rivers

Albert Bridge is a heritage-listed railway bridge of steel truss design crossing the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Henry Charles Stanley and built from 1894 to 1895 by John McCormick & Son as a replacement for an earlier bridge lost to flooding in 1893. Both bridges were named in honor of the Prince of Wales, Prince Albert. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The Albert Bridge links Indooroopilly and Chelmer railway station. The structure consists of two steel spans supported by masonry abutments and a central concrete pier that is encased in an iron caisson.[2] A footway was provided on the upstream side. The first Albert Bridge on the site was completed in July 1876[3] and enabled the Main Line railway from Grandchester to Ipswich to be extended to reach Brisbane itself.[4] In the early days of settlement, the Brisbane River at Indooroopilly provided an obstacle to the construction of a railway between Brisbane and the mining center of Ipswich. At this time, a river boat service linked the two centers. The completion of the first Albert Bridge enabled the Ipswich railway line to open in 1875. The first bridge was destroyed in the 1893 flood.[5] In the meantime, ferries were used to transport people and goods across the busy river. This, however, led to the capsize of the ferry ‘’Pearl’’ disaster in 1896 with the loss of more than 40 lives. The second and current Albert Bridge was built in 1895.[5] It was designed by Henry Charles Stanley, Queensland's Chief Engineer of Railways from 1891 to 1901 and is considered his major work.[2] He designed a "Hogsback" steel truss bridge on masonry piers. In designing the bridge as two long spans with one central pier, he tried to minimize the obstruction to flood waters created by multiple piers, which had been the downfall of the first bridge. The Albert Bridge remains one of Australia's largest truss bridges. At the time of its completion, as a metal truss bridge, it was second only to the first Hawkesbury rail bridge (1889) in span length. The Albert Bridge is still Australia's third longest span metal truss bridge after Brisbane's Story Bridge (1940) (Story Bridge) and the second Hawkesbury rail bridge (1945). Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_Brisbane

Bremer River Rail Bridge is a heritage-listed railway bridge off Bremer Street, North Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1865 to 1915. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 11 December 2006. The first Bremer River bridge was designed by Sir Charles Fox and Son and pre-fabricated in Britain. This may explain the pin-jointed members, as these would have simplified the task of assembly in an economy with little skilled labor and unsophisticated manufacturing technology.[1] It was a deck-type iron bridge with pin-jointed lattice girders on cast-iron cylinder piers. It had substantial abutments (extant) made from sandstone, similar to that used in the abutments of the Heiner Road Bridge over the former Wharf Branch Line. The stone is believed to have been quarried locally at Denmark Hill. Comprising three spans of 150 feet (46 m), it was 67 feet (20 m) above the high tide level. 12 feet (3.7 m) of the width of the bridge was reserved for rail and 23 feet (7.0 m) for general traffic. It was an uncommon example of a road-rail bridge and this explains its wide abutments. The Bremer Bridge was described in the Brisbane Courier (1 August 1865) as "the most important structure on the first section of the line". The Bremer River Rail Bridge and old bridge abutments are made up of a railway bridge that is still in use and the sandstone abutments of two bridges, now removed, that was located immediately to the east of it. On the south side of the river, the bridge and abutments are set in riverside parklands in the business center of Ipswich. The north side of the bridge and the adjacent north bank abutments is situated in commercial development. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremer_River_Rail_Bridge

The legacy of Brisbane’s Tram The now-defunct tram network is considered a lost part of Brisbane’s identity. 18 different tram routes were established throughout the network’s lifetime, connecting most corners of Brisbane and proving popular among residents. Between 1944–45 alone, almost 160 million passengers were carried across Brisbane. Everywhere from Stafford and Toowong to Coorparoo and Mt Gravatt were covered by the more than 199km of tram track. It’s been more than 50 years since the closure of the Tramway but even today, Brisbane is full of reminders of our trams. You can find old tracks poking through bitumen, tram stops along the roads, and rosettes still adorning buildings in the Brisbane CBD. Source: blogs.archives.qld.gov.au/2021/11/19/rise-of-the-phoenix-...