History and construction of the Old Vistula Bridges in Tczew

Wieland Ramm

The small city Tczew (Gennan name: Dirschau) issituated about 30 km south of Gdañsk on the westembanks of the river Vistula. Here remarkable parts of theOld Vistula Bridge which was constructed fram 1851

- 1857 for the so-called Pmssian Eastern Railway framBerlin to Koenigsberg still exist, Figure 1.

This bridge was a true milestone in the developmentof civil engineering and was recognised by theengineering community of that time. Still, in the 19th

Century the increasing railway traffic made the

construction of a second parallel bridge necessary.When in the early moming of the 1st of September1939 the German attack on Poland took place, bothbridges were partially blown up. So today the threeremaining original spans of the old bridge portray aunique historical monument of the beginning of the

Second World War.

Figure 1Lithographyof the Old VistulaBridgesin Tczew(Lentze 1855)

Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History, Madrid, 20th-24th January 2003, ed. S. Huerta, Madrid: I. Juan de Herrera, SEdHC, ETSAM, A. E. Benvenuto, COAM, F. Dragados, 2003.

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EARLY BUILDING HISTORY

To understand the technical importance of the OldVistula Bridge it is necessary to remember the longdevelopment of building history before.

For thousands of years earth, wood and stone werethe building material s available, and onJy the stonebuilding s were durable. Looking at the Egyptian andGreek temples we find very simpJe structures:Enormous stone cylinders placed on one another toform massive columns, topped by stone beamsallowing only small spans. The Romans were, as is

well known, the first great masters of arch and vaultbuilding and by this they succeeded in bridging largerspans.

We like to cal] the Roman master builders RomanEngineers. However we must remind ourselves that

the structural systems of their impressive building swere derived from experience, obtained by successand failure.

As is well known, the art of vault-building wasrel'ined in the Gothic Age. The bold and filigreestructures of the great cathedrals can hardly besurpassed. Finally, the cupolas of the Renaissance

have to be mentioned, which are quite impressive: Sothe cupola of the cathedral in Florence from 1420,which was designed and built by Brunelleschi. Andthe design and construction of the Cupola of St.

Peter' s was carried out in Rome at the end of the 16thCentury by Michelangelo and della Porta.

When looking at these magnificent buildings it ishard for us to imagine that the builders had to workwithout a scientific basis all through the centuries.Construction took place only on the basis of theempjrical knowledge of craftsmen and traditional

experience, won by trial and error. This is proven by

numerous collapses.

IGNORING EARLY SClENTIFIC RESEARCH RESULTS

Nothing changed in this construction practice up to

the begjnning of the 19th Century. This is actuallyquite astonishing, as sjnce the Renaissance, questionsconcerning structural statics were dealt with by thearising natural sciences piece by piece. No one less

than Galilei made a start with his famousdeliberations on the ultimate strength of a bendingbeam. Those who looked into such questions in the

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following 150 years, such as Hooke, Leibniz,

Bernoulli and Euler, were not builders, butmathematicians and physicjsts. Their motivation wasscientific curiousity, but not the desire to open newdoors for the builders. For example, Euler sought afield of use for his mathematics when he investigateddeflection curves and the buckling of members.Although the results were published, the builders of

the time took no notice, or even declined to use suchmethods in practical constructing.

Informative in this light are the statements passeddown in connection with the reinforcement of theCupola of St. Peter' s. The dome increasinglyobtained crack s in the first hall' of the 18th Century,due to faults in the structural statics. Pope BenedictXIV was concerned and called for expert reports fromthree mathematicians, monks in Rome (Le Seur,Jaquier and Boscovich 1743), and from GiovanniPoleni, a professor of mathematics in Padua and onthe side a hydraulic engineer of the republic of Venice(Poleni 1748). The three mathematicians wrote in

their expert report: "We may be obliged to excuse

ourselves to the many who not only prefer experienceto theory, but also think the former alone to benecessary and appropriate, and hold the latterpossibly even for dangerous.«

A person remaining anonymous reasoned: ,,If theCupola of St. Peter's could be built without

mathematics and moreover without the mechanics sopopular in our time, then it should be possible to

repair it without the help of mathematics and

mechanics . . . Michelangelo knew nothing aboutmathematics and was still able to build the cupola.«This seemingly narrow-minded opinion can beexplained by the fact that the builders had noscientifically sound education up until then.

THE VERY BEGINNING OF STRUCTURAL

ENGINEERING

A significant change only came around when theadvancing development of the ecomomy demanded abetter infrastructure, i.e. better roads. One requirementfor this were well educated engineers. In 1747 the«École des ponts et chaussées» was already founded inParis. Navier, who emerged from this school and latertaught there, systematically collected the up until then

scattered knowledge of statics and developed it further.

