Brunel's Other BridgeBrunel Swivel Bridge Project Photos June 2021
Our second work party of the year.
What a great day! Beautiful weather, new volunteers, lots achieved!
We welcomed newcomers Emily and young son Max who joined Julie, Gwen and Daisy enthusiastically painting out graffiti on BOB and the Plimsoll Bridge. The result looks good, and the youngsters didn't get paint on their clothes, well done!
John Willis conserved the two wooden end-stops by painting the caps and staining the timber, then painted out graffiti on the green door of the nearby hut.Chris B cleared huge quantities of weeds and helped with the painting.
Daisy is a Bath University Heritage Management Undergraduate and Charlie has just passed his A levels and is starting Marine Science at Plymouth Uni in September. In the ram-pit they lifted the covers, erected a jacking gantry, and raised the heavy ram which had been laid in the pit after inspection off-site. That sounds easy, but it is a complex task involving multiple stages of blocking and adjusting the big jacks, so achieving this so efficiently and safely was a great credit to both. David Furness then worked to bolt on the broken corner of one flange, by drilling and tapping, using his specially-made series of steel drill-sleeves and an unusual right-angle drill. Thank you for all your engineering input on this tricky task David.
We reamed out the rusted holes in the ram-base and Charlie scrabbled in the mud underneath to thoroughly clear the pockets in the concrete bed to receive the ironwork. Finally Charlie, Daisy, John and Geoff lowered the ram back into its original resting place and refitted the steel covers.Peter Heaven videoed the operations and Bob Watkins helped generally.
Our next workday is on Saturday 24th July so please join us to do further battle with the rust, weeds,and graffiti.
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