of
the day, however, fairly well, and have since been largely replaced by
a plant that will bear wear and tear, but is still not up to the
requirements. Makeshift bridges were soon supplanted by durable
structures, and other engineering works on the lines of the various
systems have also been greatly improved. The engineers who advanced the
pioneer lines deserve, on the whole, high credit for their energy and
talent in piercing or traversing the barriers in their way. At the
time when the first train reached the Witwatersrand Gold Fields, at the
close of 1892, there were somewhat more than 8500 bridges, culverts,
and cuts to be counted on the various lines. Some of this bridge
construction, especially the bridges across the Orange and Vaal rivers,
was of a high order of excellence. The Orange River bridge on the
Kimberley line has a length of 1230 feet, with open spans of 130 feet
each between the piers. The Bethulie bridge is i486 feet long, and the
Norvals Pont bridge,1 the longest of all, has 13 spans of
130 feet, and a total stretch closely approaching 1700 feet. The total
cost of this fine bridge was £76,593. At Fourteen Streams,2 on the Vaal River, there is a bridge often spans of 133 feet that is fittingly classed with the chief Orange River bridges.
1 See photograph, p. 209, of this bridge after destruction by the Boers. 2 See p. 258.