History and construction of the Old Vistula Bridges in Tczew 1701

Parallel to this development of theory, there was asecond impulse for the creation of structuralengineering: In the second half of the 18th Century

iron beca me available in larger quantities andtherefore as a new material alongside the traditionalbuilding materials.

lt began with cast iron, which could only be usedfor compres sed members in structures, for columns inbuildings and for arch-like structures in bridges. Thelatter, such as the well-known Coalbrookdale Bridge

from 1779, first were orientated in their conceptionon stone bridges built up to then. Soon however,forgeable iron which could also be used for membersunder tension was produced using the puddle method,which was invented 1784 in Great Britain by HenryCorto It therefore beca me possible to construct largebridges of a whole new dimension in the form ofsuspension bridges. Notable examples are the chain-bridges built in Wales by Thomas Telford in 1826over the Menai Strait with a span of 176 m and overthe Conway. The new order of magnitude of thesebridge s required a careful engineer-like work-throughof the construction design and the utilization ofmaterial. At the same time the construction of cable-stayed bridges took place in the USA and on thecontinent.

The development obtained another strong impulsedue to the arisal of the railway and the rapidexpansion of the rail network in the middle of the

19th Century. Many bridge s had to be built, includingsevera] which had gigantic proportions for that time.They not only had to carry large loads, but also had to

be rigid enough at the same time to avoid largerdeformations.

A milestone of technical progress was theBritannia Bridge in Wales, which was completed in1850 and built under the direction of RobertStephenson, Figure 2. For the first time an iron beambridge which spanned 140 m was designed. Thisbridge and a similar, but smaller one at ConwayCastle, were called tubular bridges. They had a closedbox-girder section and formed a tunnel for the trainspassing through. The webs, the bridge deck and the

roof of the cross section were rivited together fromrelatively small plates and L-shaped sections, the onlymaterial available at that time. The bridge deck andthe roof had a cellular structure and the high and thinwalls were stiffened by vertical ribs made of L-

shaped sections to avoid buckling. The pillars, which

were built above the level of the beam, show thatStephenson in tended to reinforce the structure withsuspension chains had it turned out not to haveenough Joad-bearing capacity, which was not the

case. The success of the project required an extensi vetesting programm, which was carried out withscientific precision.

Figure 2Britannia Bridge over the Strait of Menai in Wales, built1846-50 by Robert Stephenson (1803-1859)

PLANNING AND DESIGN OF THE OLD TCZEW BRIDGE

Directly after the Britannia Bridge, the Vistula Bridge

at the city of Tczew (Dirschau) was built from 1850to 1857 in the course of the Eastern Prussian Railwayfrom Berlin to Koenigsberg.

The route of the railway planned after 1840 runsright through the Vistula Delta, Figure 3. Two bridgesthat were extraordinary for their time becamenecessary: one to cross the actual Vistula in Tczewand a shorter bridge to cross the Nogat at Malbork.Because of regular flooding and especially due 10drifting ice in winter, bridge s with large spans werenecessary to reduce the clear opening as little aspossible.

The construction of the Eastern Railway wascarried out by the Prussian State under its owndirection, and the management of the bridgeprojects was handed over to a high-ranking

ministerial official, Senior Government BuildingOfficer Carl Lentze. Lentze planned at first the

construction of a chain suspension bridge similar to

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Figure 3Map 01' the Vistula Delta with the route 01' the PrussianEastern Railway

the one he had learned oí' on the occasion oí' aninformation trip to Great Britain, where he visitedthe bridge built by Thomas Telford over the MenaiStraits in 1826.

Soon after starting, construction work at Tczew

had to be stopped again in 1847, due to financialdifficulties oí' the State and to unrest leading up to theyear of revolution in 1848. Carl Lentze used the time

during the break in construction work to undertake a

second informative trip to Great Britain, where he inparticular visited the site of the Britannia Bridge inWales and intensively studied this project of RobertStephenson.

After his return, Lentze abandoned the project withthe chain suspension bridge and decided to buildbeam bridge s in Tczew and Malbork as well.Whereas the Britannia Bridge, which was completed

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in 1850, was as already mentioned a so-called tubularbridge with a cross section of box girders with solidwebs, Lentze chose a non-solid superstructure of fine-

meshed lattices for the bridge s of the EasternRailway, using six spans in Tczew, each 131 m long,Figure l. His inspection of the site of the Roya] CanalBridge of the railway from Dublin to Belfast when it

was under construction may have played a role in hisdecision, Figure 4. However this lattice bridge inIreland, which was completed in 1845, only had aspan of 43 m and was constructed differently, which

led to some damage (Pollack 1848).

