RAIL - Back On Track Forum

Announced on radio this morning that tours will be conducted through the Indooroopilly end of the bridge.  Starting this weekend.  Have to be booked via BCC.

ABC Inside the Walter Taylor Bridge --> http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2011/12/13/3390164.htm

612 ABC Brisbane Breakfast with Spencer Howson

Walter Taylor Bridge tours start this weekend

21 October 2013 , 9:19 AM by Spencer Howson |

Brisbane is to get another tourist attraction. Although it may well be that curious locals are the main customers.

It's been known for several months that Brisbane City Council is opening up Indooroopilly's Walter Taylor Bridge to tours.

But this morning, for the first time, Council is announcing the tours are starting this weekend. They're free. You can book on 3403 8888.

Julian Simmonds is councillor for Walter Taylor Ward:

Click --> here!

Walter Taylor Bridge --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Taylor_Bridge

Official opening of the Indooroopilly Toll Bridge, Brisbane, 1936.

From Cr Nicole Johnston's e-mail newsletter last week:

QuoteWALTER TAYLOR BRIDGE TOURS NOW OPEN
Public tours of the Walter Taylor Bridge northern pylon, on the Indooroopilly side of the bridge, will be open from 26 October.  Six tours a day taking approximately 45 minutes will be conducted by volunteer Brissie Greeters on Saturdays and Sundays.  Maximum group size is 12 people.

This Brisbane icon was designed by local architect Walter Taylor, whose character buildings including the Graceville Uniting Church and Honour Ave Shops are scattered throughout the district. The bridge was opened to traffic as a toll road in 1936. Sadly Council is not offering tours of the southern pylon. To book call the Council call centre on 3403 8888.

To mark the 75th anniversary of Walter Taylor's achievements, the Oxley Chelmer History Group published an illustrated book entitled the Remarkable Walter Taylor. The book is available for sale or loan at Brisbane City Libraries.  If you are interested in local history pop along to the Oxley Chelmer History Group's monthly meetings. Call 3379 1967 for more information.

Or view the newsletter here:
http://tinyurl.com/jvrlxgz

Trove --> http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/36809332

Courier Mail 13 Feb 1936

Indooroopilly bridge to be opened tomorrow

Twitter

State Library of Qld ‏@slqld 15m

Happy 80th birthday Walter Taylor Bridge in Indooroopilly. Who was Walter Taylor? http://buzz.mw/bakm8_f 

Brisbanetimes --> The Taylor-made Brisbane bridge that made history


The opening of the Indooroopilly Toll Bridge in 1936.Credit:John Oxley Library

QuoteFew would have travelled across the Indooroopilly bridge without wondering what went on behind those windows in the art deco towers at either end, especially in the days when washing flapped on the line outside.

The Walter Taylor Bridge at Indooroopilly was the only habitable bridge in the southern hemisphere.

The bridge is named after the man who built it and, at the time of its opening on February 14, 1936, was Australia's longest suspension bridge and was beaten only by the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the title of the country's longest single-span bridge.

In fact, the resourceful Mr Taylor sourced his cables from the Sydney construction site. They were going cheap as surplus, after being used to hold up the incomplete halves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during its construction.

The Walter Taylor Bridge is 182.88 metres long and was modelled on a bridge in Floreanapolis, Brazil.

Its construction was welcomed by the people of Chelmer, who were fed up with a ferry that couldn't handle the growing number of cars that were cut off from the city by the river.

At its opening, it was boasted: "No longer will there be delays to road traffic at the brink of the river, waiting for the slow-moving punt to cross and recross. The journey over the bridge by car is a matter of seconds."

Wow, just seconds!

Until Mr Taylor's death in 1955, it was called the Indooroopilly Toll Bridge and it was the tollkeepers who called the bridge home.

The canny builder-designer had foreseen the benefits of having his workers living on site and the three-storey apartments at either end were built specifically for that purpose.

At the Indooroopilly end, Mort Green was installed as tollmaster and the bridge was to remain the Green family home for the next 70 years.

When he quit the job after a decade, in 1946, he handed over to his son Ron who with his good wife raised six children in the bridge tower.

Although the internal space is bigger (and quieter) than expected, it is still hard to imagine it as a home for a family of eight but it must have worked for them, as it was 2009 before the last of the Greens left the bridge.

It's said the Greens never owned a car but then they wouldn't have needed one as dad's work was quite literally on the job. It was the children's jobs to count and wrap the coins.

