movable-span bridges

["Roderick Smith" <rodsmith@werple.net.au>]

BC posted: There was a tram bridge over an arm of the Tweed River to Dodds
Island.  There were still some tramlines on the approaches to this bridge
as late as 1986 but they have since disappeared.

Was this movable or was it fixed?
What tram system was it on?  AFAIK the only one in the area is/was Condong.

I have consulted Malcolm Thompson Rails through swamp & sand, PDSRM 1988. 
It covers the movable bridges in the Port Adelaide area.
* Jervois Bridge: A steel swingbridge (replacing a wooden road bridge) was
built for the construction of the Semaphore line, and was tested on
31.12.1877.  Services commenced on 3.1.1878.  A formal opening ceremony was
held on 6.2.1878.  The railway was diverted via a new bridge and Commercial
Rd station from 1.5.1916.  By 1918, the western approach had been closed;
from 15.12.1922 the eastern approach was closed;  In 1926 the bridge was
transferred to Highways and Local Government Department.  An electric-tram
line was built over the bridge in 1917, commissioned on 3.4.  It was closed
from 27.7.1935.  A trolley bus to Semaphore and Largs was constructed
across Jervois Bridge in 1938.  Birkenhead Bridge (twin bascule opening
spans) was shown on a 14.3.1938 map.  The trolleybus route over Jervois
Bridge was discontinued in early 1960; after a lapse of a few months, it
was relocated to Birkenhead Bridge from 25.8.1960.  Trolleybus services
ceased from 12.7.63, with a farewell special next day.  A new concrete road
bridge (fixed?  with an opening span?) replaced Jervois Bridge from 1965.
* Robinson Bridge was a swing bridge, opened on 26.10.1883, and removed in
1935.
* Fisher Bridge was a swing bridge, opened on 20.9.1880, and closed in
1933.

Melbourne had a swing bridge (road only, not train or tram) serving
Footscray Rd and New Footscray Rd, crossing Maribyrnong River (Footscray). 
It was replaced with a concrete bridge (Shepherd Bridge) from 1964.  The
legacy lived on in the name of a nearby car-sales firm, Swingbridge Motors.

All three railway bridges over Swan River (North Fremantle, WA) were fixed,
with no movable span.  Destination Subiaco (Traction Publications, 1967)
does not mention a moveable-span tram bridge over Swan River.  The one
photo of a Swan River bridge is only a part view, but the height hints that
an opening span would not have been needed.   It was included in the
Fremantle section of the book, although the maps suggest that there was no
tram crossing of Swan River on the Fremantle system, but there was one on
the Perth system, between Hay St East and Victoria Park.

Are there any NZ ones to add to this compilation?  The one by the Auckland
harbourfront has been included already.

-- 
Regards
Roderick Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor