Can you imagine a wooden bridge spanning the length of a football field, towering 125 feet above the ground? That’s the Belmont Viaduct, once a marvel of engineering and a vital link in the Wellington-Manawatu railway. Today, only remnants of its grand structure remain—the concrete abutments that held up the bridge for decades. Standing in this gully, you’re looking at the silent testament to a vanished era, a gateway to the north for a young city that was rapidly growing. The wooden viaduct was a behemoth, a latticework of seasoned kauri timber milled far away and brought here by bullock teams. It was a testament to the ingenuity and skill of those who built it—a remarkable feat for its time. Though the original wooden bridge was replaced in the early 1900s with a sturdier steel structure, the imposing sight of the viaduct remained a fixture of the landscape for over half a century. Then, with the advent of the Tawa Flat Deviation tunnel, the old line was abandoned and the viaduct, its purpose fulfilled, was demolished in 1951. Now, all that’s left are the concrete foundations, stark reminders of a bridge that once held up a bustling world of trains, goods, and people, forever linking Wellington to the north.
Центральный дом работников искусств
Step through the grand wooden doors of the Central House of the Workers of Art, and you’ll be transported to