The tower at the Chelmer end was first occupied by John McDougall, a Scottish immigrant. It seems nepotism was alive and well even in those days, as it's likely he scored the job - and the house - through his connection with the Graceville Methodist Church, which was designed and built by the bridge's owner.

Walter Taylor was a devout Methodist.

The Chelmer tower was rented to university students through the 1970s and '80s and still bears the scars of the occupation.

What was designed as a grand ballroom on the groundfloor actually became a flat where even more students could jam inside.

Nevertheless, the graffiti and signs of student occupation have also become a valid part of the bridge's life.

The toll was finally removed from the bridge in 1965 when Brisbane City Council took it over and, in 1992, it was placed on the Queensland Heritage Register.

It's a fascinating story but the best way to learn more about it is to go out and see for yourself with the Brisbane Greeters. Book online.

brismania.com is a blog devoted to discovering the inspirational, quirky, exciting or just plain interesting on the streets of Brisbane.

Brisbanetimes --> Major Brisbane road artery to close for 17 days for repairs $

QuoteIndooroopilly's two-lane, heritage-listed Walter Taylor Bridge will close for 17 days in September to enable major repairs, Brisbane City Council said.

The 88-year-old bridge, which crosses the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer, is a major traffic corridor for the western suburbs. ...

Glad I'm away on holiday for half of that. Trains will run fine though.

Michael Berkman has once again called for the reopening of the Tennyson line in comments on the WT bridge closure.

I've always been pretty skeptical of that since flat junctions are a bit cursed. But...

With the CRR upgrades to Yeerongpilly (which add a third platform on Wilkie St), it seems like it'd be a lot easier to run a shuttle to Corinda (specifically P1 there).

I've attached the Yeerongpilly post-upgrade layout from the CRR website. You've got P1 on the eastern side, P2 & P3 island, then two bypass tracks on the west. Tennyson line connections are with P2 and the inner bypass track.

If the Tennyson line were also connected with P3 (and with a bit of bi-di running) then we could potentially have a shuttle using P2 in the AM (with outbound expresses / all-stoppers / non-revenue split across some combo of P1 and P2) and P3 in the PM (sharing with inbound all-stops).

Thoughts?

BCC Walter Taylor Bridge road resurfacing works - Chelmer and Indooroopilly

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/roads-infrastructure-and-bikeways/road-and-intersection-projects/walter-taylor-bridge-road-resurfacing-works-chelmer-and-indooroopilly

Project works, including the temporary full bridge closure, is scheduled to occur continuously, 24 hours per day, from 9pm Friday 13 September to 5am Monday 30 September 2024, weather and maintenance conditions permitting. 

Prior to the full bridge closure, some preliminary works will occur from late August 2024 to Friday 13 September 2024. Most works are required to occur at night, from 9pm to 5am, Sunday to Thursday, with a single lane closure and on-site traffic management. Works include bridge node scaffold installation and saw cutting to sections of the road surface. Some day works will also occur away from traffic, between 7am and 4pm.

More > https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/roads-infrastructure-and-bikeways/road-and-intersection-projects/walter-taylor-bridge-road-resurfacing-works-chelmer-and-indooroopilly

Quote from: aldonius on August 13, 2024, 09:39:06 AMMichael Berkman has once again called for the reopening of the Tennyson line in comments on the WT bridge closure.

I've always been pretty skeptical of that since flat junctions are a bit cursed. But...

With the CRR upgrades to Yeerongpilly (which add a third platform on Wilkie St), it seems like it'd be a lot easier to run a shuttle to Corinda (specifically P1 there).

I've attached the Yeerongpilly post-upgrade layout from the CRR website. You've got P1 on the eastern side, P2 & P3 island, then two bypass tracks on the west. Tennyson line connections are with P2 and the inner bypass track.

If the Tennyson line were also connected with P3 (and with a bit of bi-di running) then we could potentially have a shuttle using P2 in the AM (with outbound expresses / all-stoppers / non-revenue split across some combo of P1 and P2) and P3 in the PM (sharing with inbound all-stops).

Thoughts?

Yeah I've thought about this. Post CRR it will be much simpler and less conflicting. 50c fares might even incentivise its use even more.

Could trial it during the bridge closure?

I don't support reopening Tennyson station at this stage unless suddenly Tennyson got significantly densified (doubt), but a corinda-yeerongpilly shuttle for sure.

If you wanted to make it more permanent you could even go a step further and connect the Tennyson line to the most western road at Yeerongpilly, and build a dedicated platform there for Corinda shuttles

My concern with reopening the Tennyson branch for passenger services is where do they go on the eastern end? Won't that section be pretty congested with all Cross River Rail bound trains having to travel on the existing alignment through Yeerongpilly? Adding more trains from Corinda will only make it more difficult. It's also breaking sectorisation.

