Inter City Bridges

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt in search of iron and rail...

Loco 57311 'Parker' hauls a Glasgow to Euston Pendolino service through Settle station

This cast iron bridge makes a perfect frame for an inter-city passenger train travelling south.  Settle is a busy market town in the Yorkshire Dales.  Although the bridge looks as though it has been here since the 19th Century its originally location was at  Drem Station in Scotland being moved and rebuilt at Settle station in 1993 when the Scottish line was electrified. Before the bridge passengers accessed the station platform over the lines, a so called 'barrow crossing', still used by people in wheelchairs.

Electric loco NS 1600 series inter-city, Moerdijkbrug

In flatter Dutch terrain an inter city train crosses one of the Moerdijk Bridges connecting Dordrecht with the province of North Brabant across the Hollands Diep rivers and estuary. Apparently this area was formed in the floods of 1421 when the dykes failed and altered the geography of the area for ever. It looks very watery

Now I've shown a diesel and an electric train its time for

steam. Alas the Bela Viaduct is no more, a victim of short term thinking and the road lobby in the 1960s when a lot of  branch lines were closed and in this case the viaduct was also demolished. When steam power was eventually removed from the lines all the locos were sent to the scrapyard but some were rescued by enthusiasts and included the  Black Five class shown on the postcard.  Today six of them are certificated for main line running and if lucky one or two of them can sometimes be spotted on the Settle to Carlisle line featured in my first postcard. 

Long and Curvy

 See It on A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt looking for long and curvy bridges

PHQ Card - 2015: Bridges

The Peace Bridge curves and snakes over the River Foyle joining the two communities of Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland and opened in 2011.  The Protestant Unionists on the east bank will refer to the city as Londonderry and the Catholic nationalists on the west side as Derry.  The BBC gets around this problem in their news broadcasts by always referring to it as Derry/Londonderry.  The bridge however has been a great success, becoming a beloved part of the city and it features in New Year and numerous other celebrations. Even the Dalai Lama has visited and walked across it.

Now travelling by postcard over the water to the city that is sometimes jokingly called 'the second capital of Ireland', Liverpool. Many of those emigrants from Ireland may have worked on the building of  its Overhead Railway and definitely worked in the docks.

Liverpool Overhead Railway Poster

As well as carrying millions of passengers Liverpool's overhead railway was a tourist attraction, this poster from the the 1930s invites a visit for "unrivaled views of Dockland Shipping"

Originally opened in 1893 it was the first overhead railway in the world to be operated by electricity. Rather ironically one of the factors of its eventually decline was due to the corrosion of the corrugated iron decking caused by the steam operated Docks Railway plying its trade underneath some of the sections.  The cost of repair was too much and it closed in 1956.  Once known as the  'Dockers Umbrella' its 7 miles (11km) was demolished in 1957/8.  I have two photo cards of the railway but only this one has a postbox. Spot it near the link bridge.

Stone Bridges

See It On a Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is crossing bridges and today mine are sturdy stone ones

Culbone Lodge Pottery, Exmoor

This inherited card has a fine postmark which  shows me it was posted on the 29th May 1985, all that is missing is a stamp!  The people who had not affixed a stamp were my aunt and uncle who were enjoying a walking holiday in Exmoor and possibly the reason they chose this card is because the inscription on the back describes the many paths that can be taken to Culbone Lodge. The sandstone building was constructed in the late 19th century in an arts and crafts style, the adjoining bridge crosses over a sunken roadway.  

The card's inscription also says the picture shows the pottery, house and garden display of pots with Waistel and Joan Cooper and their tame ducks. These names meant nothing to me but discovered Waistel Cooper was a renowned potter. Even better I discovered the Culborne newsletter article "Secluded Culborne" which has a paragraph about them - "Two of Culbone’s best known inhabitants were Joan and Waistel Cooper. Joan, an American, with a Doctorate in Psychology married Waisel a potter in 1957 and they lived in a cottage in Culbone by a stream. Joan practised and taught Yoga for West Somerset Community Education. She was also a Lay Reader. She died on June 2nd 1982 and was buried in the little church’s cemetery. The whole area was packed for her funeral and a little dog sat by the edge of her grave during the service. Waistel, born in 1921 in Ayr, was instrumental in the introduction of modernism into ceramics and was a major figure of the studio pottery scene. He set up in Culbone on his return from a commission in Iceland and worked in his studio there for 25years. Following Joan’s death he moved to Penzance in Cornwall and remarried. He died in 2003. His work commanded very high prices"

Travelling north to the England's most northerly town, although not in the period when it was part of Scotland. The last time it changed hands it was in 1482 and despite the border change today the football and rugby teams play in the Scottish leagues.  

