Brugpijler, Moutstraat 221

English translation

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Description

Introduction

Former railway bridge situated across the Meuse, of which the substructure is of importance, consisting of FOUR BRIDGE PIERS and TWO ABUTMENTS. The former single-track railway bridge dates from 1871-1872 and was part of the railway line from Wesel (Germany) to Boxtel, nicknamed the London Vladivostok line. The original superstructure was made by the firm John Cockerill at Seraing, the substructure was carried out in-house under the direction of Engineer G. Rijperman, also secretary of the then Noord-Brabantsch Duitsche Spoorweg-Maatschappij at Gennep, who was also the client.

The bridge played an important role in the fighting during the May days of 1940. It was arranged for defence, but due to an error in the guard a German armoured train was able to cross the bridge and subsequently break through the Meuse Line and Peel-Raamstellung. After the fall of the Moerdijk bridges the way to Rotterdam was then open. Since circa 1950 a single bridge for road traffic has lain across the piers and both abutments, but this does not form part of the national monument.

Description

The piers are arranged for a double railway bridge (the double railway bridge never came into being, however). One of the piers was built in the river, whereby a bank pier, a land pier and an abutment on the left and a bank pier and an abutment on the right Meuse bank came into being. The bridge has five openings, each 58.50 metres wide, measured at 10.80 metres above NAP.

The mutual distance of the abutments and piers is from the front of the left abutment to the longitudinal axis of pier I 61.30 metres, from the longitudinal axis of pier I to that of pier II 63.60 metres, from the axis of pier II to III 63.60, from the axis of pier III to IV 63.60 metres and from the axis of pier IV to the front of the right abutment 61.30 metres. The total length between the abutments is 313.40 metres.

The pier, located closest to the left bank, was placed so far inland that a towpath, 8 metres wide, could be laid in front of it.

The bank piers, the land pier and the abutments are founded on concrete, enclosed within sheet-pile cofferdams; likewise the river pier, but this is moreover undercut. The piers and abutments are built of masonry in fired brick. The piers have, measured over the cushion blocks, 4 metres top width; their heads are finished as ice-breakers.

The facing sides of the abutments are clad with pitched stone; the rounding of the corners, the cappings and the parapets are worked in hardstone.

The river pier is completely clad with dressed stone. Of the bank and land piers the facing sides are worked in pitched stone up to the undersides of the string courses, which like the heads, the bands and the cappings on all piers are of hardstone.

Valuation

The bridge substructure is of general interest. The bridge has cultural-historical value as a particular expression of a technical and structural development as part of an international railway line connection; it has military-historical value because of its role in the fighting during the five-day war of 1940. The bridge has architectural-historical value because of the construction and use of materials of the piers.