[youtube]ptpjcWUPbMc[/youtube]
Fount this scouring Youtube.. The guy who put that video up has a few on Liverpool as well
have a nosey
Not 100% certain but it looks like Duke St Bridge.
Yer i thought that Phil but not sure
I think it's Duke St. too. I remember many a time being held up there when on the No.28 bus to New Brighton.
duke st the one where the pub is/was on the bridge where the control "room" would be?
Yep - I think Duke Street bridge was the only one with 2 railway tracks. Replaced a 2 track 'swing' bridge.
Does'nt look very clean for an opening tho' ?
I love old footage like this, really brings it home how advanced it was for its time, we've prob crossed that hundres of times without thinking bout it. Amazing.
Certainly Duke St. What was the last building project in Birkenhead that could get so much excitement going? All concrete and glass and steel now and goes rusty within 12 months and more often than not has to come down within 20 years. Sometimes you have to think that Prince Charles is quite right.
Smashing find by the way.
An interesting find, if in fact that is Duke Street Bridge it would be the same as "A" bridge on Tower road, in 1956 new switch rooms were built at the foot of the tower 1 low tension switch room, a transformer room and 1 high tension switch room. When the cables were diverted to the new switchrooms, the power for the bridges was off for 48 hours and "A" bridge was operated using water, the ballast tanks were filled to raise the bridge and the water drained to lower it again from memory it took about 30 minutes to raise and 40 minutes to lower.
I simply go straight to the source...
http://www.britishpathe.com/...and in the search type 'Birkenhead' and scroll down...
Simples!
Duke street bridge isn't the bridge a Bascule type bridge.
Thanks for the link
Will have a good browse through it possibly friday
any other links to similar films please
Duke street bridge isn't the bridge a Bascule type bridge.
Quite right. It's a 'rolling bascule' type, meaning it doesn't hinge about one point but is pulled back so that the curved portion is rolling along the big teeth you see on the ground each side. There's a balance weight high overhead at the back and the effect is to even out the power required as it moves. The mechanics of it are simpler and above ground. This photo shows the arrangement, where the horizontal beams are drawn into and through the building by a sort of rack and pinion system driven electrically.
Simple, and they've lasted well!
Bri
Description: At Stanley Dock, Liverpool
I reckon that it's Egerton Bridge at the end of Shore Road. The main Line locos such as the two in the film didn't go over Duke Street or the Four Bridges route due to the curves, but did go over Egerton Bridge ,as this was the access to Morpeth Dock yards from the main line from Chester.If you look carefully you will see that one of the railway wagons carries an advert for the Great Western Railway.
Having been over this bridge once or twice on the footplate of steam locos I can assure you that there were 2 tracks on this bridge.
Bob.
To add to previous post here is a photo of Birkenhead Mollington Street's Class 9F 92160 leaving Morpeth Dock with a freight for Warrington on 9th Sept 1966. Note the cattle wagons behind the loco, which will have been shunted round into Morpeth Dock from Shore Road.
Bob
To add to previous post here is a photo of Birkenhead Mollington Street's Class 9F 92160 leaving Morpeth Dock with a freight for Warrington on 9th Sept 1966. Note the cattle wagons behind the loco, which will have been shunted round into Morpeth Dock from Shore Road.
Bob
Great Picture...!
Don't forget there was also a large lairage on the North Quay of Wallasey Dock and beyond called 'Wallasey Lairage' which was physically separate from the lairage next to Woodside...... so the cattle trucks could be from there also..
To add to previous post here is a photo of Birkenhead Mollington Street's Class 9F 92160 leaving Morpeth Dock with a freight for Warrington on 9th Sept 1966. Note the cattle wagons behind the loco, which will have been shunted round into Morpeth Dock from Shore Road.
Bob
You're right deffo 2 tracks on Egerton Bridge
I reckon that it's Egerton Bridge at the end of Shore Road. The main Line locos such as the two in the film didn't go over Duke Street or the Four Bridges route due to the curves, but did go over Egerton Bridge ,as this was the access to Morpeth Dock yards from the main line from Chester.If you look carefully you will see that one of the railway wagons carries an advert for the Great Western Railway.
Having been over this bridge once or twice on the footplate of steam locos I can assure you that there were 2 tracks on this bridge.
Bob.
Still think this looks like Duke Street as there are buildings where near Egerton there is dock water.
I think the 2 locos bit is a bridge test to show the strength of the bridge to the assembled crowd.
You're righ about the neare loco being a GWR type - the cab is the identifying feature, BUT the other loco looks like a London and North Eastern (LNER - ex Great Central) J11 - which fits in with the fact that on the north side of the Great Float there were warehouses and goods yards worked by LNER locos.
I know GWR locos shunted on the far side and continued to until the 1950's as my Great Uncle was an ex-GWR locoman who used to crew a old GWR Pannier tank from Mollington Street, which was used to shunt wagons on the north side of the float - they used to go via the Duke Street bridge to get there...
I reckon that it's Egerton Bridge at the end of Shore Road. The main Line locos such as the two in the film didn't go over Duke Street or the Four Bridges route due to the curves, but did go over Egerton Bridge ,as this was the access to Morpeth Dock yards from the main line from Chester.If you look carefully you will see that one of the railway wagons carries an advert for the Great Western Railway.
