Railway Bridge Across the Thames

Grosvenor Bridge takes the railway to Victoria station across the River Thames. During the latter half of the 1960s the bridge was replaced without closure to rail or river traffic.

[@benscully2182]

I worked on the Bridge in 1967....It was my first experience of large scale works....Jimmy Doherty was the General Foreman and obviously a genius given the kit he had at his disposal..The steel erectors on temporary works were the stars of the show...Safety helmets were thin on the ground and a few bevvies at lunchtime were the order of the day....overall a great memory of some exceptional character's....many I'm sure long gone....cheers to their memory.

[@noongourfain]

Thanks for your memories.

[@kofu_390]

Here in Uruguay, the government has managed to renew the main railroad line in order to be operated by of the Finnish forest industry company UPM-Kymmene Oyj once its pulp plant is set in. To achieve this goal, the government has invested an exorbitant fortune to remake the railroad, and this will count on many bypasses, like tunnels, bridges and viaducts. The problem is that the line has just one track and for 3 years (2019-2022), railway traffic will be kept stopped, and that has injured our already poor, weak, damaged, and very old railway transport, which has benefited the route traffic even more than it already is, like buses and tracks. However, someone who is neither from the UK, nor any developed country (and I include myself), can easily surprise by watching this video and knowing that already in the later 1960s the British could remake a nine-tracks railway bridge without calling off eight of its tacks. That's what I really call "progress"

[@kangaroogroundboy]

Good to see old Brunswick yard on the downriver side of old Nine Elms Lane. Apparently when the contractors were clearing the site before the building of St George Wharf they found two layers of tracks. At some stage during the early 20th century the permanent way lads had just laid ballast on the original 1850's trackwork and laid new sleepers and rails on top. Brunswick House was once the offices of the London and South West Railway and the paraffin store for the lamps on the buffer stops was built against the Western wall of the house. Legally locomotives weren't supposed to cross Nine Elms Lane, first horses then a tractor moved them into the yard but those bridge sections probably needed more than a tractor to go at that speed. Great video this, and a useful health and safety instructional film.

[@geoffjones6869]

I'm glad this was done in a time when we (the UK that is) manufactured our own cement.

[@awizardalso]

I'm telling you, KZbin is just amazing, allowing people like you to share such interesting things with people like me, and I thank you for doing so.

[@noongourfain]

I agree!

[@terrythomas5463]

I remember winding those winches for about 2 hours. From what I recall the spans where winched by hand for accurate placement beneath the gantry that lifted them into their final position. My Father had the contract to supply the Watermen and the boats used on this construction.

[@darkgreenambulance]

I`m just wondering what the gear ratio must have been in order to do that! Very interesting info, Terry. Thanks.

[@frankroberts9320]

@@darkgreenambulance 3.85 lumbar vertebrae/vertical inch.

[@terrythomas5463]

@David Shields My father, Les Thomas, had 30 men working for him on that job in 1966 and he was on £600.00 a week

[@taxidude]

Main Contractor: MARPLES Ridgeway! The railways were good to Marples too! He was not good to them!

[@SMichaelDeHart]

He was the predominant roadway construction company owner, wasn't he?? He helped destroy Britain's Railway modernization plans because of his conflict of interest... I believe.

[@ctyerkes]

Nothing like doing heavy construction work in your tie, overcoat, everyday shoes and hatless! A fascinating story - thanks for uploading.

[@sylviaelse5086]

Not to mention using a pneumatic drill without ear protection.

[@frankroberts9320]

@@sylviaelse5086 Huh? What?

[@sylviaelse5086]

@@frankroberts9320 17:25 for example.

[@frankroberts9320]

@@sylviaelse5086 Could you speak up please?

[@sylviaelse5086]

@@frankroberts9320 Oh, I see.

[@mekydro]

What great '60s music. Seeing all those green CEPs makes you realise how much we have lost.

[@jacksugden8190]

Amazed at how the work was engineered and well thought out with what machinery was available at that time.

[@mikefromflorida8357]

Damn good all the way around for the 1960s, and better and much more pleasant to watch than just about anything today. Did I mention no stupid annoying music. Wonderful.

[@blackthorne57]

Many thanks for making this rarely seen film available to us. You Tube at its very best.

