aeeble

The Mountain Line railway heads south from Miaoli Station, and after passing through Shengxing, it's about two kilometers to Longteng Stream. Several tall and majestic pillars stand in the wilderness on the east side of the railway, exuding an ancient charm. These are the remnants of the Longteng Broken Bridge, a testament to the devastating 1935 Central Taiwan earthquake that still evokes a sense of unease among the older generation of locals. The earthquake occurred on April 21, 1935, with its epicenter near Guandao Mountain. The Three Mias region suffered significant damage, and the Longteng Stream bridge on the Mountain Line railway was completely destroyed. A new bridge was built on the west side of the original bridge after the earthquake, leaving behind the arched bridge pillars that still stand today, bearing witness to the past. The broken red brick arch bridge was built by Japanese engineers around 1905. The construction workers were brought in from Guangdong, China. The Japanese were extremely strict about quality control, and the entire bridge was built using only red bricks and cement, without a single piece of steel reinforcement. Despite this, the structure was remarkably solid and secure. In the past, when the local residents were struggling to make ends meet and transportation was scarce, they would often try to salvage bricks from the broken bridge to use for building their homes. However, despite their best efforts, they would only manage to extract a dozen or so intact bricks per day. This speaks to the remarkable durability of the bridge, which is one reason why it has been able to stand for over a century.