TRANSPORTER BRIDGES: An Illustrated History

Contents of this marvellous 2020 Pen & Sword publication include the Systeme Arnodin, Building the Widnes-Runcorn Bridge, Bridging the Usk at Newport, Crossing the Tees, Crosfield's Warrington Bridges and Rebuilding Arnodin's Rochefort Bridge. The world's first transporter bridge dominates the town of Portugalete in northern Spain and operates around the clock. It was designed by Palacio and a French engineer and the project began in 1887. The carriage from which the gondola is suspended has been changed and improved on numerous occasions since, the most recent using an articulated carriage with built-in electric motors driving its wheels. The covers over the cable anchors were to stop condensation rolling down the cables and dripping into the passenger cabin. Here are the original 1892 drawings for the 'hanging bridge' and the 1887 patent design combining vertical suspension cables with angled cable-stays. A sequence of highly detailed photographs explain everything from construction, demolition towards the end of the Spanish Civil War due to damage, the clamps on the main cables and the walkway. With the huge increase in road transport, it is surprising that little more than 21 transporter bridges were ever completed across the world, five of which were in Britain and just nine still standing in their original form. Only five are still in current use - one each in Spain and Germany, two in the UK and one in Argentina, unused since the 1960s and only recently returned to service in 2018 after restoration. The last surviving 'pont transbordeur' in France returned to service in 2019 after major works and the second of Germany's surviving transporters is currently awaiting repair after a ship collided with it. But is the transporter bridge about to undergo a surprising renaissance? Proposals exist for three new bridges in France at Nantes, Marseilles and Brest. With fact sheets, the author's own modern images, many historic photographs and postcards chronicling the construction and operation of these unusual structures. 269 very large pages, colour.