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The railway bridge at Frere from the book by John P Wisser.

David

Thank you for posting these and other photos of the Natal bridges. Another book, 'The Battlefields of Natal Re-Visited', which was published by the Natal Government Railways in September 1900, follows the railway line from Durban harbour to the Transvaal border and has photos relevant to the war in abundance. Shown below is the page devoted to Frere.

Brett

The pictures of the bridge at Frere also appear in The Graphic, 13 January 1900 and have been reproduced here as they are better quality images.



Temporary bridge at Frere

The bridge over the Blaauwkrantz Spruit, which was designed and constructed by the Construction Department of the Natal Government Railways, under Mt J W Shores, to replace the bridge destroyed by the Boers, was begun on November 29 and on December 6 the first engine passed over it.



The bridge at Frere destroyed by the Boers

The bridge over the Blaauwkrantz Spruit at Frere, about midway between Colenso and Escourt, was found on November 26 to have been destroyed by the Boers, who has blown it up with roburite. Our illustration shows the wreck of the first span.

Roburite, which I had not heard of, is, according to Wiktionary 'An explosive formerly used in mining, made from chlorinated dinitrobenzene oxidized by ammonium nitrate.'

Armoured train and searchlight at Frere, 1900.


Picture courtesy of the NAM

Frere Bridge, Natal Government Railways, the first to be blown up by the Boers in their retreat from Estcourt to Colenso

This bridge, 29 miles south of Ladysmith, consists of two spans of one hundred feet each. A trestle bridge is now complete alongside the wreckage.

Source: ILN, 30 December 1899