etc for the SCL. Bit like the treasures in Aladdin’s Cave and the Holy Grail combined!! The QSA prices for their staff copying and postage of material on a CD were quite reasonable; postage on a CD up to 100 pages $3.10, copy scan over A3 size $5.70 and copy greyscale was $1.50. No public photocopiers there but they allowed camera phones and showed us how to manage that with special pillows to support the items.
Those who want the end results can also find it in Brian Webber’s http://railshop.com.au/prod15.htm as well as Destination South Brisbane and Triumph of Narrow Gauge etc, as those writers must have spent hours at the QSA!!
Currumbin was not the only one with three piers per cross bearer as the Tallebudgera creek bridge [12 metal spans of 27 foot] had both two and three cylinder piers per cross bearer. The two cylinder piers at Tallebudgera Creek were sections # 1 to 8 and were founded on “Monier Piers” which are reinforced concrete pipes filled with concrete. The other few remaining pier sections consisted of three screw piles per cross bearer. Pier #1 was the Nerang end so two thirds of the Tallebudgera Creek Bridge were two piers each section. Currumbin’s bridge is all three pier sections per each cross section so that is possibly still a useful point to help determine which bridge is in the picture.
Following the Tallebudgera Creek pier investigations and emails from others studying the engineering plans, I located a revealing picture of the three pier section of the Tallebudgera Creek bridge on P.36 of Alan Arundell’s “The South Coast railway”, Water Street Productions, Brisbane, 2011 http://railshop.com.au/prod78.htm
My Tallebudgera Creek Railway Bridge picture http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk478...ge1991.jpg was taken in 1991 but Alan Arundell’s picture was dated c1962. The mangroves had increased on the Elanora end in those thirty years and hid the three pier sections on the far end! Just goes to show pictures can be misleading sometimes as well as showing the benefits of checking primary sources such as the plans or similar.
The bridge plans reveal all three metals, cast iron, wrought iron and steel, were used in the Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek railway bridges. Working Plans and Sections SCL N-C s8 West Burleigh tunnel http://www.4shared.com/photo/uvg4mAGq/SC...unnel.html also reveals the Elanora side of the Tallebudgera Creek Bridge also had 13 timber spans each 18 foot long. I have amended the caption of http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk478...6d7ea0.jpg as that previously stated the Currumbin one was the only three pier bridge.
I have more data to share eventually as we spent some time in the State Archives at Runcorn. I actually saw the original plans and letters etc for the SCL. Bit like the treasures in Aladdin’s Cave and the Holy Grail combined!! The QSA prices for their staff copying and postage of material on a CD were quite reasonable; postage on a CD up to 100 pages $3.10, copy scan over A3 size $5.70 and copy greyscale was $1.50. No public photocopiers there but they allowed camera phones and showed us how to manage that with special pillows to support the items.
Those who want the end results can also find it in Brian Webber’s http://railshop.com.au/prod15.htm as well as Destination South Brisbane and Triumph of Narrow Gauge etc, as those writers must have spent hours at the QSA!!
Obsolete Australian railway historical downloadable document list
![[Image: Mudgeeraba-1935_zps8336d634.jpg]](http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk478/petanoz/All%20Coolangatta%20Tweed%20Line%20images/Mudgeeraba-1935_zps8336d634.jpg)
![[Image: Bay-St-wharf-letter-label_zpsfec01e7e.jpg]](http://s311.photobucket.com/user/petanoz/media/All%20Coolangatta%20Tweed%20Line%20images/Bay-St-wharf-letter-label_zpsfec01e7e.jpg.html)
![[Image: Tweed-1901-proposed-wharfQR_zps074f2746.jpg]](http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk478/petanoz/All%20Coolangatta%20Tweed%20Line%20images/Tweed-1901-proposed-wharfQR_zps074f2746.jpg)