-Figure 4Royal Canal Bridge 01'the Railway from Dublin to Belfastin Ire1and

This Irish bridge was built similar to Americanwooden Jattice bridges. When Culmanns travel reporton the construction of the wooden bridges in theUnited States was published in Europe in 1851, itmay have been a confirmation for Lentze of the

decision he made.Figure 5 shows the layout map of the Tczew Bridge

with the adjacent rai1way routes. To reduce the lengthof bridge necessary, the cJear opening for t100dingwas reduced in the eastern flooding area by newdikes.

The statical analysis and the construction detailingwas carried out by Eduard Schinz, an exceedinglycapable engineer, born in Switzerland. Schinz diedduring construction, was buried in Tczew and

received a grave monument made of granite from thegovernment in appreciation of his achievement.

History and eonstruetion of the Old Vistula Bridges in Tezew 1703

Figure 5Layout map of the Old Vistula Bridge in Tezew

Figure 6 shows two cross sections of the oldbridge: In the left half a cross section over thesupports and in the right half a span cross section. Afootway was placed on l m wide outriggers on each

side. Lentze and Schinz constructed the upper andlower girders as so-called «open-celled booms»consisting of angle bars and horizontal and verticalrolled plates rivited together. The finely meshedlattice-work can be found between these two chords.

Lentze and Schinz realized that the area around theintermediate support of the two-span beam called forspecial constructive measures. All the cross sectionswere chosen proportional to their load according tothe theory of Carl Culmann and Johann WilhelmSchwedler. Therefore they reinforced the upper chordby using wider chord plates. The lower chord was

reinforced near the support by using additionallevelsof chord plates in a stepped form to adapt it to theincreased load. The dimensions of the lattice barsincreases from the middle of the spans towards thesupports. The vertical angle bars are chosenaccording to the variable shear force, so that the

distance from bar to bar decreases towards thesupports. They stiffen the 11,82 meters high lattice

walls and prevent the bars from buckling.Lattice-like cross beams on the bottom side and

sectionalized cross braces on the upper sideadditionally join both the main beams. Threehorizontal planes of wind braces are additionallyused: one on the bottom level of the lower boom andone each on the top and bottom level of the upper

boom, Figure 6.

11

A

A Querscbnítt in der Mitle.B Querschnitt bei 37 m der Liinge.

Figure 6

Crass seetion of the Old Dirsehau Bridge. In the left a half

eross seetion over the supports and in the right half a span

eross seetion, the ¡atter 37 meters away fram the support.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE OLD TCZEW BRIDGE

In 1851 the ceremoniallaying of the cornerstone bythe Prussian King took place at the abutment on theTczew side, Figure 7. Construction went by plan, andthe bridge could be opened for traffic in 1857.

Although the construction of the old Vistula Bridge

was carried out by the Prussian government, it wasincorporated in the international development ofbridge construction and is counted as a true milestone

of structural engineering, Figure 8.By the chosen system with finely-meshed lattice-

work, in spite of having almost the same span, a third

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Qt¡tm~fh¡nh$¡,¡ng }Utn 0rl1d(iI&i;tU.

Figure 7

Ceremonial ]aying 01' the cornerstone

of the weight was sayed in eomparison to theBritannia Bridge. The six spans in al! were eonneetedtwo-by-two to ereate three eontinuous beams oyertwo spans.

Therefore this pioneer aehieyement beeame amodel for a large number of big and smal! bridgeeonstruetions in Europe. Here only the first railwaybridge oyer the Rhine at Cologne shall be mentioned.

It was eompleted in 1859, two years after the bridgeat Tezew, and only had a span of 105 m.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT UP '1'0 THE SECOND

WORLD WAR

The yiew of the portal of the old Tezew Bridge,Figure 9, shows that the bridge was for both railway

and road traffie with horse-drawn earriages. Therailway traek was embedded in a woodenearriageway made of planks.

Of eourse before eaeh train passed, the bridge hadto be elosed to road traffie in time. In the fol!owingdeeades the amount of railway traffie, whieh was

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Figure 8

View from the south-west with two spans 01' the remainingo]d bridge from 1857 in the foreground and the extension

from 19]2 in the reaL

Figure 9

Portal 01' the o]d Tczew Bridge

History and construction of the Old Vistula Bridges in Tczew 1705

sparse at the beginning, increased rapidly, and sogradually caused intolerable conditions for raad

traffic. Consequently, it was decided to erect a secondbridge, which was built fram 1888-1891 as a two-

track railway bridge for rail traffic alone, 40 m awayfram the old bridge which from then on served only

for raad traffic. In order not to additionally disturb theclear section of the Vistula, the new bridge obtainedpiers in the same position as the old bridge. Large

fish-belly girders were chosen for the six spans,Figure 10 (Goering 1890).

