{"id":8136,"date":"2024-08-09T01:30:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T01:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/izzy-nick-tom-and-gus-2\/"},"modified":"2024-08-09T01:30:43","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T01:30:43","slug":"izzy-nick-tom-and-gus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/izzy-nick-tom-and-gus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Izzy, Nick, Tom and Gus (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fools Rush In ….<\/span><\/p>\n

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The fool in this case is fbb and not Gustave Eiffel, seen above in a studio portrait with his granddaughters. Trying to cover the worldwide work of the celebrated Engineer, Architect and Meteorologist (who died in 1923 aged 91) in a short blog is just plain daft!<\/div>\n
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\u00a0… Where Angels Fear To Tread<\/span>.\n
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Gus was no angel; he spent a couple of years in prison for fraudulent deals during his work on the locks for the Panama Canal!\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

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But the breadth of his work is simply staggering. This blog will offer a taste, as they say, “in no particular order”, of the scope of his work.<\/div>\n
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The quote, by the way, is from Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism and, to his deep chagrin, fbb had to look it up. He “did” Pope as part of his A Level English course and had failed to remember the source of those well worn words!<\/div>\n
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Bad house point!<\/div>\n
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We begin in 1860 when Gus was nobbut a lad of 26. He was consulting engineer, supervising engineer, designer (sources vary) for what became known as the “Passerelle Eiffel”. Passerelle means footbridge or gangway, so the Passrrelle Eiffel was a railway bridge!\n
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It crossed the river Garonne at Bordeaux, effectively linking two chunks of the rail network together. And it did include a footbridge.<\/p>\n

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It was a long trek!<\/p>\n

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Until 2008, Eiffel’s bridge carried a double track main line electrified and used by TGV trains!<\/p>\n

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When the new bridge opened the aim was to demolish Eiffel’s 1860 crossing but, thankfully, protests were huge and the structure remains, but now inaccessible.<\/p>\n

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One of the key campaigners was one of Gus’s great ((?) granddaughters.\n
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There are proposals to re-open the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.<\/p>\n

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And A Double Decker<\/span>\n
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You can immediately spot the Eiffel style of giant Meccano here in Portugal. The top deck is roadway …<\/p>\n

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… and below is railway. Hopefully Portugal has not copyrighted it when pictured at night.<\/p>\n

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From The Sublime …<\/span>\n
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Eiffel designed and built a simple suspension bridge for a park in Paris …<\/p>\n

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… but spectacular and delightful.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Gus’s biggie in France is the Viaduc de Gabarit …\n
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… taking an extant railway over a deep gorge.<\/p>\n

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Bearing in mind it was bult using human power and simple tools, the construction is mind-blowing.<\/p><\/div>\n\n

The Viaduc de Garabit is a railway arch bridge spanning the Truy\u00e8re, near Ruynes-en-Margeride, Cantal, France, in the mountainous Massif Central region.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The bridge was constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, with structural engineering by Maurice Koechlin, and was opened in 1885. It is 1,854 ft in length and has a principal arch of 541 ft span.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Back to girders on piers for this one.\n
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Here fbb has forgotten to note where it was, but he has recorded what it has become. The girders have gone but one pier is equipped with a launch pad for bungee jumping.<\/p>\n

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Would Gus, as a lover of the spectacular, be impressed with its recycled purpose or disappointed to lose his Meccano?<\/p><\/div>\n

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Not Just Bridges<\/span><\/div>\n
Here is what looks quite innocently like a waterside warehouse in Izmir, Turkey<\/span>.\u00a0\n
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It looks a bit like a shopping centre now (which it is!) but here is a shot of the renewal and rebuild.\n
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But once inside, we can, once again, see Gus’s Meccano in the roof.<\/p>\n

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Then the bus station in La Paz, Bolivia<\/span> …\n
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… still very much in use today!<\/p>\n

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And still beautiful …<\/p>\n

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… maybe the most beautiful bus station in the world!<\/p><\/div>\n

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General Post Office\u00a0Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam<\/span>.\n
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Also very much the place to purchase philately and post your post.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Nyugati Station in Hungary<\/span> …\n
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… also very much in use but due for a massive extension “round the back”.<\/p>\n

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Nice Observatory<\/span> …\n
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… iron framed, of course!<\/p>\n

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Dijon Fruit and Veg Market …<\/span>\n
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… cuts the mustard!<\/p><\/div>\n

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And beautifully\u00a0formed in Angola!<\/span>\n
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Pal\u00e1cio de Ferro is a historical building in the Angolan capital Luanda, believed to have been designed and built by \u2013 or by someone associated with \u2013 Gustave Eiffel.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Maybe, or matbe not?<\/div>\n
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The Legacy Lives On …<\/span><\/div>\n
The Millau Viaduct is so big you simply cannot comprehend it.\n
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From base to tip of the main piers it\u00a0is taller than the Eiffel Tower<\/span>!<\/p>\n

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The bridge deck (but not the towers) was built by the Eiffel Company<\/span>!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Gus would be oh so proud of that!<\/div>\n
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Is Gus a greater engineer than Izzy, Nick or Tom? His work was certainly flung wider over the globe than Izzy or Tom. Nick’s AC electricity is a special case because there is an awful lot of it about!<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Next Variety blog : Saturday 10th August\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fools Rush In …. The fool in this case is fbb and not Gustave Eiffel, seen above in a studio portrait with his granddaughters. Trying to cover the worldwide work of the celebrated Engineer, Architect and Meteorologist (who died in 1923 aged 91) in a short blog is just plain daft! \u00a0… Where Angels Fear To Tread. Gus was no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}