3-047-060 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Railway bridge destroyed by floods in Ceylon, 1872. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. Skeen. 'The western parts of Ceylon, especially the districts near Colombo, have been visited with great floods, doing a large amount of mischief. The river named the Kalani Ganga rose 12 ft. above its ordinary level...The roads and railway from Colombo to the interior were rendered impassable; and a fatal accident took place at Wellempitya, by the falling of an iron pile railway bridge that crosses the canal there. It seems that the floods had carried away the abutment of this bridge at the Colombo end, and part of the embankment at the farther end, towards Kelani. These injuries were repaired...When the work was finished, a locomotive engine was driven slowly over the bridge, to test its stability, and waggons laden with stone were placed upon it. The parts which had been repaired stood firm; but the centre pile of the bridge gave way, with the two girders fixed to it; and the engine, with the four men upon it, fell into the water...It is stated that the engineers are considering whether the bridge should not be removed forty yards' distance, to obtain better ground for the foundation, the soil being very soft and swampy where this accident happened'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.