Built in 1863, the old Tanners Bank bridge at North Shields served the Tyne and Wear Metro for 41 years and carried 173 trains a day.
Our spectacular drone footage captures the installation of the new £3m replacement Metro bridge at the site earlier this week. The film was kindly shared with ChronicleLive by Mike Adie who runs Mediapixs Photography.
The new bridge, which will carry Metro services over Tanners Bank, was carefully lowered into place using a giant crane on Wednesday night, July 20. The 70-tonne cast iron bridge deck was hoisted up before being secured to its new concrete abutments, which had been installed in the days leading up to the big lift.
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The 100ft crane, which towered over the site, was positioned on Tynemouth Road in a special compound which has been established during the temporary road closure there. It lifted the new bridge high above the road and slowly lowered it into place in the gap where the old bridge once stood. Work is taking place during a two-week major line closure between St James and Tynemouth.
Project Manager Stephen Psallidas said: “I am pleased to say the big task of lifting the new Tanners Bank bridge into place went well and it is now in place. The bridge has two decks, one for each Metro line, each weighing 70 tones, and both of them are now installed. The work will continue on the site as the teams put the tracks and overhead lines back in place ahead of the planned re-opening of the line on July 30.”
The former bridge dated back to the Victorian era on a line opened in 1839, and is said to have been the world’s first commuter railway line. Thanks to Mike Adie for the footage. You can watch more of his work on his Mediapixs YouTube channel.
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