Seeking photo of Weldon Trestle bridge

[Chris_Baker]

Grateful if anyone could point me in direction of a good photo of a Weldon Trestle bridge, of type erected by Royal Engineers in 1918.

[Allan1892]

Not the best of images, still looking for a better image (image courtesy of Trove.nla.gov.au)

[Chris_Baker]

That is most helpful. Thank you.  A soldier I am researching was wounded when his field company was taking trestles forward to bridge the St Quentin canal at Bellenglise 29.9.18. 

[Allan1892]

Can't find a better image -- chased up some old posts on other forums but the links to images are no longer valid.

[michaeldr]

35 minutes ago, Chris_Baker said:

A soldier I am researching was wounded when his field company was taking trestles forward to bridge the St Quentin canal at Bellenglise 29.9.18. 

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E03675 this picture is dated 4 October1918 - is this the bridge his field company were building?

quote - The bridge on the main Bellenglise St Quentin Road, after it had been destroyed by the retreating Germans. The wooden bridge in the rear of the wreckage was immediately built by the Royal Engineers, and traffic was resumed without any appreciable loss of time. The St Quentin Canal was dry at this point. Note the wire on the bank on right of the picture.

[Chris_Baker]

Michael, the diary of 32nd Division's CRE gives grid map locations for bridges to be built by his field comapnies. The one constructed by 206th (Glasgow) was not the one carrying the road across the canal, but about 100 yards to the north and on the canal bend. 

[michaeldr]

Chris,

many thanks for clarifying that 

Michael

[brianmorris547]

In the August 1918 WD of 89 FC of 14 Div there is a Programme of Training showing

03/08 - Weldon Trestle Erection.

07/08 - Trestle Building, Erection of Weldon Trestles on the ground and

09/08 - Weldon Trestles will be launched. The October WD has a plan of an Inglis Bridge. 

The October 1918 WD of 14 Div CRE has plans of Breastwork and Bridge which shows Trestles.

The October and November 1918 WDs of 40 Div CRE have plans of Heavy Trestle Bridges showing No 3 and No 4 Trestles. 

I was hoping to find a plan of a bridge which had a Weldon Trestle. I suppose the type of trestle depended on how strong the bridge needed to be i.e. Infantry or vehicles.

But you learn something every day. It got the name from the Weldon Railroad Bridge on the Confederate Lines of Communication in the American Civil War.

Brian

[brianmorris547]

Thanks to Terry Reeves for correcting my assumption about how the Weldon Trestle got it's name. I got my info about the Railroad Bridge from wiki but Terry informs me that it was named after a Colonel of that name in 1892.

Brian