Kingsferry Bridge is 60 today.
- Thread starter Concerto
- Start date
Cantata
Well-Known Member
No mention in the article of the fact that the machinery is clapped out!
PeterWright
Well-Known Member
Hold on a bit Dick - that makes me exactly a decade older than the bridge and I'm not clapped out, nor any of my "machinery "- yet!
Peter
Cantata
Well-Known Member
I'm even older than that and I'm fitter than that bridge. Believe me, it's clapped out. Over the years, Network Rail and British Rail before them, have turned a blind eye to budgeting for renewal of the machinery.
I got shown round it all a few years ago. The control panel is Of Another Age. It has HUGE knobs, dials and levers, like something out of a film set.
And it keeps breaking down.
They can't lift it in warm weather more than once per hour because the works overheat.
It's been running on a standby generator for months because of a fault with the electrical systems.
What they'd really like is to never have to lift it again. But they must, because Ridham Dock (just to its east) is very busy these days. Without Ridham, I think NR would find an excuse to weld it down permanently.
I got shown round it all a few years ago. The control panel is Of Another Age. It has HUGE knobs, dials and levers, like something out of a film set.
And it keeps breaking down.
They can't lift it in warm weather more than once per hour because the works overheat.
It's been running on a standby generator for months because of a fault with the electrical systems.
What they'd really like is to never have to lift it again. But they must, because Ridham Dock (just to its east) is very busy these days. Without Ridham, I think NR would find an excuse to weld it down permanently.
Kukri
Well-Known Member
It makes you think about our nuclear power stations and submarines of that era, which like the bridge are still with us...
Triassic
Well-Known Member
I had no idea it was that young! I remember being shown around inside over thirty years ago and thinking it was all a bit old then, in fact the reason we were there is because the bridge was undergoing maintenance which entailed it being raised all night so additional resources were put on the Island. Actually there's a great tale about a prisoner from one of the Sheppey prisons who chose that night to do a runner......but that's another story...... 