Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE ROYAL ALBERT BRIDGE. 39 A Busy Scene. general holiday, and it is estimated that from thirty to forty thousand visitors journeyed to Saltash. No vessel was allowed to approach the piers while the pontoons were being navigated into position, but below the point at which a notice board announced this regulation the river was alive with yachts containing pleasure-parties, and innumerable boats were also in evidence. In the town of Saltash the utmost gaiety prevailed. Flags were suspended from the houses, the church bells rang merry peals, and the inhabitants showed the greatest anxiety to do proper honour to the occasion. The next process was to raise the girder to its final position, the pier being as yet only partially built. To effect this, three hydraulic presses had been placed under each end of the girder, and the tube was by them lifted 3 feet at a time at each end, thus zig-zagging up- wards to its final resting-place. This opera- tion was necessarily slow, had to be masonry of firmly after up under the girder ; but by July 1858 the first girder had been erected to its full height, and the second was at the same time ready for floating into position. The arrangements for this operation were generally similar to those already described, but the course to be traversed was more intricate. Brunel himself was prevented by illness from supervising the work, his place being taken by an assistant, under whose care all was safely completed and the girder duly raised to the same level as its companion. In the final form of the bridge the two large girders stand with their shore ends on piers having arched openings, through which the single line of railway passes, over the centre of the river iron columns, 10 feet in diameter, resting on the circular granite pier built in the river-bed, two columns supporting each, girder. At the end of the tubes, bed-plates and rollers are provided, admitting of free expansion and contraction under varying temperatures. Of the side spans no special description is necessary, their form of construction being apparent from the illus- trations. They form sharp curved approaches Raising the Girders. as sufficient time allowed for the the pier to set it had been built VIEW THROUGH THE BRIDGE. Photo, Great Western Railway Company. Details of the Bridge. The ends are supported by four hollow octagonal cast- to the main spans, and from them passengers in trains crossing the bridge secure an excellent view of the structure. Although not associated with its construction, it may not be out of place to mention, as indicative of the size of the bridge, that a large gang of men is required to paint it completely during the summer months. This is usually done once in five years, and the cost to the Great Western Rail- way Company—the present owners—is about £1,200. The bridge contains 2,650 tons of