Structures

Newport Transporter Bridge

The bridge plaque reads:

"Opened by Lord Tredegar on September 12th 1906, the transporter was built to improve access to the east bank of the Usk where the Orb steelworks was sited.

Closely spaced piers for a swing or lifting bridge would have hindered shipping bound for the town dock or the river wharves; an arched bridge would have been impossibly high and a tunnel too costly, so an aerial ferry was chosen.

The gondola is suspended from a trolley propelled by a continuous cable. This winds onto a drum driven by two 35 h.p. electric motors housed on the east bank."

The transporter bridge (or aerial ferry) spans 197 metres across the Usk. A gondola is suspended from a traveller that runs along a railway track running between the tops of two 74 metre high towers at a speed of 3 metres per sec. carrying a full load of perhaps six cars plus cycles and pedestrians.

75 mm diameter main suspension cables supporting the towers are secured into masonry anchorages each weighing 2236 tonnes.