NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4963, 19 April 1926, Page 2

NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE.

OVER OHINEMURI RIVER. OFFICIAL TEST SATISFACTORY. The construction of the new railway bridge over the Ohinemuri River at Paeroa is no.w' nearing completion. This double-track structure has been completed to a stage ot carrying a single set of rails, and .this morning ■the first train fr,om Paeroa to Auckland passed over the structure, and all traffic on the Waikato-Thames, line, will use the new track in future. The second set of rails, for the WaihiPaeroa line, will, be completed in a, month’s' time, and 'die old bridge and railway will then be demolished. On Friday afternoon, in the presence of. Messrs. W. T. Langbein, assistant district engineer, N.Z. Railways; W. Waterhouse, district foreman; C. Hollis. chief electrical engineer; and R. Abel, chief signal inspector, and the bridge foreman (Mr T. Harris), exhaustive tests of tlie new bridge wore carried out. The official test was< carried out by a 70-ton Q type Baldwin locomotive, fully loaded with coal and water, proceeding over the bridge at five miles an hour, then a.t. 25 rnil.es an hour, and finally by driving on to the structure at 25 miles an hour and coming to a dead stop on the centre of the main girders. With minutely accurate instruments the engineers; were enabled to calculate the stresses, on the girders. The deflections were, recorded on the instruments, as the locomotive passed over. The deflections permitted are 3-16,ths of an inch with the locomotive, stationary on the bridge, ar- 1 a quarter of an inch with the engine proceeding over the structurel at 25 miles an hour. During each test the records; showed the deflections to be under the maximum allowed by the department. It is understood that the weight of one 70-ton locomotive should show no more than the previously given deflection. The results of the tests are considered to be very satisfactory, and the structure has answered all demands required of it. It is worthy of note .that this bridge is the longest steel plate girder bridge in the Auckland province. It is also some ten feet higher than the old bridge, has a correspondingly greater clearance between the piers, and is over double the width.