Hello,

Can someone explain the history of this structure? Thanks

Just having a guess as you havn't given much detail about its location on the line. Once the works at Newnes closed down and a new setup was established at Glen Davis, the oil was transported to Newnes Junction by a pipe line. This may be part of that or I could be completely off the track.

Grant, you are on the correct track...

About 40 years ago (when I was young and fit) you were able to follow the old pipeline most of the way from Glen Davis back to Newnes Junction. Not sure if you can still do that. Most of the way it did follow the railway track, but it went away from the track in a number of places. There was very little infrastructure left but this would have been one of them.

Any chance of a location of this  structure?  Having lived & a member of the local RFS I have never heard of any mention of this & I have chased many fires  out along the Newnes Plateau.

Wally.

like my fellow RP's I would be interested to know the location of the structure. A few weeks back before we move north, the family & I spent a number of days exploring the old refinery site and rail line back up the mountain. I know it is not part of the old town bridge, found its remains after a little bush bashing.
By its position in the photo, what ever it is, appears to be high up on the plateau.

Chris

Would think the only place necessary is just up from the glow worm tunnel where a large trestle used to cross a gap.

Trestle???   very much doubt that , where the washaway is used to be a embankment which was replaced with a path built by national perks & wildfires ,this occurred about the same time as the big flood in the valley when the pub was washed off its foundations & was then rebuilt opposite  its original site ,late 70's  for memory. I can remember walking the track a few months after this deluge & we had to scramble down & then back up the other side as we walked down to the glow worm tunnel. There is very little info regarding the pipeline, not even sure if it appeared on the old army maps of the time , in most of the books available in the last few years the pipeline is given little reference apart from stating that it followed the old permanent way of the Newnes railway until it arrived at  the tanks which are now in Clarence Colliery lease & viewable  from  near the coal  loader. Another lifes mysteries to be hopefully explained by someone at a later date. There are still a   few inhabitants  of Lithgow who worked & lived in Glen Davis many years ago who could make interesting  info available ,the trouble is to find them & then be allowed to record their memorys before it is too late.




Wally.

Yeah, embankment is fine by me, don't see them missing very often.
The old engineers seem to build these to necessity very well, old trestles age, burn, wash away, but culverts and embankments seem to last.

The last time I went to the Glow Worm tunnel was pre 1975 on a trail bike and although the road was rough, you could drive a vehicle to within 200 metres of the Glow Worm tunnel mouth but it was easy to ride my trail bike into the tunnel and through to the Wolgan end where I remember seeing what could only be described as a 'I aint crossing THAT' timber structure over a gully.
I wanted to go thru but as I was on my own I wasnt leaving the bike there while I ventured on so I turned back.
I think it wasnt too long after that the big storm washed away the road and near closing the tunnel to even foot access.
If you could call what I saw a bridge, it no doubt disappeared by either age, flood or fire but I regret not crossing it as I believe had I gone on, I would have been able to see out over the Wolgan Valley from the old line.
That picture beginning the thread looks like it was intended to carry pipes across and as suggested, from the works to the big tanks that were not far from the Newnes Junction station on the main line.
Being a pipe line it could follow a more direct route than the railway had to and made a much smaller 'footprint' than the line needed.