Birkemhead’s Beautiful Bridges (4)

A superb picture of Duke Street Swing bridge in 1925, some years before it begat the bascule beauty we behold today, reminds us that the local nickname “Four Bridges” does NOT refer to the grouping of four (or five) reviewed in previous blogs.

And whilst musing on Duke Street Bridge, fbb wonders how an innocent visitor to Birkenhead, capital of the Wirral, might have reacted to one of these coming towards him along his route through the docks?

Yikes is an appropriate word.

But now we go to the “four bridges”. And out search for four starts with our old and recently rebuilt friend Bridge A.

We cross it (virtually) …

… and count BRIDGE 1. We know that next comes Bridge C which isn’t there any more, it is just plain road.

BRIDGE 2 done!

Thanks to the wonders of the interwebnet, we can see a very detailed map of these TWO bridges at the entrance to the Great Float.

Things have changed quite a bit in this area. If we turn left after the nonexistent Bridge C (our number 2) …

… we find a Stena Line ferry terminal whence we might catch a boat to Belfast.

To the right of the vehicle queues is a huge car and lorry park.

If we step back a few years, this was a dock; but not accessed from the Mersey.

See the gap on the left. And see the gap on the old but detailed map.

Note the famous Tower and a plethora of railway lines and sidings associated with the “Low Water Basin”. Note also a bridge, shared, we presume, with dock railways! BRIDGE 3.

And there it is in its declining years.

The Tower (upper left) gives a point of reference. 

And nowadays the observant will spot where the bridge was with just a small pond between road and mega vehicle park.

The next, and final, map shows the site of the fourth bridge.

There is Egerton Dock, with our original “last” bridge lower right.  But the dock had another entrance centre left. We can see it on this aerial view. Note that Egerton Bridge is in the vertical position.

The “other bridge” is upper left on the above aerial picture of old. BRIDGE 4.

On the road today there are clues that a bridge was once here.

Swing round to the left an you see, firstly, a ships mast; nothing to do with bridges (although the ship would have had one!). H M S Conway was a training ship …

… and the mast is s a war memorial. But, beyond the mast is Egerton Dock.

There is the Egerton lifting bridge. The tower on the left is one of the ventilation towers of the first Mersey Tunnel.

So those were the historic four bridges of Tower Road.

Camping Bus Progress 

The static bus has gained an awning with a dinky little fence and, at the rear …

The elements of the scene are just “posed” in the pictures above and, of course, will need painting. Note the whited out Windows on the iop deck behind which (not modelled thankfully!) is the toilet and shower room.

Having added the verandah, it becomes obvious that, from normal viewing distance, you would not be able to see the interior of the bottom deck. Goody! fbb will NOT have to model the cooking and eating part of the bus.

Incidentally, this bit of modelling, using scrap plastic and oddments from previous kits, took the best part of yesterday morning. Tools used : old kitchen scissors plus polystyrene cement.

Tough work, this railway modelling!

More on the bus to follow.

Buses to the MetroCentre in Tyneside. have carried various liveries. Here is an older one on a bendibus.

Then there was a gold-based paint job.

The current livery is garish and, to fbb’s taste, messy.

Just announced is a small batch of buses in a more traditional livery.

Much nicer! And very similar to that on the bendibus above.

 Next Birkenhead Buses blog : Friday 26th Jan