Top  - the 'Old Bridge' which replaced a wooden one in the 17th Century when I suppose it was just called Berwick Bridge // Royal Tweed Bridge or the 'New Bridge' built in the 1920s but as it is built of concrete it is an interloper in this post

Bottom - The Royal Border Bridge and as I am a fan of railway viaducts here are more pictures of Robert Stephenson's bridge

Watendlath Bridge in Winter

One of the many packhorse bridges in the English Lake District crosses the stream in the little hamlet of Watendlath. I remember people ice skating on the nearby tarn but we rarely get those sort of winters anymore. The bridge is from the 18th Century but

Coniston Foxhounds on Sweden Bridge, Ambleside

Sweden Bridge is 17th Century packhorse bridge but  isn't Swedish as the name comes from the Middle English word 'swidden'/Old Norse 'svithinn'.  I see there are two lakeland terriers that have joined the hounds in this bridge photo-shoot.  Foxhunting in the Lake District was done on foot (not a horse in sight), but in the present time after a long battle foxhunting with dogs is banned in Britain.  The hounds have never gone away for a popular countryside pastime for a couple of centuries in the Lakes is Hound Trailing. The dogs race a scented trail over the fells.

Bridges

 

1955: Landscapes

Le Pont Valentré, built in the 14th Century can only be crossed on foot so plenty of time to admire the view. It took 70 years to build and the reason why is told in the legend involving the devil  here

1964: The Border Society (Design - M Stage; Engrave Cz Slania)

A more rustic but impressive small bridge whose stones were cleaved from a single granite boulder.  Immervad Bridge in Northern Schleswig has been here since 1786 originally for cattle breeders to transport their livestock from Denmark to markets in Hamburg and Rendsburg, Germany.

2018: Europa: Bridges and Causeways

 

Top and sheet - the Havre des Pas tidal bathing pool built in the 1890s and renovated in 1994 consisting of  the pier, pool and lido.  

Bottom - Queen's Valley Reservoir completed in 1991 and is actually two reservoirs. The bridge is on a rock filled embankment separating the two pools.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Bridges - cross over to See It On A Postcard for more.

Bridges

 

1991: Bridges

This wooden bridge is classed as a site of national significance, the Neubrugg or New Bridge built in 1534/5 crosses the River Aare in the canton of Bern.

and in contrast the Ganter concrete bridge, Simplon Pass, built from Summer 1976 to December 1980, it is the longest spanning bridge in Switzerland.

1949: Landscapes

The Railway Viaduct over the River Sitter near St Gallen, built 1908-1910

And as I love viaducts (and this issue) here is another viaduct Landwasser, a big tourist attraction for the railway enthusiast.

1962: Laval Castle (Designed and Engraved - Charles Mazelin)

Lets downsize. The castle of Laval with a bridge over the Mayenne River in the Loire region. Nice 'on the nose stamp cancel' for Valence which is on the left bank of the Rhone in SE France.

1957: Tourism Publicity (Designer and Engraver - Jean Pheulpin)

Le Quesnoy (Nord department), I think this bridge may possibly cross a moat for Quesnoy is a fortified walled city, the tower is the Town Hall.

1956: Views of Beijing

I started with an old bridge so finish with another, the Yong An Bridge in Beihai Park, one of the oldest, largest and best preserved ancient imperial gardens in China with a 1000 year history.  The park covers 175 acres, half of which is taken up by the lake. Probably why it is also called the Northern Sea Park.  In the middle of the lake lies the Jade Flower Islet on which stands the White Dogoba (a stupa) which can be seen in the background of the stamp.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Bridges - walk over to See It On A Postcard

Bridges

2018; Europa - Bridges (Design - Vitaliu Pogolsa)

A wooden bridge spanning the Raut River, a tributary of the more famous Dniester River. I liked the description of it as a 'wooden flying bridge' and it seems to be inviting us to take the first step and walk across. 

Just get out of the way on this bridge as the train thunders towards us. This is the Eiffel Bridge at Ungheni, a strategic railway bridge over the River Prut, on the border between Moldova and Romania.  The bridge was completed in 1877 just before the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-88 broke out in the region.  Gustave Eiffel's metal construction company built bridges all over the world but it is said his  favourite creations were railway bridges.  The stamp shows the bridge to dramatic effect but I must admit that the actual bridge looks rather more low key

unlike Ungheni Railway Station which is a beauty.  For the railway enthusiasts it is where narrow and broad gauge meet.

2018: Europa - Bridges (Design - Sergio Ruggeri)

Another railway bridge but the colours and the jaunty blue and white train puts me in a holiday mood. This is the Valdragone Railway Bridge with the towers of San Marino in the background. The electric train used to run from Rimini to San Marino city centre from 1933 to 1944 but today there is no operational railway.

