A champion among railway bridges

There are a number of low bridges on the Ipswich line (SEQ) and I have memories of the train crawling over the one at Long St, Graceville one day a few years ago and observing the nice policeman writing a number of tickets to the driver of the ute with the recently mangled very tall plant carrier on the side of the road.

I also wonder if the Brisbane City Council Bus driver who managed to stick a bus under the same bridge kept his job. The bridge has a sign on each side - installed by said Council saying 'No clearance BBC buses.'
 
In the 60s the Dog Trap level crossing at Granville was dug down with a very solid concrete bridge built for the railway. Today there are chips from many truck hits. The bridge doesn't seem to mind.
dog trap bridge.png


There's a photo of the old crossing here at the start of excavation -
https://flic.kr/p/69WbVk
 
82 to 85 my wife and I ran a milk bar in Whitehorse rd Balwyn,over the road was Allen-Bradley,s an American owned mainframe computer manufacturer.young guy ‘Bernie’ drove their wb one tonner delivers $250,000 putor on back of tray,oops bit high Montague st bridge.few days later,where’s Bernie? umm he decided to leave.fast forward 5 or so years ago one of wife’s young coworkers at hospital has 21st party,wife’s mate married an Aussie in England,came out here 15 or so years ago with him,calls him Bernard,meet him at party,I bloody know him from somewhere,wife mentions we had milk bar in Balwyn in early eighties,he asks if it was near Allen-Bradley’s,I say Bernie you drove the wb one tonner got putor stuck under low bridge,he goes bright red says yes I left shortly after and went to england.small world….jim
 
seasink said:
In the 60s the Dog Trap level crossing at Granville was dug down with a very solid concrete bridge built for the railway. Today there are chips from many truck hits. The bridge doesn't seem to mind.
View attachment 215063

There's a photo of the old crossing here at the start of excavation -
https://flic.kr/p/69WbVk
Click to expand...
4.4 metres is luxury. The bridge at Graceville is 2.9 and there is a bridge at Wynnum on the Cleveland line that is 1,9 metres from memory.
 
There's a low railway bridge near me, 2. something meters, I'd like to say 2.6 but I can't remember. My F100 ambulance just fits.
After the 2011 flood there were clean up crews running around in Landcruiser utes. They were all packed the same with an upside down wheelbarrow on the very top.
Some of the wheelbarrows didn't survive.😔
 
Dog Trap at Granville was and is a major high traffic road in Sydney under a main railway and anything less would have been a waste of money.

There are lower bridges in NSW on rural roads but not on roads of this standard. Despite the clearance it still gets hit. As the pic shows a standard container on a semi can pass.

The excavation under the Main South line was one of the biggest infrastructure jobs of that era. They were able to do such a deep cut because drainage just made it into the Parramatta River about a mile away.

Another such under the rails cut on a major road is at West Ryde. Well above sea level, they managed a better clearance. In days gone standard double decker buses couldn't use the route, and they built a low-bridge model.

There are several lower bridges remaining in the suburbs. The railway underpass at Campsie is a bit over 3 m. The site is close to Cooks Rive so probably can't be improved. It doesn't seem to be a truck crash magnet despite being signposted as a bypass of Campsie.
 
I just drove past the one near me, it's 2.2M.
 
6 lanes of very heavy traffic? Lots of tall truck loads?
 
Not quite, but it is fairly busy. Numerous people take the wrong exit and their GPS will direct them under the bridge to take them back to the main highway.
It's claimed more than its fair share of caravans, horse floats etc.
Of course a truck driver isn't even going to try as it is level with his windscreen.🤷‍♂️
 
Plenty of warnings on the other side though. It has been closed after some truckie hits. You have to wonder....
That's the line to Newcastle and Brisbane.
woy woy2.png
 
Greenpeace said:
Not quite, but it is fairly busy. Numerous people take the wrong exit and their GPS will direct them under the bridge to take them back to the main highway.
It's claimed more than its fair share of caravans, horse floats etc.
Of course a truck driver isn't even going to try as it is level with his windscreen.🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
The reliance on GPS and Darwinism are a similar thing I think.
 
GPS ?
Without meaning to derail this thread from its original subject, I am still astonished at the people years ago who were directed by their GPS down to the mud flats here in Brisbane and told by it to keep going, and they did. :LOL::ROFLMAO::rolleyes:
 
Beano said:
GPS ?
Without meaning to derail this thread from its original subject, I am still astonished at the people years ago who were directed by their GPS down to the mud flats here in Brisbane and told by it to keep going, and they did. :LOL::ROFLMAO::rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Then you had better hold the pilots that convey you hither and yon in jet aircraft in enormously high regard, because they use GPS to get you from A to B these days. No longer star sights, sextants and logarithms. Accurate to a poofteenth of a millimetre.
 
  • Like
Reactions: COL
I do like GPS. Trucks find our front gate and elaborate directions are unnecessary. But they do direct trusting motorists down roads not used since coaching days. A yes smart pilots think they can land metroliners in smoke using a GPS. (They can't).
 
My wife and I went to Wangaratta for a wedding a couple of years ago. We flew down and hired a car and we decided we'd go to Ned Kelly country and check out Glenrowan.
We Googled the main street of Glenrowan and typed it and the Ned Kelly Museum's street number in.
We ended up halfway up the side of a mountain without a house in sight and the GPS saying "you've arrived at your destination".🤦‍♂️
 
Russell Hall said:
I do like GPS. Trucks find our front gate and elaborate directions are unnecessary. But they do direct trusting motorists down roads not used since coaching days. A yes smart pilots think they can land metroliners in smoke using a GPS. (They can't).
Click to expand...
ILS is a different story and uses a different system, however I think that GPS as proven it can land an aircraft automatically anywhere there is a recognised airport. https://xavion.com
 
Greenpeace said:
My wife and I went to Wangaratta for a wedding a couple of years ago. We flew down and hired a car and we decided we'd go to Ned Kelly country and check out Glenrowan.
We Googled the main street of Glenrowan and typed it and the Ned Kelly Museum's street number in.
We ended up halfway up the side of a mountain without a house in sight and the GPS saying "you've arrived at your destination".🤦‍♂️
Click to expand...
I think you were using a "navigator" not GPS. They are different things.
 
Kim Luck said:
ILS is a different story and uses a different system, however I think that GPS as proven it can land an aircraft automatically anywhere there is a recognised airport. https://xavion.com
Click to expand...
I was told they were using a GPS and it didn't work. Rather dramatic. Then again unmanned major country airports may not be covered. A few years ago a metroliner in the Gulf crashed attempting a GPS landing (at least that's what the press said).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top