The A19 road, seen top left above the fertilizer packing sheds, was constructed in the late seventies and a shadow of the Incinerator chimney can be seen on the grassed area. Cannot remember when the Incinerator was dismantled, but could be mid eighties. My father helped design the packing sheds before he retired in the late 1960’s.
The elongated mound on this side of the bridge marks the spot where Dorman’s Long’s “Central Research Department” once sat. I spent some happy months in 1961-62 in the Physics Group, which was the bit doing the real research.
There were two main topics. Plastic coating of steel, in which the main aim was to find ways of cladding girders-type sections. Plastic coated sheet steel was already on the market. I don’t think the coating of girders was ever a success. The other topic was the stress rupture testing of steel for power plant boilers. We just had two machines with a few strings of specimens each. A couple of years later a special temperature controlled lab was built to take about 20 machines. The chap looking after them was called Ray….?
I used to come up from Portrack Lane, walk over the bridge and walk down the flight of steps to get to work. The main trouble was that the No 1 bus only ran all the way down the Lane, once an hour, so it was quite a long walk especially going home.
I used to cycle across the bridge during my apprenticeship at I.C.I 1955 – 1960 occasionally held up at 7:00AM for ship going our coming from Stockton.
A terrific photo of a marvelous fete of engineering when comparing it to modern day answers to broaching a river crossing.
It’s a shame the transporter was dismantled and sold abroad !!! (Auf Wiedersehen Pet)
This is a great photo, showing the incinerator entry road which may help to date the pic. I did some layout drawings for some of the interior of the building at the top left, this would be circa 1984/5. When my employers moved to Middlesbrough, I used to bike to work and used the small narrow ramp just on the Boro side of the river to go to work at the Cadcam centre.
Aerial view of Newport Bridge, date unknown.
The A19 road, seen top left above the fertilizer packing sheds, was constructed in the late seventies and a shadow of the Incinerator chimney can be seen on the grassed area. Cannot remember when the Incinerator was dismantled, but could be mid eighties. My father helped design the packing sheds before he retired in the late 1960’s.
The elongated mound on this side of the bridge marks the spot where Dorman’s Long’s “Central Research Department” once sat. I spent some happy months in 1961-62 in the Physics Group, which was the bit doing the real research.
There were two main topics. Plastic coating of steel, in which the main aim was to find ways of cladding girders-type sections. Plastic coated sheet steel was already on the market. I don’t think the coating of girders was ever a success. The other topic was the stress rupture testing of steel for power plant boilers. We just had two machines with a few strings of specimens each. A couple of years later a special temperature controlled lab was built to take about 20 machines. The chap looking after them was called Ray….?
I used to come up from Portrack Lane, walk over the bridge and walk down the flight of steps to get to work. The main trouble was that the No 1 bus only ran all the way down the Lane, once an hour, so it was quite a long walk especially going home.
Maybe the bridge being blue will help date the picture? When did it go back to being green?
Does anyone know what the inlet off the river was, just behind the bridge itself?
That’s the outlet of Billingham Beck, which once powered several mills on it’s way to this point.
I used to cycle across the bridge during my apprenticeship at I.C.I 1955 – 1960 occasionally held up at 7:00AM for ship going our coming from Stockton.
A terrific photo of a marvelous fete of engineering when comparing it to modern day answers to broaching a river crossing.
It’s a shame the transporter was dismantled and sold abroad !!! (Auf Wiedersehen Pet)
This is a great photo, showing the incinerator entry road which may help to date the pic. I did some layout drawings for some of the interior of the building at the top left, this would be circa 1984/5. When my employers moved to Middlesbrough, I used to bike to work and used the small narrow ramp just on the Boro side of the river to go to work at the Cadcam centre.