Noojee trestle bridge

Description

The historic Noogjee trestle bridge on the line between Noojee and Walhalla, North East Victoria.
High res drum scanned from original 5×4 inch Tri-X negative.

Just a few minutes drive, or a pleasant walk, takes you to the restored bridge on the old railway line to Warragul.

This bridge, known as No. 7, is the only remaining of seven trestle bridges on the section of railway line between Nayook and Noojee.  Of the other six bridges, three survived the 1939 fire, but were destroyed later by another fire.  The bridge of the main Road (formally Longmore’s Road) was dismantled.

The logs for pile were brought in by rail and a small amount of local timber was dragged out of the bush by teams of bullocks and horses.  The bridge was then built by railway employees.  The Noojee to Nayook section of the narrow gauge line to Warragul opened in 1919.  There was a terminus at Noojee, to which large amounts of timber were transported from mills scattered through the forest by means of a network of timber tramlines, heading to the west and to the north.

The bridge was originally designed to carry the weight of N class steam locomotives, with the smaller engine classes J and K also using the line.  This bridge was subsequently taken out of service in 1954 when the line was closed.