Main entry:

Rapley, John, author.

Title & Author:

The Britannia & other tubular bridges and the men who built them / John Rapley.

Publication:

Stroud, Gloucestershire ; Charleston, SC : Tempus, 2003.
©2003

Description:

160 pages : illustrations (some color), maps, plans ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 154-155) and indexes.
Stephenson and Fairbairn -- In the beginning: the rocky road to Dublin -- The Millwall experiments -- The remarkable rise of Edwin Clark -- The architect and the troubleshooter -- The bridge at Conwy: Alexander McKenzie Ross (1805-1862) -- The benefits of continuity -- A sad mishap at the Dee Bridge -- The Britannia Bridge -- Fairbairn's resignation: the great dispute -- William Fairbairn's box girders -- Stephenson's Egyptian bridges -- The Victoria Bridge, Montréal -- New developments in iron bridges, 1845-1890 -- The final years.

Summary:

"In the early years of the nineteenth century, communications through Wales to the port of Holyhead were in much need of improvement. The trans-shipment of goods, mail and people over the Menai Strait caused too many delays in a period of increasing speed of transport. The solution was to build a bridge -- a bridge that would later be described as one of Britain's greatest engineering landmarks. The Britannia Bridge, perhaps the greatest of the five tubular railway bridges, was the result of the union of the talents of two remarkable engineers. Based on an original concept by Robert Stephenson, the bridge was modified, developed and designed by his partner and technical consultant, William Fairbairn. New and innovative procedures were used in both the design and construction of the bridge -- the use of wrought iron; the structural continuity of the tubes; the method of building the bridge in sections which were lifted into place by hydraulics -- all of which made it a ground-breaking piece of engineering. The bridge saw, until its destruction by fire in 1970, 120 years of service and, at 460ft, it had the longest span of any girder bridge in Britain. The Britannia & Other Tubular Bridges is the story not only of the crossing of the Menai Strait but of the other tubular bridges and the men who built them. The Britannia Bridge itself, with its slim tubes and monumental stonework, will long be remembered as belonging to an heroic age of railway engineering which will never be seen again."--Back cover.

ISBN:

0752427539
9780752427539

Subject:

Tubular bridges Design and construction History 19th century.
Bridges Great Britain Design and construction History 19th century.
Ponts Grande-Bretagne Conception et construction Histoire 19e siècle.
Bridges Design and construction
Tubular bridges Design and construction
Britannia Bridge (Wales) History 19th century.
Pont Britannia (Pays de Galles) Histoire 19e siècle.
Great Britain
Wales Britannia Bridge

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

Britannia and other tubular bridges

Holdings:

Location: Library main 231050
Call No.: TG64.B86 R3 2003
Status: Available