• Title
  Photographs of Sydney and the Zig Zag Railway, Lithgow / by Alexander Brodie, 1874-1875.
• Creator
  Alexander Brodie, active 1867-1891
• Call number
  PXD 758
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1874-1875
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Photographs
• Reference code
  152950
• Physical Description
  Photographs - 6 albumen prints mounted on card - 36.5 x 46 cm. (outside mount); 21.5 x 29.5 cm. (inside mount).
  
• Scope and Content
  1-4. [Four part panorama of Sydney taken from St Leonards. Includes views of Lavender Bay, Blues Point Road, McMahons Point and Berrys Bay].
  5. Pyrmont Bridge [from St. Phillip's Church with the University of Sydney in the background].
  6. Great ZigZag, Great Western Railway, New South Wales. "This ZigZag is the greatest achievement of railway engineering in Australia, and it challenges admiration for its handsome appearance, as well as for the stupendous character of the undertaking. This portion of the line has cost from 20,000 to 25,000 [pounds] per mile. After an elaborate survey, this point was fixed upon as the least difficult for making the descent - but, so rugged was the place then, that those engaged upon the survey had to be lowered down the cliffs with ropes, to enable them to measure and peg out the line. The jagged front of the mountain was blasted partly by means of electricity. The constructor had to get the waggons and other plant carried up, bit by bit, on the backs of his navvies, and then put together again. Two or three gorges on the Zigzag are spanned by viaducts, built of freestone, and one projecting rock is pierced by a tunnel. The first viaduct is 90 miles 47 chains from Sydney, - it consists of five spans of 30 feet each, and two of 15 feet. All the arches are semi-circle, and their greatest depth about 46 feet. After leaving the first reversing station, two other viaducts, on the middle length, are met with, each consisting of eight arches of 30 feet span. The tunnel is situated half-way down the descent, and is 75 yards long. The length of the middle descent is 65 chains, or with the wings, 88 chains. The ZigZag is constructed on a gradient of 1 in 42, and the fall, from the Clarence tunnel to the bottom of the ZigZAg, (5 miles) is 687 feet ; the elevation of the former above sea level being 3,658 feet, and of the latter 2,971 feet. / A. Brodie, Landscape Photographer, Sydney." -- From label on reverse
• General note
  
  The view of Pyrmont Bridge from St. Phillips Church shows the Angel of Knowledge on the eastern gable of the Great hall of The University of Sydney. As this statue was removed in 1874, this gives the latest date for that image. The panorama of Sydney from St Leonards shows the tower of the Town Hall, which was completed in 1875.
  Digital order no:Album ID : 824067
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  "Brodie, Sydney" -- blind stamp below image (nos.1-4,6)
  "A. Brodie. Photo. Sydney" -- at lower left of image (no.5)
  "Wm. Henderson, Stationer, Sydney" -- label on reverse (nos.1-6)
  Nos 5 & 6 titled on reverse.
• Topic
  bridges
  harbours
  panoramic views
  railways
  
• Place
  Berrys Bay (N.S.W.)
  Blues Point Road (North Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Great Zig Zag Railway (Lithgow, N.S.W.)
  Lavender Bay (N.S.W.)
  McMahons Point (N.S.W.)
  Sydney Harbour (N.S.W.)
  University of Sydney (N.S.W.)
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE1085027

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