Hullohur Bridge
Built for the East Indian Railway
In 1858 the Illustrated London News included an article about the Hullohur and Keeul bridge girders under construction at the Woodside works of Cochrane and Co. An illustrtion shows one of the lattice girder spans being erected in the works yard. The designers were stated to be M. and G. Rendel.[1]. In fact the designer was probably Alexander Meadows Rendel.
1866 Advert: 'The East Indian Railway Company is prepared to receive Tenders for he supply and delivery of IRON SUPERSTRUCTURE for KEEUL and HULLOHUR BRIDGES, about 1,900 tons, as per Specification and Drawings to be seen at the Company's offices. ...'[2]. See below.
1867 'NEW IRON BRIDGE FOR INDIA.
Yesterday the first span of large wrought-iron railway bridge was successfully tested at the Messrs. Palmer & Co's yard at Howdon. The Howdon yard of the Messrs. Palmer was exclusively used for shipbuilding pnrpcses until the great depression in iron shipbuilding occurred last year. Seeing no prospect of obtaining orders for vessels sufficient to keep the Jarrow and Howdon yards doing, the firm for a while closed the latter. Towards the close of the year, however, the Messrs. Palmer obtained a contract to build two large wrought iron bridges for the East Indian Company, in order to execute which they laid down a quantity of very powerful and valuable machinery and plant at the high end of the yard, thus leaving the lower portion available for the erection of iron ships as usual. Passengers up and down the river may have noticed during the past few weeks the gradual erection of a colossal and handsome looking iron structure in the high part of Howdon yard. This was the first span of the two new bridges which the Messrs. Palmer are constructing. The bridges are intended span the rivers Hullohur and Keeul, which are crossedby the railway running between Calcutta and Delhi, and known as the East Indian Bailway. The railway was constructed some years ago as a single line, but the traffic opened out in the district has so rapidly developed that it has been found necessary to lay down an additional line along the whole route. The rivers crossed by the East Indian Railway are all bridged by structures similar to those now being manufactured on the Tyne. The first span of the new bridges was completed on Wednesday, and yesterday was subjected to the severe test of 320 tons of pig iron, which was laid in even quantities along the roadway of the bridge. The bridges are of the description known as the lattice girder bridge, with top and bottom booms constructed of plates and angle iron — the booms are trough shaped, and are connected together by massive end pillars, with channel-shaped lattice bars between. Each side of the bridge has a double row of lattice bars, those in contraction being on the outside, and those in tension being on the inside the wall; and in order to add to the strength and steadiness of the lattice work, in addition to being securely rivetted together, the bars are fastened at intervals with strong wrought-iron stays. Each span is built with camber of 2 1/2 inches, and the railway is carried along the cross girders, which are suspended from the bottom booms by stout angle irons rivetted to the sides of the booms. For the purpose of adding strength and stiffness to the span laterally, a number of arched girders connect the top booms together. The bridge intended to cross the Hellohur will consist of nine spans, and that for the Keeul of four, making thirteen spans in all. Each span will be of the following dimensions: Extreme length, 162 feet; span between the piers, 150 feet clear: breadth from centre of boom to centre of boom, 15 feet; depth of main girders, 14 feet 7 1/2 inches. Each span will contain no less than 150 tons of wrought-iron, and the thirteen spans will absorb 1,900 tons. The foundation plates of each span are of cast Iron, with convex and concave surfaces. One end of each span will fixed, while the opposite end will rest upon five rollers, each six inches diameter, made of Bessemer steel. The principle of resting one end of the span upon rollers is to allow for expansion and contraction, and so lessen the strain upon the bridge when heavy weights are passing across. The specimen span, which was yesterday tested, is a fine piece of workmanship, and though of immense strength, has a very light and elegant appearance. The test, though severe, was highly satisfactory, and is another proof of the great and varied capacities of Messrs. Palmer. The span deflected half an inch with its own weight, and with the load of 320 tons on the roadway the deflection was two inches, a result which gave the highest satisfaction to the makers and to the representative of the East Indian Raliway Company. The bridge was designed by Mr. Rendel, Great George Street, London, consulting engineer to the Railway Company; and being erected under the supertintendency of Mr. T. Emslie, manager to Messrs. Palmer, and inspected by Mr. J. Thompson, engineer, on behalf of the railway. The testing was carried out by the latter gentleman. It may be interesting to add that the whole of the iron for the bridges is manufactured and rolled by the Messrs. Palmer, Jarrow, and the plates and lattice bars, &c., are drilled by three multiple drilling machines, made by Messrs. Ormerod, Grierson, and Co., Manchester — the largest of which drives 108 drills simultaneously.'[3]