This photograph illustrates the dismantling of the swing bridge that was located above the lock that accessed the docks from the river Severn. As the nameplate ably illustrates, the bridge was commissioned in 1880, thereby giving 82 years of continuous service! In addition to normal road traffic the bridge also incorporated a standard gauge rail track that linked with other tracks throughout the dock area.
The bridge was replaced by a cantilever-type bridge (without rail track) that is still in operation today.
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I well remember this old bridge, and one of my lasting memories of it was an incident that happened to a friend of mine back in the 1960’s. He was riding his motor scooter towards the bridge, no problem there, but once he was on the bridge he had to move over to one side and as he did the front wheel of his scooter caught in the railway track! He was thrown off the scooter and landed face down on the bridge and slid across towards the edge and came dangerously close to ending up in the canal! He had a very lucky escape, but it is a story that he and I recount now and again when we meet up. I also remember when the new bridge was put up that a couple of the lads in my shop (Hyd 2) used to tease Steve Cheeseman that Harold Longney had done a deal with the bridge owners to supply them with ‘packings’ that he had nicked out of the stores, for the hydraulic cylinders that lifted the bridge! All of this was completely untrue, but it certainly used to wind Steve up and he used to really have a go at Harold, calling him all sorts of names! Happy days, no one got hurt as it was all a bit of fun, and I think poor old Steve could see the funny side of it! I have a feeling that it might have been the late Richard Bennett and (maybe) John Harding who were the ring leaders in all this! As it was so long ago now I can’t be absolutely sure though that it was them. I know that Nurse Edwards came round near to the spares bench one day when all of this was going on, and as Steve was getting quite worked up about Harold and his ‘dodgy dealings’ she said ‘I can see someone having a coronary any moment now!’ As with all the larking about, it didn’t last for ever and new things were soon found to have fun with! Oh, and we did do a lot of work too, just in case anyone is thinking, did they ever do any thing other than lark about! As I said before, happy days, sadly never to be repeated as I think the whole environment that people work in has changed beyond all recognition now. Graham ‘Chippy’ Aston
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