European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Friday Bridge Blogging

by PeWi
Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 08:55:45 AM EST

A quick break in the action - promoted from the diaries ~ whataboutbob

We have seen so many bridges being destroyed by water the last couple of days, that I want to show you a bridge that needs water to open.

It is the hydraulic Swingbridge in Newcastle Upon Tyne

Earlier Bridge Blogging:
Muengstener Bruecke (Aug 25th)
Mostar Bridge (Aug 18th)

They started building it in 1873 and finished three years later. What has always impressed me, is its smoothness and elegance. When it opens its motive power is supplied by a set of hydraulic engines that are worked by electrically driven pumps. Every time it turns its 900t need to be moved.

more info here

or here

Armstrong was one of the first to use Waterpower to produce electricity and he also installed it in his private house.

in Craigside

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Friday Bridge Blogging | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Friday Bridge Blogging (none / 1)

In case anybody is interested, the painting hangs in my office and is the work of the American painter Timothy Waite Wells. My late father-in-law. Here is some more information about him.

by PeWi on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 09:14:35 AM EST

Re: Friday Bridge Blogging (none / 0)

Thanks for doing this. Can you add links to the earlier diaries in this one? Thanks.

I think this week we should look for pictures of the bridges of New Orleans, there seemed to be some pretty spectacular ones.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 09:34:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Hurricane-hit bridges (4.00 / 2)

Here is one hit by a runaway oil rig:

This is the Cochrane-Africatown USA bridge, Alabama's only cable-stayed bridge, main span 238 m, opened in 1991. The bridge in better times:

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 10:13:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hurricane-hit bridges (none / 0)

Thanks DoDo. Here's the Leeville Bridge I wrote about two days ago. It's on the only route to Port Fourchon, the main base for all offshore activities. It's not clear if it's been reopened.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 03:22:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Bridge Blogging (none / 0)

Dein Wunsch ist mein Befehl - as the Prussian says under his teeth.

Muengstener BrueckeAug 25th
Mostar BridgeAug 18th

by PeWi on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 09:47:55 AM EST

Re: Friday Bridge Blogging (4.00 / 2)

Not a bridge, but I am reminded of the water powered tram that runs up a cliff in Folkestone, England. A pair of cars runs on tracks, up and down a cliff, with a stream running between. The cars have large tanks below the passenger compartment, which are filled when the car is in the upper position. When the tank is filled, the brake is released and the car descends to the lower position, pulling the lower car up by a cable and pulley. At the bottom, the tank is emptied into the stream bed as the upper car is now filled for the return trip.

http://www.spewmedia.com/folkestone/march2002_3.html

by dmun on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 10:34:55 AM EST

Glenfiddan Viaduct, Scotland (4.00 / 2)

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 03:36:56 PM EST

Caracau, Romania (4.00 / 2)

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 04:15:24 PM EST

Re: Caracau, Romania (none / 1)

A nice bridge!

I just read its story in an article a few months ago. Sorry, no on-line images for the previous bridge states, just the story.

In 1897, the first bridge on its place was erected, with a typical Hungarian fishbelly central span (i.e. an iron trestle with an inverted arch on the underside as stiffener) of 102 m.

End of August 1916, the Austro-Hungarian and allied German troops at the Easter front were retreating, and a Bavarian railway engineering corps blew the central span off one pillar.

However, by November the same year, the area was reconquered again. This time Austrian railway pioneers came, and built a 'temporary' central span: a simple girder bridge, but with a giant girder pillar on one side shortening the span. This bridge survived the next change of fortunes, and was maintained first by Romania, then (after Hitler 'granted' his Hungarian ally half of Transsylvania back in 1940, and the then Romanian ally accepted) by Hungary, and blown up again by retreating German troops in 1944.

The current bridge is from 1946.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 06:09:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Bridge Blogging (none / 0)

Sorry, my English is still far from perfect - I guess where I wrote "trestle", I should have written "girder".

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 06:11:44 PM EST

Friday Bridge Blogging | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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