Photo by permission of Pennsylvania Steel Co.]
THE GOKTEIK VIADUCT UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The railway track is 825 feet above the level of the Chungzoune River, which flows through a tunnel beneath the bridge.
The railway company provided the builders with a special railway down the side of the cliff, as the approach was not completed. This was a huge switch-back, where the trains ran from side to side, first forwards and then backwards. The descent of the precipice in this manner treated the bridge-builders to an exciting ride, which somewhat unnerved them at first, as it was far and away too thrilling to be pleasant. A cableway was also stretched across the gulch, and this was used for transporting material from point to point. In fact, two locomotives were dismantled and sent across this rope in pieces to be re-erected on the opposite side.
Photo by permission of Pennsylvania Steel Co.]
VIEW OF THE GOKTEIK VIADUCT
There are eighteen steel towers—the highest brings the rails 325 feet above the floor of the gorge—supporting 2,260 feet of bridging.
When the bridge-builders arrived they found that Mr. G. Deuchars, the engineer-in-chief to the railway, had completed the whole of the preparations. The concrete pedestals for the steel towers stretched across the floor of the ridge in two unbroken lines over the top of the natural bridge through which the Chungzoune River makes its subterranean way. All that the bridge-builders had to do was to set the steel.