1984: Europa

The 1984 Europa stamp was a return of the common design to celebrate 25 years of CEPT and this bridge design will be familiar to us all.  Happily for something different it is on a Maximum Card showing the Luxembourg Viaduct, known locally as simply The Paserelle or sometimes The Old Bridge and runs south of the city centre.  The viaduct was built between 1859-61 to link the city's railway station but located away from the centre so as not to detract from the defensive capabilities of the city's fortress.

2018: Europa - Bridges

Next we have a bridge in the mist, clouds and snow of Norway.  The Commemorative sheet shows Hardanger Bridge and the construction workers on the walkway of the bridge suspension cables. Faintly in the background of the sheet can be seen the construction drawings.  This photograph gave rise to an alternative name on social media of the Sky Bridge.   It is the largest suspension bridge in Norway (1,380m or 4527ft).  The towers are 200 meters above sea level and the main span is the longest suspension span in the world, longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.  From the middle of the bridge shown on the stamp I learn there are great photographs to be had of the fjord.   

1976: Australian Scenes (Design - O Borchert)

Lastly something I always enjoy, a bridge reflected in water. The Richmond Bridge in Tasmania is the oldest span bridge in Australia (1823) and is on their Nation Heritage listing and can be found on the B51 - the "Convict Trail", which as the name implies was built by convict labour.  Here it is featured at the blog 'On the Convict Trail'.

Cattawade Bridge, Suffolk

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Bridges - for more cross over to See It On A Postcard.  

Join the Queue

2018: 250 Years of the Royal Academy of Arts

'Queuing at the Royal Academy of Arts' by Yinka Shonibara whose artworks feature beautiful brightly coloured fabrics and patterns that explore the issues of race, class and culture.  Royal Mail commissioned six Royal Academicians to design a stamp portraying the popular annual RA Summer Exhibition and Yinka Shonibara created this queue in the Burlington House courtyard waiting to enter. It's England so of course it is raining.  For postal lovers Burlington House also has a rather flash wooden postbox in the porch of the entrance but stamps must be bought elsewhere

1990: 150th Anniversary of the Postage Stamp

and there may be a queue but not as long as this one outside the Main Post Office in Guernsey in 1969 when the first stamps of an independent postal administration were issued.  The stamp on the stamp shows the heads of both Queen Elizabeth I and II but a monarch goes walkabout

1997: 25th Anniversary of the Reign of Queen Margrethe II

here where the people have been queuing to welcome Queen Margrethe of Denmark

2018: Europa - Bridges (Design (V Beltyukov)

For a queue with a view head for the Floating Bridge over the Moskva River.

Kidderminster Rail Ticket Office

Sunday Stamps prompt this week is the Letter Q - here for a quartet of Queues and three queens - See It On A Postcard
 

Lamplight

2002: Visit Austria (Design - Adolf (Adi) Tuma)

A warm glow in a winding alleyway called Schönlaaterngasse (Beautiful Lantern Alley) in central Vienna. The beautiful lantern in question is outside number 7 but the original wrought iron creation  is in Vienna's City Museum and only a copy shines here. The Schönlaterngasse has appeared 4 times on Austria's stamps and also more excitingly for me in Carol Reed's movie The Third Man.  Shadowy people and places filmed in 1948 on location in a postwar Vienna.  Today there is a Third Man walking tour, I imagine the catchy zither sound track running for ever in my head during that, and yes the tour includes the sewers.

1979: 300th Anniversary of Street Lighting (Design - Finke)

Meanwhile in Berlin more than half the world's existing gas lights illuminate the streets and the stamp's Gas Lamp is in the Kruezberg District but since 2013 they are being demolished and only 3,200 out of 37,000 will be preserved although there is a residents action to try to save them.

1996: Images of Germany (Design - Schillinger)

I imagine this chandelier type lamp is also gas lit and shines on what is considered one of Berlin's most beautiful squares, Gendarmennmarkt.

1948: Airmail - Explorers and Inventors (Design - Légrády Sándor)

Of course Thomas Edison would definitely be for electric lights.  A motion picture is beaming out in the background and happily giving me another 'L' by showing a view of the Statue of Liberty.

2004: Bordeaux (Design - Claude Andreotto; Engraving - Claude Jumelet)

Here the lights are on the Pont de Pierre which crosses the Gironde River at Bordeaux. Planned and designed on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte (although only eventually competed in 1822) its 17 arches are said to be for the number of letters in his name.  Although the stamp seems to show the tram on another bridge it actually runs over the Pont de Pierre but the condition of the bridge means that all traffic has been banned since 2016 with the exception of pedestrians, cyclists and the tram-line. 

1981: Huis ten Bosch

Lastly lamplight leads us here to the 17th Century Royal Palace in The Hague,  one of three official residencies of the Dutch royal family and since 1984 the Dutch monarchs office for political and state affairs.

