drainage drive was some , opening to the northeast of the abutment, with a cross cut to the western pit. On the Moss Vale side the main drive was long. These tunnels were excavated by drilling and blasting. Suspension cables and anchorages The main cables of the bridge on each side, consist of fourteen 36mm diameter steel wire ropes, each with a specified tensile strength of . The fourteen ropes are grouped into two cables of seven ropes each, and each rope consists of six strands, each having seven wires. They are anchored vertically in pits at either end of the bridge and have facility for length adjustment. Each rope has its own anchorage yoke around which it passes and is then fastened back to itself using six U-bolt clips. The fourteen yokes are connected by links and bolts to three anchorage girders using a pattern of 4-6-4, and these girders bear against the top of the anchorage pits. From the anchorage, the ropes run upwards, over a shoulder casting which bears on the thrust block, leave the sandstone pilaster, run directly to the tower where they turn again on turning saddles which have roller bearings, and cross the span with a low point approximately one metre above deck level. In plan the cables angle inwards from the anchorage pits till they leave the towers, and then form a curve back to the tower on the far side of the bridge. This curve is created by the plane of the suspension hangers. The maintenance files on the bridge, describe that in 1970 the cables were coated with Davidsons X3016 Anticorrosive primer, BA77 Lumatint and Line 176 Black Finish. Suspension hangers and cross girders From the cables, suspension rods of varying length hang in an inclined plane at centres to support the deck. Anchorage on the suspension cables is by way of suspension clips which have a U-bolt to support the eye at the top end of the hanger rods. They terminate through crossbeams which were originally timber, but are now boxes of galvanised steel formed by welding channel sections together. The hangers terminate with wedge-shaped washers, nuts and lock-nuts to allow adjustment of vertical profile. Deck Sitting on the cross beams, the current deck consists of longitudinal timber stringers supporting transverse decking of timbers topped by longitudinal timber sheeting, with a bituminous seal. The stringers are of varying depth to