The steelwork was made at the Walsh Island Dockyard & Engineering Works, Newcastle and transported to Kempsey by sea.

It was repaired with the timber trestles replaced by 1880s vintage wrought iron Warren trusses formerly used on the Main Western railway line between Parramatta and Penrith.

[5][6] When opened in 1917, the crossing of the river was achieved by three 61-metre (200 ft) steel truss spans, approached by timber trestles.

After two floods in 1949 and in 1950, the steel trusses were raised approximately one metre (three feet) and the approaches replaced by pre-stressed concrete spans.

[5] Media related to Macleay River railway bridge, Kempsey at Wikimedia Commons