Puffing Billy Railway, Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia

The Puffing Billy is a preserved historic narrow gauge railway. The Puffing Billy  crosses the historic trestle bridge at Selby.

My own collection. Purchased in Australia

Puffing Billy Railway, Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia

 

My own collection. I purchased this card in Australia

Class S 12 Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) on the Nine Arch Viaduct, Ella, Sri Lanka

My own collection. Purchased in Galle, Sri Lanka.

© Nilgiri Creation, Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Train over the Nine Arch Viaduct, Ella, Sri Lanka

My own collection

The Death Railway, Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

 

The Thunderbird Diesel, Skagway, Alaska, U. S.A.

Thunderbird Diesel Crossing the Glacier Bridge in Skagway Alaska.

West Fork Canyon Creek at Carmi Subdivision between Vancouver and Nelson, Canada.

Railway Bridge at Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Mainz Rail Bridge, Germany.

Nine Arch Viaduct @ Gotuwala, Sri Lanka.

The 9 Arch viaduct is situated 2 km away from Ella town along "Passara" road between "Ella" and "Demodara" Railway Stations in a small village at Gotuwala. Therefore the local people refer to the Bridge as the Gotuwala viaduct or the Nine skies (Ahas Namaye Palama in Sinhalese language). Built by the British in the early 20th century, the Nine Arcs bridge is a engineering marvels of the day. This name is used since the bridge contains of 9 arches.  This bridge is 300 feet long and 25 feet wide. Located almost 3100 feet above the sea level. The bridge connects with two high lands and has been made of large cubic stones. This massive bridge is built entirely of solid rocks, bricks and cement without using a single piece of steel. The bridge was finally commissioned in 1921. One and only railway station trains travels same horizontal level in place is Demodara Railway station. There is a popular story to say that when construction work was commenced on the bridge, the World War 1 broke out and the steel consignment assigned for this site was seized and was used for war related projects. When the work came to a standstill the Sri Lankan came forward and build the bridge with solid stone bricks and cement without steel. Several Trains between Colombo/Kandy – Badualla and back  pass over the bridge on a single day. This is train No 9 between Badulla and Colombo.

Photo credit: Nick Lasure, Boulder, Colorado.

Nijmegen Railway Bridge, Netherlands.

The Nijmegen railway bridge is a truss bridge spanning the River Waal connecting the city of  Nijmegen to the town of  Lent in Netherlands. Construction started in 1875, on the site of an ancient Roman bridge, and was completed 4 years later in 1879. It originally consisted of 3 truss arches.  The railway bridge's construction meant that train connections to  Arnhem were possible, thus Nijmegen was the last major city in the Netherlands to be connected to the national rail network. The middle arch of the bridge was destroyed twice during the Second World War but despite this it survived the conflict. The abutment was also damaged by the Germans who mounted  anti-aircraft guns on each of the towers. The bridge was involved in  Operation Market Garden and was intended to be a key objective for the Allies to hold. The bridge was reconstructed in 1984, still in the truss style but only one arch was kept in the design. Only the brick abutment remains from the original structure. it was instead declared a national monument. In 2004. The bridge carries 2 railway lines and is 675 metres in length.

River Kwai Bridge on the Death Railway , Kanchanaburi, Thailand

The most famous portion of the death railway is Bridge 277, "the bridge on the River Kwai", which was built over a stretch of river which was then known as part of the Mae Kong.  The greater part of the Thai part of the route followed the valley of the Khwae Noi River  (Khwae: branch or tributary; Noi: small; Khwae is frequently mispronounced by non-Thai speakers as "Kwai", the Thai word for water buffalo). This gave rise to the name "River Kwai" in English. In 1960, because of the discrepancy between fact and fiction, the part of the Mae Klong which passes under the famous bridge was renamed as the Khwae Yai(English "big tributary").

Internationally  famous, thanks the several motion pictures and books, the black iron bridge was brought from Java by the Japanese supervision by Allied prisoner-of-war labour as part of the Death Railway linking Thailand with Burma. Still in use today, the bridge was the target of frequent Allied bombing raids during World War II and was rebuild after war ended. The curved spans of the bridge are the original sections. A daily train is still following the historical route from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok Railway Station.