Victoria Bridge

Victoria Bridge carries a single railway track over the Perak river between Enggor and Karai and was built between 1897 and 1900, which makes it one of the oldest railway bridges in Malaysia; the steelwork was fabricated in Britain and the design is a riveted through-truss on masonry piers, with the girders forming a tunnel of ironwork over the deck. It carried the main west coast line for over a century until a wider concrete bridge was completed alongside in 2002, after which the old structure was closed to rail traffic and left in place as a monument. There is a viewing area and information boards on the bank. It is quiet, photogenic in the late light, and one of the few pieces of nineteenth-century industrial engineering in the country still standing where it was built.

History

Named after Queen Victoria, the bridge was built by the Perak Government Railway between December 1897 and March 1900 to serve the tin mines, at a cost of $300,000, the largest railway project in Malaya at the time (Wikipedia, Victoria Bridge, Malaysia).

Highlights

• A riveted truss of 1897-1900 - one of the oldest railway bridges in Malaysia, British-made.
• A tunnel of ironwork - the through-truss girders enclosing the old deck.
• The Perak river - the crossing the bridge was built to make.
• The modern line alongside - the 2002 replacement that retired it.

When to go

All year; late afternoon light on the steel. An hour.

Things to know

The bridge is closed to trains, but the footbridge alongside the old track is open to pedestrians and motorcycles. There are no facilities at the site. Access is a short detour off the main road with limited parking.

Nearby

Kuala Kangsar and the Ubudiah Mosque are a short drive south.