Ideraway Creek Historic Railway Bridge is on a disused railway line, often referred to as the Ideraway Upside Down Bridge. The bridge is heritage listed for its deck-type pin-joined fishbelly truss main span. The design pattern name is a mouthful itself, but it is unique as the only example of it used in Queensland. It is possibly unique to all of Australia.
The bridge is one of two needed to complete the railway line section from Wetherton to Gayndah, specifically to cross two gorges between Ideraway and Gayndah. The other bridge is about 1.4 kilometres further south along the railway line but there is no official access to it.
The truss of the bridge was originally built as an erection truss during the building of the Burdekin River Rail Bridge at Macrossan, completed in 1899. The pinned construction of the 76-metre truss was designed for rapid assembly and disassembly. It was able to be quickly reduced in size to fit the 46-metre span needed for the Ideraway Creek bridge, built in 1908. Instead of being a temporary truss for construction, it was used as the permanent truss.
From the parking area, the bridge can be viewed as shown in the main feature photo. The grass growth around it can obscure the view but the dry country at the time we were there gave us a clear view of it. There is a barbed-wire fence that reaches almost to a separate cyclone-wire fence. If you walk right up to the fence you can get a decent view, however, it is easy to slip through for someone fit and stable on their feet to explore a little further.
Beyond the fence, you can get a look at the bridge from the railway line, looking across it with the rails still in place. From the top, it doesn’t look like anything special, missing its more famous upside-down design view.
From the other side (still the same side of the gorge), the bridge takes on another view angle. It more clearly shows the pin-jointed fishbelly design, and the proper Upside-down Bridge look. It almost looks like a lego mechano build, using straight pieces with pins to hold it all together.
