From the Kearney Files
London 24th June 1922.
From an Engineering Correspondent.
PROPOSED SYDNEY BRIDGE
Mr. J. J. C. Bradfield, Chief Engineer of Metropolitan Works of Sydney, delivered a lecture, illustrated by lantern slides, on Friday last, before the Town Planning Association at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate S. W.
The lecture dealt with the past, and future of Sydney, but was mainly descriptive of the proposed bridge to connect Sydney with North Shore, and imaganitive views of the bridge in various stages of construction were shown. But according to official information there is little chance of the bridge getting beyond the picture stage.
Tenders were called for its construction by the New South Wales Government nearly a year ago, but so far there seems to be no bidder. Contractors without exception in Great Britain have declined to entertain the proposal, mainly on the grounds that it is sought to put upon the contracting firm the sole responsibility for preparing working drawings of the bridge, Mr. Bradfield having merely provided an outline drawing with main dimensions.
In his lecture, Mr. Bradfield caused considerable amusement amongst the railway engineers present by claiming to be able to run 120 trains (he has previously claimed 160 trains) per hour over each of the two pairs of tracks over the bridge, each to be 1,000 feet long and to run at 60 miles an hour! As the distance between stations on the north and south sides of the harbour is only a mile and a half, and there is a stiff climb of 1 in 40, with a total vertical rise of 130 feet up to the bridge level (170 feet above water level), the fantastic nature of the claim is apparent. The climax was reached when a plan of the route was thrown on the screen, disclosing the line to contain no fewer than five reverse curves, each of 8 1/2 chains * radius. There is no train in Australia which is scheduled to run at any speed approaching 60 miles per hour, to attain which special conditions are required. But quite apart from the inherent impossibility of any but the lowest speeds on a bridge of the kind projected, it is recognised as good practice to run slowly over such structures as the Forth Bridge, where the speed limit is in the neighbourhood of 20 miles an hour.
As the Engineering Correspondent is not named, it is in my opinion that the author is Elfric Wells Chalmers Kearney.
(The Kearneyite).
* A Chain in Imperial measurement is equivalent to approximately 20 metres.
London 24th June 1922.
From an Engineering Correspondent.
PROPOSED SYDNEY BRIDGE
Mr. J. J. C. Bradfield, Chief Engineer of Metropolitan Works of Sydney, delivered a lecture, illustrated by lantern slides, on Friday last, before the Town Planning Association at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate S. W.
The lecture dealt with the past, and future of Sydney, but was mainly descriptive of the proposed bridge to connect Sydney with North Shore, and imaganitive views of the bridge in various stages of construction were shown. But according to official information there is little chance of the bridge getting beyond the picture stage.
Tenders were called for its construction by the New South Wales Government nearly a year ago, but so far there seems to be no bidder. Contractors without exception in Great Britain have declined to entertain the proposal, mainly on the grounds that it is sought to put upon the contracting firm the sole responsibility for preparing working drawings of the bridge, Mr. Bradfield having merely provided an outline drawing with main dimensions.
In his lecture, Mr. Bradfield caused considerable amusement amongst the railway engineers present by claiming to be able to run 120 trains (he has previously claimed 160 trains) per hour over each of the two pairs of tracks over the bridge, each to be 1,000 feet long and to run at 60 miles an hour! As the distance between stations on the north and south sides of the harbour is only a mile and a half, and there is a stiff climb of 1 in 40, with a total vertical rise of 130 feet up to the bridge level (170 feet above water level), the fantastic nature of the claim is apparent. The climax was reached when a plan of the route was thrown on the screen, disclosing the line to contain no fewer than five reverse curves, each of 8 1/2 chains * radius. There is no train in Australia which is scheduled to run at any speed approaching 60 miles per hour, to attain which special conditions are required. But quite apart from the inherent impossibility of any but the lowest speeds on a bridge of the kind projected, it is recognised as good practice to run slowly over such structures as the Forth Bridge, where the speed limit is in the neighbourhood of 20 miles an hour.
As the Engineering Correspondent is not named, it is in my opinion that the author is Elfric Wells Chalmers Kearney.
(The Kearneyite).
* A Chain in Imperial measurement is equivalent to approximately 20 metres.
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