Brunel Swivel BridgeBrunel's Other Bridge

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Brunel Swivel Bridge Project Photos October 2015

This month was our last working weekend and was fortunately dry if a little cold. We soon warmed up though

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Saturday 17 October

We only worked up to lunch time due to other commitments. Mainly work on the timber stop, surveying and excavating.
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Sal, our new volunteer starting to excavate outside the turntable pit to find the foundations 		swivel bridge
Ian came to help Sal
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Mike starting to dig out the rotten timber stop by the bridge 		swivel bridge
Geoff starts to demolish the timber stop
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A long bolt needed to be removed 		swivel bridge
Graham had taken two balks of timber home to Birmingham to make the stops, arrived
with them in his heavily laden car
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Geoff, Graham and Mike looking at the rotten timber stop hole at the end of the rail 		swivel bridge
Mike starting to dig out the timber stop hole
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New volunteer Ros came with her patient dog to clear out moss under the bridge. 		swivel bridge
The dog enjoyed investigating all the excavation piles of dirt! Time for play!
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Bob and Martyn did more surveying, this time under the bridge. More of Bob's wonderful drawings will be appearing in due course. 		swivel bridge
Everyone ended up under the bridge

Sunday 18 October

Completed work on the timber stop, surveying and completing excavation so we could fill the hole back in again. We removed some more patches so the bridge can be properly repaired. We also sat in our hut after our activities and watched a film taken in 2006 (to celebrate Brunel 200) of a ballet dancer dancing on the swivel bridge when the boards were still in place!
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Mike continued demolishing the bridge stop 		swivel bridge
A convenient passer by helped Mike lift out the rotten stop
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Very rotten 		swivel bridge
Even though rotten it still needed three to carry it away
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Geoff sawing the replacement stop Graham had made 		swivel bridge
Maggie had a go too. A big balk of timber to saw by hand. Looks like she was caged in until she finished!
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Mike and Reece putting the new stop back in the hole 		swivel bridge
Job done. Looks very good. Thanks to Graham (who took the wood up to Birmingham to fashion it)
Brunel Swivel Bridge
Reece came to help Sal continue to excavate by the turntable base 		Brunel Swivel Bridge
All swept out and measured. Mixture of solid concrete, made up ground with broken pottery etc again
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Pottery, oyster shells and a piece of clay pipe 		Brunel Swivel Bridge
All filled in again
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More patches were removed 		Brunel Swivel Bridge
Very clear that this patch was to be removed
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Clear why the patch needed removing
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Always passers by interested to see what we were up to 		Brunel Swivel Bridge
Sal showing us her film. Very poignant
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