Having been over this bridge once or twice on the footplate of steam locos I can assure you that there were 2 tracks on this bridge.
Bob.
Still think this looks like Duke Street as there are buildings where near Egerton there is dock water.
I think the 2 locos bit is a bridge test to show the strength of the bridge to the assembled crowd.
You're righ about the neare loco being a GWR type - the cab is the identifying feature, BUT the other loco looks like a London and North Eastern (LNER - ex Great Central) J11 - which fits in with the fact that on the north side of the Great Float there were warehouses and goods yards worked by LNER locos.
I know GWR locos shunted on the far side and continued to until the 1950's as my Great Uncle was an ex-GWR locoman who used to crew a old GWR Pannier tank from Mollington Street, which was used to shunt wagons on the north side of the float - they used to go via the Duke Street bridge to get there...
Correction - the locos are a GWR 56xx 0-6-2T tank engine and a LMS (ex-LNWR) 0-8-0 - both heavy freight locos - so Egerton Bridge is back on the list - or is it 'A' bridge of the 4 bridges ??? DOH!!!
Excuse me for my ignorance. Does 'four bridges' refer to the rd by the irish ferry? Coz theres only 2! 3 if you the count the one up by the old train track, near the business park where the parking attendants hide?
Only 2 now Rudebox but there used to be 4 of the suckers.
I reckon that it's Egerton Bridge at the end of Shore Road. The main Line locos such as the two in the film didn't go over Duke Street or the Four Bridges route due to the curves, but did go over Egerton Bridge ,as this was the access to Morpeth Dock yards from the main line from Chester.If you look carefully you will see that one of the railway wagons carries an advert for the Great Western Railway.
Having been over this bridge once or twice on the footplate of steam locos I can assure you that there were 2 tracks on this bridge.
Bob.
The expertise that bubbles up on this site is fantastic. You can't beat personal knowledge I guess.
If my memory is right the four bridges are Edgerton Dock, Wallasey Dock and 2 for Alfred Dock. Someone must have a map they can put up.
Here's the best I can find. Date, about 1913. It only shows 1 of the Alfred dock bridges unfortunately. However, it shows that not only Egerton but the other bridges carried twin rail tracks.
Chris, thanks for the map. If you look at the Alfred and i just checked with google maps, it appears to be on your map also. An island, if i can put it this way, maybe 1 bridge from mainland to island and a bridge from island to mainland. If that makes sense.
Yes, Bert; because of infilling there's only 1 bridge now at Alfred dock & the other that's disappeared is the first one on the Birkenhead side, by Egerton dock. I'm thinking of coming up tomorrow so I'll drive round there. It'll bring back memories of me & my dad walking round there. He loved the docks & knew all the funnels of the different shipping lines.
My dads the same!! He was a ship version of a train-spotter! Ex merchant seaman.
Many a saturday afternoon me+ me sister would be running amok whilst he sat there with his binocs+ his log noting down 'stuff' about ships-country, name, type of etc. Other stuff probably bv thats the stuff i remember being 'taught' to look for thru the binocs!
Used to bore me silly, now i kinda get it
Going from the Wallasey side of Tower Road, the bridges over Alfred Dock were "A" "B" Wallasey Dock was "C" and Edgerton Dock was "D" I am 99% sure 2 sets of rail tracks on "A" bridge cos I well remember getting my bike wheel stuck in the tracks!!!
They were hydraulic swing bridges from about 1866, then rebuilt about 1931 to bascule type.
(Swing br. pictures from Birkenhead - Pictorial History, I.Boumphrey, 1995)
The Duke St., the Four Bridges and Morpeth Br. are all shown with double tracks on the OS 1909 maps (Godfrey 1988).
Sad that it's no longer such a big and important UK port when we had decent-sized industries dealing with all parts of the world. That's progress!
Description: Alfred Dk. to Wallasey Dk. 1909
Description: Egerton Dk. to Morpeth Dk. 1909
Description: Cattle train on Morpeth Br. 1967
To settle the argument once and for all, the newsreel is of the opening of Duke St Bridge on 3rd march 1931.
Here's the report of the event from the
Birkenhead News the following day...
Nice one Marty99Fred - that does settle the bridge.
Unfortunately the article mentions the 2 giant engines - saying one is LMS (correct) and one is LNE (incorrect) as this is the one advetrising the GWR !!!!
Don't believe everything you read in the press springs to mind !
BTW the video is a lot clearer if you go to the Pathe site instead of youtube.....
I wondered if anyone would notice that!! The last paragraph would make a lot more sense if the two locos were LMS & GWR.
The copper capped chimney gives it away as a Great Western loco.
Bob.
Just found this pic titled Seacombe road bridges 1932
were did you find that oldie, that's brill?
must have been so easy
around town, not alot of cars them days.
Nice one bert1 - the bridges look cleaner than they did on the 'opening' video !!! - weird..
May as well add this one, the penny bridge 1957.
May as well add this one, the penny bridge 1957.
That exact place still floods there to this day after some heavy rainfall.
