1/8/2023 0 Comments Cutty shark bridge saw![]() ![]() On a grey day, the ship seems full of the history of the sea. It now sits atop a glass museum, held suspended so that you can walk beneath it. The Cutty Sark, resting on its glass house. Built in 1869, the ship was one of the last tea clippers built and one of the fastest ships of her time. The newly restored Cutty Sark has just been “launched” in the dry dock beside the main pier. Greenwich is renowned for its maritime history. A few days later, we decided to go out and explore more of the history of the Thames and took a commuter boat down the river to Greenwich, another on our list of World Heritage Sites. “The Thames is liquid history”, said John Burns in 1929. Tim gets his certificate of Bridge Raising Tim’s moment of glory is over, but he is presented with a certificate to mark the occasion and we are taken on a tour of the mechanisms far below the surface of the water. When the boat clears the bridge the bascules are lowered, everything is locked back in place and the cyclists race to get back on the road before the barriers are removed. 40° achieved, the awaiting boat glides through. The bridge rises and the computer screen shows Tim the changing angle of the bascules. It is as though the city holds its breath. The barriers in place, the traffic stopped, Tim pulls the lever to raise the bascules to 40°. Needless to say, this gave Tim an incredible sense of power. A push of a button, a communication with the outside patrol, and cars, pedestrians and cyclists came to a halt. This means that the first thing that must happen, when raising the bridge, is to stop the traffic. A level must be carefully pulled.Ĥ0,000 people cross Tower Bridge every day. Huge amounts of steel are see-sawed up and down in a very short amount of time. A computer screen shows the inner workings. But although the system has been modernized, the actual workings of the bridge remain the same. Tim met with the Chief Bridge Technician in the control tower of the Tower Bridge. The mechanization is electronic nowadays. On a rainy London morning in early May, Tim was the man who made that happen. Ships today still have a right of way along the river and, with 24 hours notice, the Bridge must be raised to allow passage through. The Bridge, built in 1886, originally worked with a marvelous Victorian hydraulic system to lift the bascules (from the French word for “see-saw”, the moveable section of the bridge road) so that ships could pass through to the Port of London. He was given the opportunity to be the man behind the mechanism, the man to move 2,500 tons of steel to allow a boat to pass unimpeded down the Thames. Tim was given one of the best gifts ever. We are filling our last days in London with adventures and one of our most unique experiences was Tim’s raising of the Tower Bridge. Posters in the tube announcing new shows opening the day after we leave. Around every corner, a new world waiting. ![]() Right now, the harshest lesson for Tim and I to learn is that there is never enough time.
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