Newport's Transporter Bridge
A Graceful Colossus of Steel
By L. Bruce Mayne
From the Meccano Magazine, Vol. XLIV. No. 6. June 1959
New photos, original captions. Please note some of the information in this article is out of date.
The transporter bridge at Newport, Monmouthshire, is a landmark that can be seen for twenty miles or more from both sides of the Bristol Channel. It is not unique in Britain, for there are others at Widnes and Middlesbrough, but it has been said that the Newport bridge is a work of art and the finest of its type in Britain. Its light, graceful lines have endeared it to the hearts of the people of Newport. The bridge at Widnes is scheduled to be demolished in the near future, but Newport's bridge will continue to fulfil its original purpose of providing an adequate river-crossing and, according to the Borough Engineer, Mr. E. A. Middle, it still has a reasonably useful life.
The 242ft high towers of the Newport suspension are a local landmark.
The bridge has been built to withstand wind speeds of up to 110 mph.
The motor house is at the eastern end of the bridge.
Photograph © Newport Past 2010
The bridge is the lowest one across the river Usk, connecting Pillgwenlly, a residential district, with the main industrial area and the docks. It is a link in road B 4237 and helps to alleviate to some extent the congestion at Newport's only other road bridge across the river. This is a mile and a half upstream in the centre of the city. It was built in 1800, and widened and partly reconstructed in 1866 and 1892-3. (Newport Past Editor’s note: This bridge was replaced by a new one in 1927.)
Between 1869 and 1889 various schemes were put forward for connecting the two banks of the river, which is tidal, schemes that would allow tall-masted ships to use the river without hindrance. Parliamentary sanction was obtained by the Corporation in 1869 to operate a ferry, and again in 1889 to build and maintain a pedestrian subway, but neither scheme became a reality.
The problem was again tackled in 1898, when proposals for ferries, subways, high-level, bascule, swing, lifting and rolling bridges were considered. It was then decided to build a transporter bridge, because it would cost considerably less than a subway capable of taking vehicular traffic, or a high-level bridge with sloping approaches. A swing bridge was rejected, partly because it was felt that the large piers required would be an obstruction to river traffic. But there was also the reason that swing bridges of ordinary width can only be navigated with safety against the stream, and the Usk has only a relatively short period of high tide when shipping movement is possible. A transporter, it was thought, would not offer an obstruction to shipping, and could be built for a sum that would not prove too heavy a drain on the Corporation's finances. In 1900 Parliamentary sanction was obtained to go ahead with the building of the bridge.
A moving car with 60 steel wheels runs along the top platform, 177ft above the river, and the travelling platform, which is 33ft long and 40ft wide, is suspended from it.
Photograph © Newport Past 2010
Just at the turn of the century transporter bridges were fashionable, particularly on the Continent, where a French engineer, M. F. Arnodin, had built this type of bridge across the Seine at Rouen, at Rochefort and Nantes. He also built one at Bizerta, in Tunis, and is famed for his Pont Transbordeur at Marseilles, which was destroyed in World War II.
Members of Newport Corporation visited Rouen to inspect the bridge there, after which it was decided to invite Arnodin to design a bridge for their city, in collaboration with their Borough Engineer, Mr. Robert H. Haynes. Work began in the autumn of 1902 and four years later, without a life having been lost in constructing this Colossus of steel and wire, the bridge was officially opened by the then Lord Lieutenant of the county, the Rt. Hon. Viscount Tredegar, on 12th September, 1906.
Despite the rain, which continued to fall all the afternoon, some 600 guests who had been officially invited to the ceremony and thousands of Newport citizens arrived on the banks of the Usk at noon for the great event. The Mayor greeted Lord Tredegar on the west bank, after which the Lord Lieutenant boarded the platform and worked the controller. Almost imperceptibly at first the platform moved away from the bank and slowly gathered speed. The crowds cheered along the gaily decorated river banks, detonators were exploded and the band of the 4th Battalion of the South Wales Borderers played the National Anthem.
The control cabin of the travelling platform of the Newport transporter bridge has a "Pagoda" roof. The 30 cables carrying the platform are crossed to form triangular trussing to prevent swaying in high winds.
Photograph © Newport Past 2010
The first "official" trip was a complete success, the crossing being made without the slightest vibration or swaying. That night one of the towers was illuminated and hundreds of people paid the halfpenny toll to cross the river.
The bridge is built to withstand a maximum wind speed of 110 m.p.h. and has been tested with a load of 120 tons — although the breaking strain of the cables by which the platform is suspended from the travelling car high overhead on the stiffening girder is 550 tons. The towers, 242 ft. high, are 645 ft. apart and the height of the stiffening girder, which actually spans the river, is 177 ft. The travelling platform is 33 ft. long and 40 ft. wide, forming a carriageway of 28 ft. and two 6 ft. footways.
On each bank there are four foundation piers. These are masonry wells mounted on steel shoes or curbs, and were sunk to depths varying from 78 ft. to 86 ft. by pneumatic pressure. When the shaft reached a depth of about 10 ft. compressed air was used to keep out the water and it is believed that this was the first instance in Britain where masonry wells were sunk under air pressure.
The Newport transporter bridge across the River Usk was completed in 1906. It is the first bridge passed by vessels proceeding upstream from the Bristol Channel.
Photograph © Newport Past 2010
Two 35 b.h.p. electric motors in the motor house at the eastern end of the bridge supply the power that moves the platform, which has a total weight of something over 50 tons. The truck that travels overhead has 60 steel wheels and is pulled to and fro by wires drawn by a winch worked by the electric motors. The driver controls the motion from the pilot house, which resembles a Chinese pagoda, built on the upstream side of the platform, but in an emergency the moving platform could be controlled from the motor house, where the instruments and controls are duplicated.
At night, in accordance with the requirements of Trinity House, the towers and the travelling platform carry navigation lights.
Eleven men are employed on the bridge and it is estimated that some 4,500 vehicles use the bridge each week. It is impossible to estimate the number of pedestrians who use the bridge, since all tolls were abolished in 1946, but some 6,000 people a year pay their sixpences for the privilege of climbing up the tower and walking along the top platform. From this they have an extensive view of the docks, the city and the surrounding countryside.
The first British transporter bridge was the one, already referred to, that was built at Widnes to span the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal between the Lancashire town and Runcorn in Cheshire. It was erected for the Widnes and Runcorn Bridge Co. and has been in service since 1905, although in 1911 it was taken over by the Widnes Corporation.
This bridge, like the one at Newport, is a steel structure built on the suspension principle, with masonry anchorages and approaches. But its cost, £130,000, was much higher than that of the Monmouthshire bridge, which was £65,603. The transporter car is a platform 55 ft. long and 24 ft. wide, and clears high-water by 12 ft. It scrapes over the top of the Ship Canal wall with 4 ft. 6 in. to spare. The total span is 1,000 ft. — the longest span of any road bridge in Britain — and the towers stand 190 ft. high.
The travelling platform, which is worked by an electrically-operated winch system, and is certified to carry a maximum load of 20 tons, completes the crossing in three minutes and there is a regular 20-minute service. Each year some two million pedestrians pay their twopences to cross, while 250,000 vehicles also pay tolls.
The days of the Widnes transporter bridge are numbered, for by 1960 it is expected that a new high-level road bridge will have been completed. Then the transporter will be demolished.
The Middlesbrough transporter bridge was constructed between 1909 and 1911 to carry road A 178 from Middlesbrough to Billingham on the other side of the Tees. It was built on the cantilever principle and is 850 ft. long, although the river span is only 470 ft. between the towers.