Figure 10Second railway bridge at Tczew (left) together with the oldone (right)

At the beginning of the20th century, heavyflooding torced new measures to be taken to regulate

the flow of the Vistula and the Nogal. The artificialmeasures which had been taken to narrow the Vistulaat Tczew were removed again. As a result bothbridge s had to be extended at this place by about

250 m, which was done fram 1910-1912 by erectingthree additional spans with simple parallel-chordedtrusses, Figure 8.

EVENTS A T THE BEGINNING OF AND DURING THE

SECOND WORLD WAR

In this pralonged configuration the bridges survivedthe time up to the Second World War. Since the endof the First World War, the bridges belonged toPoland and the region of the Vistula Delta be]onged

to the Free City of Gdañsk.

When the danger of a German invasion of Polandgrew in the summer of 1939, the Polish armyprepared to blow up both bridges as a measure ofdefense, which became known to the German side.

When the German attack on Po]and began in the earlymorning hours of the 1st of September 1939, theGerman "Wehrmacht», i.e. the German Army, tried

to take over the bridges undamaged in a surpriseattack. This action failed, the bridge s were blown upafter several battles, and three spans of each of thebridges fram 1857 and 1891 were ]ost, Figure 11.

Figure IIBlown up spans at the beginning of the Second World War

During the war the German side supplemented therailway bridge in only a few weeks with an auxiliarybridge which was turned out of the longitudinal axis

of the railway bridge, Figure 12.This auxiliary bridge was replaced by a permanent

construction in the axis of the railway bridge withinone year. The old bridge remained as a rudimenl. Itwas only used as a pedestrian bridge and was for thispurpose connected at its end by a foot bridge to the

railway bridge, Figure 13.

At the end of the Second World War the railwaybridge was blown up once again, this time by the

Germans.

FINAL REMARKS

The Polish reconstruction after the war led in single

steps to the current condition, Figure 14, which now

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Figure 12Auxiliary bridge built in 1939 by the German Army

Figure 13

The Tczew Bridges during the Second World War

consists of many different parts fram which itsturbulent fate can be read.

In the foregraund of Figure 14 the raw of spans of

the old bridge can be seen. It begins on the left withtwo spans over the Vistula River, which today consistof girders fram the British military system developedby Bailey.

The next three spans are the original parts from1857. Further to the right there are small trusses,replacing the destrayed sixth span of the old bridge.

At the right end, three spans fram the prolongation of1912 can be seen.

Behind the old bridge, Figure 14 shows the railwaybridge constructed later. No parts of the originalbridge fram 1891 exist today. At the right end a part

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Figure 14Today's condition of the Tczew Bridges

of the remaining prolongation fram 1912 can still beseen. The other parallel chorded trusses are theremaining parts of the reconstruction work doneduring the Second World War.

The research of military history has shown that thestart of the German action against the Tczew bridges

was possibly the very first fighting of the SecondW orld War (Schindler 1971). Therefore the bridge isalso a memorial of the younger European history,which reminds us of the beginning of that terriblewar.

Above that, the three spans of the old VistulaBridge fram 1857 which remain in their original state,Figure 15, portray a truly unique technical monument

of early structural engineering, after the BritanniaBridge in WaJes has been replaced in recent times. Itshould be the unconditional Eurapean task to supportPoland in preserving the building substance of thisexceptionallegacy.

REFERENCE LlST

Culman, K. 1851. Der Bau der holzernen Brücken in den

Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika. Allgemeine

Bauzeitung. Verlag von L. Fórsters artistischer Anstalt.

Wien. (Reprint: Wemer-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1970).

Goering, A. 1890. Die Bauau~führung der zweiten

Weichselbrücke bei Dirschau. Centralb1att der

Bauverwaltung. Pages 323-335, 345-347 and 350-352.

Lentze, Carlo 1855. Die im Bau begriffenen Brücken über

die Weichsel bei Dirschau und über die Nogat bei

Marienburg. Verlag Ernst und Korn. Berlin.

History and construction of the Old Vistula Bridges in Tczew 1707

Figure 15One of the remaining spans of the Old Tczew Bridge from 1857

Le Seur; Jaquie and Boscovich. 1743. Parere di tre

mattematici sopra i danni che di son o trovati nellaCupola di S. Pietro sulfine dell"Anno 1742.

Poleni, Giovanni. 1748. Memorie istoriche della Gran

Cupola del Tempio Vaticano.

Pollack. 1848. Metallbrücken zur Übersetzung desRoyalkanals bei Dublin. Allgemeine Bauzeitung.

Schindler, H. 1971. Mosty und Dirschau 1939 - Zwei

Handstreiche der Wehrmacht vor Beginn desPolenfeldzuges. Verlagshaus Rombach u. Co GmbH.

Freiburg.