 Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | NZASM Eastern Line Bridge over the Kaap River VAN HATTUM and CO: Contractor |  | ||||||
| |||||||||
Click to view map Coordinates: | The Kaap River Bridge near Kaapmuiden (Not to be confused with the other two equally impressive bridges on the Barberton Branch line across the same river, namely the Kaap Bridge at Avoca and Joe's Luck Bridge) was designed with three spans of 30m each, thus needing two abutments and two piers. The spans were of the inverted truss girder type. A particular feature of this bridge was its great height. As the tracks were to be about 9m above water-level it was decided not to carry the masonry of the piers right up to the girder sections, but to use steel supports of 5,8m height instead since this proved more economical. The girder sections and steel supports were manufactured by the Harkort steel works at Duisburg, Germany, which had also produced most of the steel superstructures of the road bridges built by the ZAR's PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. Construction work commenced at the beginning of 1891, and the contractor, VAN HATTUM & CO, completed the bridge by the end of that year. Heavy floods at the beginning of February 1895 caused considerable damage to the Kaap River and Gladde Spruit bridges (the latter is situated to the west of Nelspruit). The force of the water was so great that one of the Kaap Bridge's girder sections was found two kilometres downstream. A wooden emergency bridge was speedily erected to enable train traffic to pass while repairs were under way. The original steel supports were done away with and the masonry of the two piers was extended right up to the girders. Two of these girder sections had to be re-assembled and repositioned. On 10 September the repairs were complete and the bridge was taken into use again. As with so many of the other NZASM bridges, the Kaap River Bridge was extensively damaged during the Anglo-Boer War in 1900 at the time of the Boer retreat to Komatipoort. The demolition work was carried out by NZASM employees who had previous experience in the Dutch army corps of engineers, and they succeeded in destroying one pier and displacing two girder sections. The bridge however was soon repaired by the ROYAL ENGINEERS. The superstructure was replaced in 1909-1910 by slightly larger steel sections to bridge structures of the same design. After a new concrete bridge was constructed adjacent to it, the old bridge fell into disuse and only the stone piers remain. (De Jong et al, 1988: 148) All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. Books that reference NZASM Eastern Line Bridge over the Kaap River
|
