Very big crane!

Many of the counties in the UK have significant rivers flowing through them, Thames, Severn, Avon etc. but I was born and raised in County Durham which is (I believe) unique as it is associated with three major rivers. There is the Tyne to the North, Tees to the South and the Wear throught the centre.

Each of the rivers has iconic bridges associated with it and I grew up seeing them on a regular basis. Kuju have already created the Newcastle-upon-Tyne crossings for railworks and Darpor is currently doing a great job of the Monkwearmouth bridge at Sunderland, but there was a recent request for a model of the transporter bridge across the Tees at Middlesborough.

If you have read the earlier entries in my blog you'll know I like cranes and the transporter bridge is a very large variation on a crane, so I was unable to resist the challenge. So here we have it, the Middlesborough Transporter Bridge.




This is an extract from a history of the bridge...

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge has been a symbol of the area since it was opened in 1911.

It is a total of 851 feet (259.3 metres) in length which makes it the longest of those remaining in the world. Its cantilever construction has three main bridge spans that give it its unique appearance. The bridge is, effectively, two almost independent structures joined at the centre of the River Tees. Each half of the bridge has an 'anchor' span of 140 feet (42.6 metres) and then cantilevers across the river some 285 feet (86.8 metres) from the tower leg to meet its twin from the opposite bank. The passenger gondola is suspended by steel cables and runs on a wheel and rail system approximately 160 feet (48.7 metres) above the River Tees.

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge is fully operational and provides a regular quarter-hourly service between Middlesbrough and Port Clarence for 18 hours a day. It remains the largest of the Transporter Bridges operating worldwide, and provides a valuable public transport service, crossing the river in two minutes.