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[[Image:Lansdowne_bridge.jpg|thumb|300px|The bridge at night (behind Ayub Bridge)]]'''Lansdowne Bridge''' was a railway bridge over the River Indus in upper [[Sind]] which connected the towns of [[Sukkur]] and [[Rohri]].
==Details==[[Image:Lansdowne_bridge_drawing.png|thumb|leftcenter|500px|The bridge]]
Page fully rewritten and checked
The [[Indus Valley State Railway]] had reached Sukkur in 1879 and the steam ferry that transported eight wagons at a time across the Indus between Rohri and Sukkur was found to be cumbersome and time-consuming. The opening of the Lansdowne Bridge in 1889 solved this bottleneck and thus port of [[Karachi]] was connected to the railway network.
==Named afterHistory==[[Image:Lord_LansdowneBetween 1872 and 1882 bridge surveys were conducted and different people suggested 5 different bridge proposals (see 'Chronology' below).jpg|thumb|200px|Lord Lansdowne]]It None of them was named after [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Petty-Fitzmaurice,_5th_Marquess_of_Lansdowne Lord Lansdowne], the Viceroy considered completely feasible at that time.
[[Alexander Meadows Rendel]], Consultant Engineer was then called in and he proposed a design consisting of two anchored cantilevers, each 310 feet long, carrying a suspended span of 200 ft in the middle. This design was considered feasible and lconstruction started c.1884; the bridge later came to be known as the Lansdowne Bridge.
<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansdowne_Bridge_Rohri Wikipedia "Lansdowne Bridge, Rohri"]; Retrieved on 23 Apr 2016</ref>
<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20130122080631/http://pakistaniat.com/2007/12/18/lansdowne-bridge-sukkur/ "All Things Pakistan - Lansdowne Bridge,Sukkur ]; Retrieved on 23 Apr 2016</ref>
[[Image:Lansdowne_bridge.jpg|thumb|300px|The bridge at night (behind Ayub Bridge)]]
==Opening==
[[Image:Lord_Lansdowne.jpg|thumb|200px|Lord Lansdowne]]It was named after [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Petty-Fitzmaurice,_5th_Marquess_of_Lansdowne Lord Lansdowne], the Viceroy at that time. The bridge was opened by Lord Reay, Governor of Bombay on 25 March 1889.
==Chronology==
*1872-74: First site survey is made of Rohri-Sukkur area by J.Ramsey to bridge Indus here. He proposed a 650 feet long suspension bridge.
*1875: The survey was continued by Major General Sir James Browne who recommended a stiffened suspension bridge with cables formed of steel links and a span of 786 feet.
*1879:** Railways reached [[Sukkur]] from [[Karachi]] and Sir Guilford Molesworth suggested a three-hinged arched bridge. J.R. Bell suggested a parallel truss cantilever bridge with a main span of 680 ft. These schemes were considered unsatisfactory and shelved.
*1882: A scheme of a bridge with 250 ft spans supported on masonry piers was proposed. This design was almost chosen when a severe flood in the river took its bed depth down to 100 ft and this design was shelved.
*1885: The Indus channel between Sukkur and Bukkur island got bridged.
*1887: The steel work for the Lansdowne Bridge started to reach Sukkur from the Westwood, Baillie & Co. of London.
*1887 May: Bed plates for the Bukkur side of the Lansdowne bridge Cantilever arrived by the end of month.
*1887 September: Full supply of steel works for the Rohri side cantilever arrived at the site.
*1889 March 19: Lansdowne bridge was tested by running coupled L class locomotives and a train giving a gross load of 786 tons or about 1 ton per foot.
*1889 March 25: Inauguration of Lansdowne Bridge.
*1910: Bridge strengthening was carried out to increase the load it could carry.
*1924: Permissible speed of trains on the bridge was reduced by 8 kmph (5 mph), after deformation and temperature stress was discovered.
*1936: Harold Wood Robinson who was deputy chief engineer of bridges, prepared an outline design for a two hinged arch design to replace Lansdown bridge. The drawing was prepared in the Bridge office in Moghalpura, Lahore but this project didn’t see light of the day.
*1939: Bridge strengthening was carried out to increase the load it could carry. This time 200 tons of dead weight of the bridge was removed.
==Records==
An on-line search of the [[India Office Records]] (IOR) records held at the [[British Library]] relating the bridge constructions over the River Indus <ref>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=IAMS_VU2 “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search]; Retrieved 23 Apr 2016</ref> gives the following:-
* Z/E/4/22/R463; “Rivers, Indus, Construction of bridge over”; 1851-52
* Z/E/4/23/R595; “Rivers, Indus, Bridges constructed over”; 1852-53
''These records have not been examined and may provide additional information''
==External LinksReferences ==* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansdowne_Bridge_Rohri on Wikipedia]* [http://web.archive.org/web/20130122080631<references /http://pakistaniat.com/2007/12/18/lansdowne-bridge-sukkur/ on All Things Pakistan], now an archived website>
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[[Category:Bridges]]
[[Category:Railways]]
[[Category:Railway Constructions]]
