Hull’s River Bridges: The New North Bridge 1931
North Bridge is a Scherzer rolling bascule bridge, designed by City Engineer, T Thomas in 1927, built by the Widnes Foundry (1925) Ltd., with Sculcoates firm Sangwin contracted for the tramway. It opened on Monday 10th August 1931, for motor transport, trams and foot crossings.
We’ve restored the original diagrams and plans from scans and the resulting images shed light on the beauty of the art and architecture of the day. The best way to look at the plans, and photographs, is to click on an image and zoom in to see the detail.
The photographs below the plans show the bridge from 1930 to 2017. The photograph above is the River Hull looking between the girders of Drypool Bridge towards North Bridge House and a closed North Bridge in 2005, by Bernard Sharp.
Detail of Rolled Steel (High Carbon) Track, Widnes Foundry, 1929
General Arrangement of Machinery and Operating Arms
New North Bridge, Details of Tide Gauges
Marking Plan of Trusses, Widnes Foundry, 1929
Diagram for closing against maximum wind pressure after openings, 1925
Layout of New Control Gear, 1973, W.H. Lucas, City Engineer
New North Bridge, Sangwin Tram Works September 26th 1930
North Bridge 1970s, from Drypool Bridge (left) and from a Wincolmlee Warehouse (right)
Operating Arm and East Abutment Machinery House by Syd Young, 2013
North Bridge operating arm assembly and John Stead recording bridge movements for his composition, Moments in Time, for Open Bridges in 2017
North Bridge During Renovation 08.07.2007 by Andy Beecroft
Rich and Lou Duffy-Howard
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