Waiteti Viaduct
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox bridge
|bridge_name=Waiteti viaduct
|image=File:NZR 130 m long 35m high Waiteti railway Viaduct built 1889.jpg
|caption=Waiteti Viaduct in 2015
|coordinates={{Coord|-38.360509|175.188137|type:landmark_region:NZ|display=inline,title}}
|carries=Single track of the North Island Main Trunk
|crosses=Waiteti Stream
|locale=
|official_name=
|owner=KiwiRail
|design=Plate girder and Pratt truss
|material=Wrought iron
|length={{convert|128.6|m|ft}}
|width=
|height={{convert|35|m|ft}}
|mainspan=
|spans=4
|piers_in_water=
|load=
|clearance=
|below=
|engineering=Public Works Department
|builder=J. & A. Anderson & Co
|begin=1888
|complete=10 July 1889
|open=
|extra={{designation list |embed=yes |designation1=NZ Category I |designation1_number=[https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/4175 4175] |designation1_date=15 February 1990}}
}}
The Waiteti Viaduct (Bridge 179),{{Cite web|url=http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/uploads/Publications/CORE%202010%20-%20NIMT.pdf|title=North Island Main Trunk – Over 100 Years of Engineering|date=2010|publisher=Kiwirail}} {{Convert|3|km||abbr=on}} south of Te Kuiti{{Cite web|url=https://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-38.37717,175.169095&z=14|title=Waiteti Viaduct|website=NZ Topo Map|language=en|access-date=2019-01-31}} and {{Convert|2.5|km||abbr=on}} north of the station site,{{Cite web|url=https://files.interpret.co.nz/Retrolens/Imagery/SN3615/Crown_3615_C_1/High.jpg|title=Survey Number: SN3615 Run C Photo 1|date=9 Feb 1973|website=Retrolens}} was opened in 1889. It is the most northerly of the major viaducts on the NIMT. At its highest, the railway is {{Convert|35|m||abbr=on}} above the road to Mangaokewa Scenic Reserve and the Waiteti Stream, a tributary of the Mangaokewa Stream, which flows into the Waipā.
Te Araroa walk track runs through the Mangaokewa valley, near the viaduct.{{Cite web|url=https://www.walkingaccess.govt.nz/track/te-kuiti-to-pureora|title=Te Kuiti to Pureora|website=www.walkingaccess.govt.nz|access-date=2019-01-31}} The nearby {{Convert|200|ha||abbr=on}} Mangaokewa Scenic Reserve is mainly podocarp/tawa forest with nīkau groves.{{Cite web|url=http://www.waikatobiodiversity.org.nz/31/features/community_group_feature_project/|title=Waikato Biodiversity Forum : Community Group Feature: Project Manu|website=www.waikatobiodiversity.org.nz|access-date=2019-02-01}}
The {{Convert|154|acre||abbr=on}} for the Waiteti section of the railway was acquired under the Public Works Act in 1888, apparently without payment.{{Cite web|url=https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_790463/Wai%20898%2C%20A013.pdf|title=RAILWAYS AND HAPU /IWI OF THE TE ROHE POTAE INQUIRY DISTRICT 1880–2008|date=Nov 2008}}
Design and construction
Designed by the Public Works Department, Waiteti Viaduct was built by Christchurch firm, J. & A. Anderson & Co, from 1887 to 1889. As the NIMT was extended south, the same firm later built the Makatote, Mangaturuturu, and Manganui-o-te-ao viaducts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/7793|title=North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) Historic Area|website=www.heritage.org.nz|access-date=2019-02-01}}
Waiteti Viaduct was completed in 1888,{{Cite news |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THA18881129.2.11 |title=Latest telegrams |date=29 November 1888 |work=Thames Advertiser |volume=XX | issue=6266 | page=2 |access-date=2019-02-01}} tested for loading in March{{Cite news |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GRA18890306.2.11 |title=GREY RIVER ARGUS|date=6 March 1889|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|access-date=2019-02-01}} and opened in May 1889.{{Cite news |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18900726.2.19 |title=PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT. NEW ZEALAND TIMES|date=26 July 1890|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|access-date=2019-02-01}} It used four lattice girders of {{Convert|32.4|m||abbr=on}}, totalling 130 metres (425 feet), supported on three lattice piers held in mass concrete abutments and foundations. The wrought iron parts were made in a foundry set up by Anderson in Te Kuiti, then riveted on site. The track and footway were on a rolled iron transom.
It was given Category 1 listing by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1990.
File:Waiteti_Stream_and_Mangaokewa_Gorge_from_Waiteti_Viaduct.jpg
Maintenance and upgrades
By 1913 trains and locomotives had increased in weight and the viaducts restricted use of Class X locos.{{cite news|url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19140904.2.11|title=RAILWAY WORKS. NEW ZEALAND HERALD|date=4 Sep 1914|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz|access-date=2019-02-05}} So a strengthening scheme proposed to halve each span by adding supports. A concrete pier was to be added at each end, with steel rocking piers supporting the central spans. The concrete piers had reached about {{Convert|60|ft||abbr=on}} , when war put an end to the work, which didn't resume until 1926. The concrete piers were then completed, but rather than the rocking piers, the central spans were strengthened with iron from either end and the end spans replaced with {{Convert|53|ft||abbr=on}} plate girders. They arrived in parts at Te Kuiti, where an Ingersoll-Rand air plant machine was used to rivet the 19.5 ton girders. A detailed account of the work was given in the Railways Magazine in 1927.{{Cite web|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Gov02_05Rail-t1-body-d4.html|title=Strengthening of Waiteti Viaduct. — (W. E. Puddy, A. M. Inst. C. E.)|website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz|access-date=2019-01-31}}
Further strengthening and maintenance was done between 1950 and 1959, 1970 and 1979{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/4175|title=Waiteti Viaduct|website=www.heritage.org.nz|access-date=2019-01-31}} in 1983, when the viaduct was painted with red lead primer{{Cite web|url=https://wsp-opus.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Project-Summary/ProjSum-NZ-Waiteti-Viaduct-Railway-Bridge-160217.pdf|title=Extending the life of a historic railway bridge|website=OPUS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203053123/https://wsp-opus.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Project-Summary/ProjSum-NZ-Waiteti-Viaduct-Railway-Bridge-160217.pdf|archive-date=2019-02-03}} and in 2017–2018, which included walkway repairs, strengthening of kingposts, replacement of corbels and water blasting.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108196608/new-life-for-129yearold-old-rail-bridge-on-nzs-main-trunk-line|title=New life for 129-year-old old rail bridge on NZ's main trunk line|website=Stuff|date=11 November 2018|language=en|access-date=2019-01-31}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries – [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%224-1079%22 1889], [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%224-1078%22 c.1890], [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%22AWNS-18980827-2-1%22 1898], [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%22AWNS-19020731-1-1%22 1902], [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%22AWNS-19020731-1-2%22 1902 track], [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%221370-342-12%22 1954 passenger train], [http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aucklandcity.govt.nz%2Fdbtw-wpd%2FHeritageImages%2Findex.htm&AC=QBE_QUERY&TN=heritageimages&QF0=ID&NP=2&MR=5&RF=HIORecordSearch&QI0=%3D%221370-342-13%22 1954 mixed train]
- [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/Gov02_05Rail-fig-Gov02_05Rail011a.html New Zealand Railways Magazine 1927]
Category:Rail transport in Waikato
Category:Railway bridges in New Zealand
Category:Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Waikato