(updated 4 Nov. 2004)

Speech of Mr. G. Deuchars, Engineer-In-Chief


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Sir Frederic Fryer, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It has been Suggested that I should tell you something about our work in crossing the Gokteik Gorge, and give you a brief description of the viaduct, the opening of which you have done us the honor of coming to witness. First about the viaduct. The general design was made by Sir A. M. Rendel & Co., the Consulting Engineers in London of the Burma Railways Company, and the erection was done, as you all know, by an American firm, The Pennsylvania Steel Company, and a very fine job they have made. An immense amount of trouble was taken by them in designing the details, and the plans, consisting of more than 50 sheets, are a monument of careful and accurate work. All the pieces of the bridge were manufactured in America, and all fitted into their places with wonderful accuracy. The contract for the work was let to the American company in April, 1899; the first consignment of metal arrived in Rangoon in October of that year; the actual work of erection was started in December; and the viaduct was practically completed on November 1st, 1900 and was formally handed over to us in December. The viaduct is of riveted steel throughout, and, light though it looks, contains no less than 4,308 gross tons of metal. It is altogether 2,260 feet long and consists of 10 spans of 12O feet triangulated girders, and 7 spans of 60 feet plate girders.  The supports on which the girders rest, and which constitute the more striking features of the viaduct, consist of steel towers. These towers are each made up of two trestles 24-1/2 feet wide across the top, and splaying outwards with a batter of 2-1/2 inches in the foot; the two trestles of the tower are spaced 40 feet apart, and are connected at the top by 40-foot plate girders, and the whole is securely braced in all directions. The rails are at a height of 2,135 feet above mean sea level, and are 825 feet above the Chungzoune Stream, which flows through the natural tunnel below. The height of the rails above the ground at the highest pier is 325 feet. And now about the approaches, I mean the lines running down to the bridge on each side of the gorge. We have had a good deal more to do with them than we actually had with the construction of the bridge (I speak on behalf of Mr. Glascott, my very able Executive Engineer, and myself).

Mr. Bagley, who may be described as the father of the Mandalay-Kunlon Railway, as you are doubtless aware, discovered the natural bridge as far as the railway is concerned, and fixed the route for crossing the gorge, and it only remained for us to complete his work. It was a somewhat difficult matter to find a line which would give at once approximately the cheapest and most efficient approach to the bridge, and the line, as you see it, is the result of much consideration and discussion, and also, on the part of Mr. Glascott, of much hard work; he pretty well covered the hillsides with survey pegs before we got what we wanted. The south approach may be said to begin at a point about two miles north of Nawnghkio, at a level of 2,691 feet above the sea. From that point it descends to the bridge, which is at a level of 2,135 feet, on an almost continuous 1 in 40 gradient. The line after crossing the viaduct skirts the steep hillsides on the further side, involving two tunnels and some heavy cuttings, and then proceeds to turn and twist up the ascent by help of three semi-circular loops. Pinkaw (four miles from the viaduct) may be said to be the end of the north approach proper, but the line continues to ascend on a steep gradient for another nine miles, when it reaches a level of 3,256 feet above sea level, the highest point on the line between Maymyo and the Salween River.

A feature of the work in crossing the gorge is the temporary line, which is three miles long and zigzags down the side of the gorge.  This temporary line enabled materials of all kinds to be delivered direct by train at the foot of the viaduct and greatly simplified the work of erection. It also enabled us to cross rails and sleepers on a wire rope way, so that plate-laying could be carried on the further side; two locomotives were even transported in pieces across this rope. This procedure enabled us to get the rails laid to a point about 35 miles ahead of the gorge by the time the viaduct was finished, and now admits of the line being opened to Hsipaw before the present rainy season, or six months earlier than would otherwise have been possible. It has also enabled us to get the large bridge over the Myitnge River, between Hsipaw and Lashio, spanned before the present rainy season, and has thus opened the possibility of the line being opened to Lashio in the beginning of 1902.
 

Speech of Deuchurs

Speech of Sir Frederic Fryer

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