Keadby Bridge, more formally known as the King George V Bridge, crosses the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

near

Althorpe Althorpe is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Keadby with Althorpe, in the North Lincolnshire district, in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It is west of Scunthorpe and the same distance south-east ...

and

Keadby __NOTOC__ Keadby is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Keadby with Althorpe, in the North Lincolnshire district, in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated just off the A18, west of Scu ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It was designed by Alfred Charles Gardner

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

MIME.

History

The

Scherzer rolling lift bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

carries both road and rail traffic across the River Trent. It was built between 1912 and 1916 by the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its Great Central Main Line, London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company ...

to replace a previous swing bridge built by the

South Yorkshire Railway The South Yorkshire Railway was a railway company with lines in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Initially promoted as the South Yorkshire Coal Railway in 1845, the railway was enabled by the South Yorkshire, Doncaster and Goole Railway Ac ...

and opened in 1864. It carries a double track railway line on the southern side, and the two-lane, single carriageway A18 road on the north side. The ''

Lincolnshire Echo The ''Lincolnshire Echo'' is a weekly British regional newspaper for Lincolnshire, whose first edition was on Tuesday 31 January 1893, and is published every Thursday. It is owned by Reach PLC and it is distributed throughout the county. The ...

'' reported that the first passenger train to cross the new bridge left Althorpe Station at 10:35am on 21 May 1916. The train was driven by Herbert Duke of

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster, City of Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England, between Manvers and Denaby Main, on the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road. It is co ...

and, on the invitation of Sir Sam Fay, Joshua Slowen of Barnetby, who had driven the first passenger train across the old bridge, rode on the engine. Its 50-metre (163 ft) electrically powered bascule (lifting span) was one of the first of its type in Britain and, when built, was the largest in Europe. Designed by James Ball and C A Rowlandson and built by contractors Sir William Arrol & Co., it has three main spans and two approach spans. The eastern main span was the one that lifted. The Scherzer bascule rolled and rotated on counterbalance. It was electrically powered, originally by a large storage battery fed by petrol-driven generators housed in the engine room beneath the east approach span. This was later modified to mains electricity. The bridge was controlled from a wooden

signal cabin On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timeta ...

, mounted by the north-east side of the lifting (east) span. The cabin was equipped with a 28-lever frame of British Pneumatic Railway Signal Company design. The bridge has not been lifted since 1956. In 1960, it was widened and the headroom increased, and the bascule was fixed in position.Civil engineering heritage: Eastern and central England. E. A. Labrum At the same time, the signal cabin was removed from the bridge structure and the tracks on the railway were fixed in place. File:Plaque on Keadby Bridge 01.JPG, Plaque on Keadby Lifting Bridge regarding its opening on 21 May 1916 File:Keadby Bridge, from Althorpe Railway Station.jpg, Keadby Bridge, from

Althorpe Railway Station Althorpe railway station serves the village of Althorpe in North Lincolnshire, England. The railway station, station is also very close to the villages of Keadby, Gunness and Burringham. Most services are provided by Northern Trains who oper ...

File:Keadby bridge signal box diagram.jpg, Signalling diagram of the former bridge signal box File:Keadby Bridge from upstream east bank.JPG, Keadby Bridge from upstream east bank

References

External links

Pathe newsreel of the bridge being lifted
{{River item box , River =

, upstream =

M180 motorway The M180 is a motorway in eastern England, starting at junction 5 on the M18 motorway in Hatfield, within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and terminating at Barnetby, Lincolnshire, some from the port of Immingha ...

, upsub , downstream = None , downsub = , thisis = Keadby Bridge , type = , location = SE840106 Bridges in Lincolnshire Grade II listed buildings in Lincolnshire Grade II listed bridges Bridges across the River Trent Bridges completed in 1916 Railway bridges in Lincolnshire Bascule bridges in England Great Central Railway Isle of Axholme

History

See also

References

External links