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Sandstone Railway Culvert is a heritage-listed culvert at about 130m west of the corner of WM Hughes Street and Musgrave Street, North Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was built between 1864 and 1865. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 November 2008. == History == The Sandstone Railway Culvert () at North Ipswich is located near the north eastern corner of the North Ipswich Railway Workshops. It is one of the few surviving original components of Queensland's first section of main line railway constructed between 1864 and 1865.〔 Queensland's colonial government fostered the development of railways as a means of developing the State and providing social benefits. It was argued that rail would reduce freight costs and save travel time for passengers. An added incentive for rail development in Queensland was the very poor state of the roads. In wet weather especially, this hampered the transport of freight.〔 The Ipswich reach of the Bremer River was chosen as the eastern terminus of the first main line railway instead of Brisbane because of the importance of Ipswich to the Darling Downs pastoralists. The town was located at the intersection of routes to the Darling Downs and Upper Brisbane Valley. It was the head of navigation of the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers and the town reach of the river was a major inland port for the pastoralists. Ipswich residents together with many pastoralists had campaigned for the town to become Queensland's capital. Eventually, Brisbane assumed that role but Ipswich remained an important regional centre.〔 The Chief Engineer responsible for construction of the railway was Abraham Fitzgibbon, later to be engaged as Queensland's first Commissioner for Railways. Charles Fox and Son, an engineering firm based in England, were appointed as consulting engineers and Peto, Brassey and Betts, contractors with worldwide railway construction experience, were engaged to construct the line. Several months prior to its completion, operating staff also began to be recruited.〔 Construction of the first section of main line between Ipswich and Bigge's Camp (now Grandchester) officially commenced on 25 February 1864 with the turning of the first sod at North Ipswich by Lady Diamantina Bowen. The first part of the route for this section commenced in the vicinity of the present Ipswich railway station, it crossed the Bremer River at the town reach and followed the north bank from the North Ipswich Railway Workshops, across Mihi Creek and Iron Pot Creek, joining the route of the present main line at Wulkuraka. The line to Bigge's Camp was officially opened on 31 July 1865.〔 The culverts built for the Southern and Western railway lines were built to standard designs approved by Fitzgibbon in 1863. They were of masonry or timber construction; concrete was not used for culverts in Queensland until the 1880s. The North Ipswich culvert was built to the standard design for wide brick culverts. This design comprised a floor and sides of cut sandstone with an arched roof made from a double layer of bricks. Another culvert at Wulkuraka is built to the design for wide brick culverts. There are no known examples of intact timber culverts on this section of line.〔 In 1875, the first part of the route, six kilometres of line between North Ipswich and Wulkuraka including the North Ipswich culvert, was bypassed by a shorter line to the south of the Bremer River via Sadlier's Crossing. This was built as part of the main railway line connection to Brisbane, approved in 1872. The rail link to Brisbane rendered the river trade along the Bremer and Brisbane Rivers redundant and spelt the end of the river port at Ipswich. A portion of the old line between North Ipswich and Wulkuraka was retained to serve the Railway Workshops and a small coal mine.〔 The North Ipswich culvert is one of only three known culverts that belonged to the first section of main line. The other culverts (Sandstone Railway Culvert, Wulkuraka) are located near Wulkuraka. They are the earliest known railway culverts in Queensland.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sandstone Railway Culvert, North Ipswich」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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