Bowenfels Viaducts 3

On a trip to Sydney one day I decided to stop at a site that I said I would stop at every time I drove past and that is quite a bit.
This 1870 viaduct is significant because it is one the oldest stone arch railway viaducts in New South Wales. It is associated with John Whitton the 'father of New South Wales railways', it is an impressive curved sandstone structure on the edge of historic Bowenfels, its construction contributed significantly to the subsequent railway extension to Bathurst and on to western New South Wales and when John Whitton was denied funds to continue with the expensive wrought iron girder bridges he chose the stone arch viaduct for his major bridge works, particularly for the Zig Zag east of Lithgow and the extension west to Wallerawang. It is a fine representative example of a stone arch railway viaduct and it retains its original fabric.

The 1921 viaduct has significance because, it is part of the Bowenfels to Wallerawang duplication, the last of such works dominated by brick arch construction, the curved viaducts, 1870 and 1921, are an impressive pair of structures on the outskirts of historic Bowenfels, the duplication work contributed significantly to the railway extension to Bathurst and to the continued development of Western New South Wales, for land transport to Sydney and with six 12.2 m (40 feet) clear spans on tall brick piers, it is one of the largest brick arch structures on the New South Wales railways system. The viaduct is a good representative example of brick arch construction and retains its original fabric and structure.
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