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Tuesday 9 June 2015

Noojee Line - Road Over Rail Bridge at Crossover

Noojee Line - Road Over Rail Bridge at Crossover. Another quite famous and heritage listed bridge. It is situated in a very deep cutting, 15 Metres deep in fact, that was reputed to be the deepest hand excavated cutting on the VR at the time of its construction in 1892. The bridge spans 40 Metres with 7 openings. The bridge was closed to traffic in 1968, supposedly due to failure of some structural components, but in any event, Bloomfield Road was re-aligned prior to this making the bridge un-necessary. Despite its heritage listing, no attempts seem to have been made to repair or restore any parts of the bridge. It is now closed to pedestrians from above and below, although there is a walking track down to the ROW on the Western side, accessed from Bridge Road.

The bridge as it was in 1948, prior to the closure of the line. Only a mere 56 years old then.

Photo origin unknown. Possibly Victorian Railways.
ts grass covered surface basking in the Winter sun, the bridge looks very sad today. Interesting to note that the transverse deck timbers are laid in a skewed pattern, I am guessing this is to lessen impact damage from heavy logging trucks.

View from the Eastern Side, where there is a small parking area.

View from the Western side, accessed via Bridge Road. Most parts of the bridge are still in position, even though they may be rotten.

View from down at track level, sag in the bridge is readily apparent from this angle. However it is good to remember that it has been in place now for 123 years!

Low angle view looking up at the deck. Bit of a crafty-arty-farty shot, but this time it came off.

This bridge was pretty solidly built to take heavy logging traffic.

A great testimony to its builders that the bridge is still standing after 123 years, despite probably having no maintenance since the 1950s.

I am guessing no-one is expected to venture further down the ROW, as it is pretty blocked beyond the bridge.

OK, just one more clever-dick shot. Notice the broken outer stay on the left, while the right side one is missing altogether.
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Location: 1510 Bloomfield Road, Crossover VIC 3821, Australia

5 comments:

  1. B 6717 August 2015 at 02:15

    I drove over this bridge in the late 1990s, so if it did close in 1968, then it must've been repaired. However, after having driven across it, I got out to take some photos and noticed an unsupported beam hanging below one of the piers. Naturally this did make me wonder how safe the bridge was. The next time I visited, there were barriers across the road, blocking access.

    The site was so overgrown that it was difficult to get photos of the side of the bridge. I'll have to dig them out and scan them for you.

    That Stratford guy. ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Geebax17 August 2015 at 08:47

      The 1968 date was, I think, taken from the information plaque in the car park adjacent to the bridge. So it may not have been accurate. I certainly wouild not care to walk over it these days.
      Geoff

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  2. B 6719 September 2015 at 01:17

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. B 6719 September 2015 at 01:18

    Hello again Mr G. Bax. You know, it occurs to me that the 1968 date is quite likely to be the time that the bypass of the bridge was opened. It was certainly still open to traffic in the early to mid 1990s. My previous mention of late 90s may be correct, or it may not. You know how it is with things that you thought happened 18 years ago end up actually having been 22 years ago. I didst send you an photo earlier of a red Datsun 200B that I'd just driven over the bridge. And I had that car (on and off) from about 1992 - 96. But I'm reasonably sure(ish) that a Commodore I had later was also taken over this bridge just before I had a closer inspection of the bridge and wondered if I'd done a very risky thing. It was closed to traffic the next time I visited. But I can't recall just when that was.

    Me again.

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  4. Geebax19 September 2015 at 07:34

    My recollection of Datsun 200Bs, is that they should have been driven over bridges with no spans in place:-)

    Geoff

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