Tenterfield Creek railway bridge, Sunnyside, Heritage railway bridge in Sunnyside, Australia.
The Tenterfield Creek railway bridge is a wooden viaduct crossing Tenterfield Creek between the rural villages of Sunnyside and Jennings in New South Wales. The structure has six spans made of timber truss frames using sturdy ironbark wood and was built to carry rail traffic.
Construction began in 1888 under engineer John Whitton as part of extending the Main North railway line from Muswellbrook to Glen Innes. The bridge was essential to connect this rural region with the rail network and improve economic access to the area.
The bridge shows how railway engineers crossed rivers and opened up land in the 19th century. Visitors can see the craftsmanship of the wooden structure that was built to move goods through rural areas.
The bridge stands 12 kilometres north of Tenterfield, beside the New England Highway, which gives easy views of the timber trusses. Rail services were suspended and both ends are now fenced off to prevent pedestrian access, so the structure is viewed from outside rather than crossed.
The bridge's Queen post trusses were copied from I. K. Brunel's St Germans Viaduct in Cornwall, built about 30 years earlier, but Whitton's staff redesigned them to be all timber. It is the fourth such timber viaduct between Glen Innes and the Queensland border, and the adjacent New England Highway offers easy viewing.
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