Ammonite Lamp Post at Dusk, Lyme Regis (Jurassic Coast)

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter L - here for Lamps, lamplight and liberty -  lots more at See It On A Postcard
 

 

Going Forth

I've chosen a bridge in the news for this week's Sunday Stamps II  theme.  The Forth Road Bridge was closed in October 2015 when one of the pin truss end links was found to have failed (a 2cm hairline crack) in the north tower.  There is a nice shot of one of the central towers with its St Andrew's Cross bracing on the cover photograph and here is a diagram of the north tower fault.   

The bridge is now opened to motor cars, pedestrians and cyclists but the HGVs will have to make the longer journey round until February.  The contractor, Amey, have taken the opportunity to do additional work on the bridge but have had to contend with some awful weather.  The cover issued in 2014 for the bridge's 50th anniversary features four Scottish Regional stamps and one 1964 commemorative stamp.  Royal Mail produced two stamps to celebrate the bridge opening designed by Andrew Restall, who seemed to be their go to guy for any technology issues 

The other stamp of the set shows the iconic Forth Rail Bridge (seen through the suspension cables spans of the Road Bridge)  

which celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2015.  The cover features five of last year's 'Bridges' set 

but of the ten I have only walked over one which is the packhorse bridge in the Lake District's Wasdale valley (Row Bridge) on the right although the ancient Tarr Steps in Exmoor is a popular postcard subject.   The full stamp set can be seen here

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Bridges - cross over here to see more

Linking Bridges

Here is the Clifton Suspension bridge airily spanning the Avon river gorge in Bristol and one of the iconic bridges of Britain.  It was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's first major commission when he won the competition to design a bridge over the gorge at just 24 years old and he was appointed project engineer.  Construction was delayed for decades (1831-1864) and on his death in 1859 after a glorious engineering career it was felt by the Institute of Civil Engineers that the completion of the bridge would be a fitting tribute to their colleague.  Designed for pedestrians and horse drawn traffic the structure today carries traffic that Brunel would never have envisaged.   The cover celebrates its 150 years in 2014

with one of the bicentenary of the birth of Brunel stamps issued in 2006.  In fact this was a set I nearly went with this week as it includes three of his bridges but then I found this autumnal FDC which I thought was much more attractive and also so appropriate for the time of year. (The stamp shows a lithograph from 1834 of the bridge).  Now let us take a train trip

This set is called "The Baltic Railway Bridges" and was a joint issue between the three Baltic states. The Estonian cover features a black and white photo of the concrete Sindi rail and road bridge over the River Pärnu which opened , as they say "festively" in February 1928, the traffic regulated by a bridge guard.  I like the double header stream trains.  The cancel is of the Ahja Railway Bridge on the Tartu-Petseri Railway completed in 1931.  But lets look at the stamps left to right.
The first shows Estonia's Narva Bridge, the first built to span the river was in 1869, a stronger one had to be built next to it in 1902 but was destroyed in World War I. A new rail bridge, and the last iron bridge built in Estonia, was opened in December 1923 (162 metres) but destroyed in World War II as indeed was most of the city of Narva by either the Russians or the Germans. (I can't work out whether they have rebuilt this bridge or replaced it as all the photos I've found seem to show a different shape). However I am sure about the sparklingly new Swiss built Stadler FLIRT passenger train shown on the stamp which Estonia had ordered to replace their old trains and expected to be in use soon after the stamp issue but they eventually all came into service in 2013.
The middle stamp is Latvia's Carnikava Bridge, a metal bridge over the Gauja built in 1950 (220.8 metres). A rather nice picture showing it in context appears on Panoramio here
Lastly is Lithuania's longest and highest bridge, the Lyduvinai shown with an equally long goods train.   This stamp issue links three countries but the next stamp shows a bridge directly linking two countries

Liechtenstein with Switzerland ,and is part of the second issue of "Bridges Bring Together" featuring foot and cycle bridges. To journey between the two countries over the Rhine (which marks the border) at one time required a ferry and it was not until 1868 that a bridge was built but it burned down in 1894, the next wooden bridge built in 1896 collapsed with a fire. No wonder they turned to concrete for the present one.

The stamps and maximum cards show two view  of the Rhine Bridge

which links Bendern (Liechtenstein) and Haag (Switzerland).  Guess we are in high summer when the photo on the card was taken, which would be the ideal time to take a cycle ride.

Buchs to Schaan Bridge

This 132 metre bridge is a happy spin off from a large construction project and is the visible part of 6 kilometres of  an underground steam pipeline which brings process steam from a refuse incineration plant in Buchs (Switzerland) to industry in Liechtenstein.

Who would guess that from this peaceful view?. 

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Bridges to Anywhere - cross over here to see more.