The newport bridge was built by Dorman Long and was opened to the public in Feburary 1934, construction begining in 1931.
In the early days, the bridge was lifted nearly everyday, however, this declined considerably and in 1990, the bridge was lifted for the last time. Its now bolted in situ, however, even though the towers are redundant, the 8 counterweights on each side have to stay, just to keep it all together; its only when you read the figures when you realise its presance... each tower weights 1138 tonnes, and a heafty 1741 tonnes in the lifting span.
The bridge is still part of the A19, and is used regulary, and becomes very sought after when engineering work is on the other A19 bridge.
Anyway... I asked brickman if he wanted to join us. Thankfully he did, because he was able to give regular reccies.
We arrived at around 3am, Roadworks stopped northern traffic for a few hours, the spot lights also go down for a few hours too (the towers are christmas trees when they are on, we needed them to be off)
Climbing up the steel mass was a experience long awaited, before we knew it, we was at the top, walking around the winding gear and looking down on the huge counterweights, we had a small window, so there hardly any time for shots, and by now, the 10-22 started to play up (loosen) so there isnt any verticle shots
Time had come for us to head back down as traffic was picking up quite a bit. after a short span of climbing... we see blue lights, and notice there was a road accident on the round about just down from us, for around 10-15 minutes, when we noticed they were all occupied, and not stood chatting and admiring the bridge, we made moves.
Sorry about the amount of pictures, i was gutted.
In the early days, the bridge was lifted nearly everyday, however, this declined considerably and in 1990, the bridge was lifted for the last time. Its now bolted in situ, however, even though the towers are redundant, the 8 counterweights on each side have to stay, just to keep it all together; its only when you read the figures when you realise its presance... each tower weights 1138 tonnes, and a heafty 1741 tonnes in the lifting span.
The bridge is still part of the A19, and is used regulary, and becomes very sought after when engineering work is on the other A19 bridge.
Anyway... I asked brickman if he wanted to join us. Thankfully he did, because he was able to give regular reccies.
We arrived at around 3am, Roadworks stopped northern traffic for a few hours, the spot lights also go down for a few hours too (the towers are christmas trees when they are on, we needed them to be off)
Climbing up the steel mass was a experience long awaited, before we knew it, we was at the top, walking around the winding gear and looking down on the huge counterweights, we had a small window, so there hardly any time for shots, and by now, the 10-22 started to play up (loosen) so there isnt any verticle shots
Back over at the other tower.
Looking down the tees.
general shot.
Looking down the tees.
general shot.
Time had come for us to head back down as traffic was picking up quite a bit. after a short span of climbing... we see blue lights, and notice there was a road accident on the round about just down from us, for around 10-15 minutes, when we noticed they were all occupied, and not stood chatting and admiring the bridge, we made moves.
Sorry about the amount of pictures, i was gutted.