Quote from: OzGamer on August 13, 2024, 11:48:38 AMMy concern with reopening the Tennyson branch for passenger services is where do they go on the eastern end? Won't that section be pretty congested with all Cross River Rail bound trains having to travel on the existing alignment through Yeerongpilly? Adding more trains from Corinda will only make it more difficult. It's also breaking sectorisation.

1. Shuttle service only - turn at Yeerongpilly and Corinda.

3. Corinda has 5 platforms, so I think P1 (the easternmost) could be used without hurting sectorisation.

2. Yes it's congested, but I think it's plausibly manageable. Suppose the off/counter peak headway is 15 minutes. We can turn a train in about 8.

AM outbound (off/counterpeak) the BL and GC trains are presumably going through CRR up to every 7.5 minutes, with BL stopping all stations via the new platform 1 on Wilkie St. Now, Yeerongpilly is the fifth stop out of the tunnel so even at a minute per stop the GC train hasn't quite started overtaking yet and can also use the platform 1 track, leaving P2 available for the shuttle.

In PM peak, the outbound GC trains will presumably need P2 to overtake BL trains, so the shuttle would need to be on P3.

Now, P3 is primarily used for trains from Beenleigh. I presume trains from the Gold Coast will always use the bypass track. So we'd need a service pattern where an ex-Beenleigh train would go through, then a shuttle would come in, turn, and get out of the way with a few minutes to spare before the next train from Beenleigh.

The tricky part is when does the ex-GC express go through as there's a junction conflict. It's up to 5 minutes on the all-stopper, so to have even 7.5 min headways at Boggo Rd, that's 7.5 to 12.5 minutes after the ex-BL train, or somewhere between 2.5 and 7.5 minutes before the next ex-BL train. We probably want to have the Corinda service leave at 11 minutes after the ex-BL service.

Finding gaps in AM peak is also going to be tricky, though given the express speed differential there's plausibly a point every 5 minutes or so where an express overtakes an all-stopper basically at Yeerongpilly and a shuttle can move in or out just after that.

Councillor Johnston has raised a number of issues re this closure.

See:

Walter Taylor Bridge Closure September 2024

https://nicolejohnston.com.au/walter-taylor-bridge-closure-september-2024/

Sectorisation is all bs anyway - for the time being Sectorisation only applies to revenue services for the MTP and to make it easier for passengers. Control still regularly swaps trains between the two along with non revenue movements constantly swapping between them. Post crr will spice things up but also because it will remove a lot of train movements due to new stabling yards and revised running patterns. The main reason for sectorisation post CRR will be for rollingstock management with crr certified rollingstock. Sector 1 will be NGR/QTMP only. Sector 2/3 will be the rest of the fleet. As the QTMP progresses NGRs will slowly start to reappear on Sector 2. QTMP will be solely for sector 1.

Corinda is easy. Trains from Yeerongpilly already occupy Corinda P1 in morning peak as they await their slot to dead run to Mayne/Ipswich/Redbank/Springfield. Biggest problem is peak. Trying to get a slot at Tennyson but also it's a basket case along the Tennyson line with freights from the west and anti peak movements. Anti peak movements could take on this role but you have to remember they are sacrificial ie dordle and stay behind other traffic and can sit up to 15 minutes waiting for a space to slot/turn around. That all changes with CRR. One problem you also encounter will be crew swaps for Clapham services. At the moment most swaps are done at Park Road/Roma Street.

Temporary full bridge closure, is scheduled to occur continuously, 24 hours per day, from 9pm Friday 13 September to 5am Monday 30 September 2024, weather and maintenance conditions permitting. 

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/roads-infrastructure-and-bikeways/road-and-intersection-projects/walter-taylor-bridge-essential-maintenance-%E2%80%93-chelmer-to-indooroopilly#:~:text=Project%20works%2C%20including%20the%20full,5am%20Monday%2C%2030%20September%202024.

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/roads-infrastructure-and-bikeways/road-and-intersection-projects/walter-taylor-bridge-essential-maintenance-%E2%80%93-chelmer-to-indooroopilly#:~:text=Project%20works%2C%20including%20the%20full,5am%20Monday%2C%2030%20September%202024

The Walter Taylor Bridge maintenance works are complete, and the bridge will be reopened to traffic and pedestrians from approximately 7 pm Wednesday 25 September.