Sadliers Crossing Railway Bridge is a heritage-listed railway bridge at over Bremer River between Tallon Street, Sadliers Crossing and Dixon Street, Wulkuraka, Queensland, Australia on the Main Line (this section is now the Ipswich and Rosewood railway line. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 November 2008.
History
The Sadliers Crossing Railway Bridge, which crosses east-west over the Bremer River between Tallon Street, Sadliers Crossing and Dixon Street, Wulkuraka, is a steel truss, concrete and timber bridge designed by Chief Engineer Henry Charles Stanley. Dating from 1902, it is the second bridge to cross the Bremer River at this site.
In the early 1860s the colonial Queensland Government decided to establish a railway as a means of developing the colony. It was argued that rail would reduce freight costs and save travel time for passengers considering the very poor state of Queensland roads. Priority was initially given to creating a rail link to the coast for the well-established and economically-important Darling Downs pastoral region. The river port of Ipswich was chosen as the eastern terminus of the railway. Located at the head of navigation, at the intersection of routes to the Darling Downs and Upper Brisbane Valley, it was the major inland port serving these areas.
The Queensland government began its railway network when it passed a Railways Act on 3 September 1863. This 1864 Railway Act authorized construction of the section from Ipswich to the Little Liverpool Range. 3 ft 6 in narrow gauge was chosen as Queensland's uniform gauge. On 3 January 1864 tenders closed for the first section of the railway from Ipswich to Bigge's Camp. The contract was subsequently awarded to the well known British railway builders Peto, Brassey and Betts whose price of £86,900 was the lowest of five tenders.
Construction of this section from Ipswich, via Walloon, to Bigge's Camp (later named Grandchester) at the foot of the Little Liverpool Range commenced in February 1864 and the line was opened in July 1865. This initial route from Ipswich differed from that followed by the present railway. Ipswich station was located immediately north of the present one, and the line proceeded due north, with an immediate crossing of the Bremer River to the area now occupied by the railway workshops. It then turned west around the north bank of the river, with bridges over minor creeks such as Mihi and Ironpot creeks. The Main Line was subsequently extended to Gatton (June 1866) and Toowoomba, via ascent of the Main Range, by May 1867.
The rail link from Ipswich to Grandchester remained a vital part of the Main Line but within the first decade of the operation of the line from Ipswich to Toowoomba it was decided to build a deviation near Ipswich. In 1875, the first were replaced by a new line only half its length that crossed the Bremer River west of Ipswich at Sadlier's Crossing. This deviation was part of the extension of the line from Brisbane to Ipswich that opened in October 1874. The old line was retained as far as North Ipswich to serve the locomotive and carriage sheds and workshops.
Upgrading of the Main Line continued. In 1891-1892 the original 40 pound iron rails were replaced with harder wearing steel rails. Similarly all bridges on the Main Line were upgraded around the turn of the century to carry locomotives over twice the weight of the original ones. In 1899 it was decided to duplicate the rail track between Ipswich and Wulkuraka, to regrade the section between Ipswich and Rosewood and to raise the level of the Sadliers Crossing Rail Bridge so flood waters could not inundate it as happened in 1893. As a result of the disastrous 1893 floods Whipple trusses, like that used on the Sadliers Crossing Railway Bridge, were preferred for railway bridges until the introduction of through Pratt trusses.
The new bridge was designed while Henry Charles Stanley was Chief Engineer for Railways (1892 to 1901). Stanley was an important early engineer in Queensland. Born and trained in Scotland, he was appointed to Queensland Railways in 1863. After working as chief engineer on several lines, Stanley became responsible for the whole of the colony's railway network in 1892. During the 1890s a number of large metal truss rail bridges were constructed to cross major streams making the connection of important towns and resources possible. In this way they were vital to the operation of the transport system and the development of the state as a whole. Many of these early bridges have since been replaced.