Re: movable-span bridges

[John Duncan McCallum <mccallum@melbpc.org.au>]

Roderick Smith wrote:

> 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.

There was a Fremantle tram service which crossed the Swan River. It was
built for the then North Fremantle Roads Board. This service finished
fairly
early early (about 1929 from memory).
The Causeway as used by the Perth trams had three sections, two were low
level and the third, at the Victoria Park end, had a raised section for
river traffic. It was replaced by the present Causeway with two sections
in the early 50s after the trams had ceased.

John McCallym