Priority was initially given to providing a railway link to coastal ports for the well-established and influential pastoralists of the Darling Downs.

The township was a river port, the head of navigation, located at the intersection of routes to the Darling Downs and Upper Brisbane Valley.

It was a major inland port servicing the Darling Downs and Ipswich residents together with many pastoralists cherished the hope that the town might become Queensland's capital.

[1] The original North Ipswich Railway Workshops were completed in 1864 on a cramped site adjacent to the Bremer River close to the northern end of the planned bridge.

It soon began to produce rolling stock for the new railway completing an engine truck in 1865 and ten wagons in the following year.

This may explain the pin-jointed members, as these would have simplified the task of assembly in an economy with little skilled labour and unsophisticated manufacturing technology.

[1] By Saturday, 29 July 1865, the bridge was sufficiently complete to allow a locomotive to cross safely carrying Arthur Macalister (the Lands and Works Minister) and Abram Fitzgibon.

On 31 July, Governor George Bowen officially opened the railway at Bigge's Camp (now Grandchester), the western terminus of the line.

Abram Fitzgibbon, Albert John Hockings (the Mayor of Brisbane) and Robert Herbert (the Colonial Secretary), also participated in the ceremony attended by a large contingent of pastoralists.

A report in March 1867 cited inadequate foundations, poor quality masonry and lack of drainage as the cause of the problems.

It had to be rebuilt following a flood in May 1867, when cracks appeared under each girder and nearly every stone in the face showed signs of fracture or damage.

This is because it provided access to local coalmines and, more significantly, the North Ipswich Railway Workshops, Queensland's largest facility for manufacturing and maintaining steam locomotives and rolling stock.

The cabin of the signal box was unusual in being three, rather than two storeys high, so that the signalman could see over the top of the bridge and also the main line to the west.

It was the only such mechanism to be installed in Queensland outside Brisbane at the time and this is indicative of the high volume of traffic passing through the junction.

A March 1894 memo to the Chief Engineer's Office stated that the bridge was no longer strong enough to carry the current traffic.

This was partly prompted by on-going problems that had been experienced with the Ipswich Town Council over maintenance of the shared bridge.

[1] The bridge was a three-span, six-panel, through Pratt truss design resting on concrete filled cylinder piers.

[1] First introduced in c. 1890, Pratt truss bridges became Queensland Government Railway's preferred form for major spans until the adoption of reinforced concrete.

[1] A major expansion of the Ipswich Workshops at the beginning of the 1900s, together with further upgrades of locomotives led to constantly increasing demands on the bridge.

This effort failed, and the cable snapped, resulting in the span to spear vertically into the Bremer River's riverbed.

On the south side of the river, the bridge and abutments are set in riverside parklands in the business centre of Ipswich.

[1] Made of light coloured, rusticated sandstone blocks, they are wide, massive structures set into the banks of the river.

Narrow horizontal members and diagonal braces join each pair of piers at three points between the top and bottom.

Truss bridges usually comprise a combination of vertical and diagonal members fixed between a pair of horizontal girders.

Southern Queensland was chosen as the location of the State's first railway because of the priority given to providing a rail link to the coast for the Darling Downs pastoralists.

Ipswich was chosen as the eastern terminus because of its importance to the Darling Downs pastoralists as a regional centre and the head of navigation.

Three bridges were successively built on the site because of the need to continually upgrade infrastructure as Queensland Government Railways adopted more powerful, heavier, locomotives.

This infrastructure contributes to our knowledge of the operations of the Workshops, which was Queensland's largest facility for the manufacture and maintenance of steam locomotives and rolling stock.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.