[@plhebel1]

Amazing engineers and iron workers, It wasn't the easiest retro refit of a RxR bridge,,, easiest would have been to shut the whole works down and remove and replace completely,, but with 1000 trains a day this couldn't be done, not for the time needed. This really must have taken a lot of thinking and design ideas before they came up with a workable model. Outstanding.

[@evanpenny348]

Fascinating the amount of sheer manual grunt needed, and the lack of safety nets etc. Oh how things have changed - for the better. Many thanks for posting this.

[@noongourfain]

Just blown my mind completely to see the workers wearing ties and suit coats, jackets and felt hats. WOW! Thanks for the upload.

[@gower2880]

What a fantastic film. Amazing. Thanks for uploading. I hope to see more like this

[@CarlyWaarly]

Brilliant, the voice brings back memories from the 60's oh! and the music! : )

[@fuzzperoni]

Excellent video. The good old days...!

[@djsi38t]

Really love old films like this,just fantastic stuff! Got my sub.

[@willb3698]

Very interesting. Thanks for the upload. Seeing Battersea Power Station issuing smoke was quite something too.

[@robertyoung73]

Great documentary, thanks uploader.

[@tracyyy99]

Watching this now explains what i was seeing in the opening credits of the hit film "UP THE JUNCTION" . I was always intrigued by the works at the bridge at the beginning of the film...Thank You for the upload.

[@Mutleytech]

The power of nature! Great documentary!

[@isaacabdoral6424]

Show de bola !Pura engenharia!

[@stuartthegrant]

What an inspiring film..Again thanks for uploading.

[@john3500]

Another brilliant old documentary, so different to how things are done today

[@jonniejam-shovel6405]

Thanks for sharing.👍 Much appreciated.

[@Peter-nv3wu]

The days when British workers were proud of their skills and what they created using them ! There was nothing like seeing the words " Made In Britain" on something you had bought. Interesting to see too, just how many men (I say "men" as I did not see one female" anywhere on the bridge ) there were in polished shoes, white shirt and tie and many in suits too were on the bridge without any safety gear in sight ! It certainly goes to show just how much things have changed.

[@SCHRANZ3040]

Very interesting, Thank you for uploading this video on youtube

[@tantive4]

Superb, thanks for sharing.

[@petersmith5277]

Excellent film and explanations, actual dates I was not clear but workers walking and working on beams with few safety (if any) protections one thinks of the origins, 1860s! Despite being a Londoner I have no memories of the 5 years of clever engineering - shows how the train service continued dampening down its visibility.

[@A60stock]

Ernest Marples distanced himself from the civil engineering company as the business was in his wife's name. Funny how history repeats itself, I seem to recall this excuse on a number of occasions.

[@jamesshanks2614]

Beilah25 Thank you for posting this film as though it is old ( I'm older ) it is fascinating to see how projects were completed in the days of manual labor and slide and pencil on the drafting table to figure everything out. Hand cranked winches? A tip of the hat to the men on that job as a winch seems like such a simple machine but you had to be tough as all get out to do that job all day. I worked a hand winch for five weeks on a small job the boss didn't want to put a diesel crane on and the 6 men assigned two at a time the first day we thought we were going to die until and experienced with men showed us the error of our ways and while it was hard work it was a lot easier after he showed us what we were doing wrong. We finished 3 days early and earned a $1500 bonus.

[@stevedoubleu99B]

Very impressive, minimum of disruption, meant maximum headache, but the challenge was met superbly. I take my hat off to everyone involved.

[@peckelhaze6934]

Enjoyed this, very good.

[@donalfinn4205]

Brilliant!☘️👍

[@RedArrow73]

From before Lincoln! THAT is duly amazing.

[@rogertra]

Great Video. Notice, no fall arrests, no hard hats, no safety nets, guy using jack hammer has his eye protection up on his forehead, etc., etc..

[@kaseryn]

Wow.. what a gem :)

[@fordlandau]

Snazzy electric guitar intro. Very fab. Dorman Long built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The longest single span steel arch bridge with approaches. This was a doddle for them.

[@ZerokillerOppel1]

Very interesting indeed given the fact that electrical-/compressed air-/steam or even waterjet powered hoists and winches were readily available at the time and being widely used and known for an odd 70 years or so. There had to be a particular reason (money?)that they had to resort to the old "elbow-grease".

[@hypercomms2001]

I notice a deep concern for health and safety at the time.(!).. still fascinating, as i used to get the train from Sutton to Victoria every day...

[@jimwhitfield7401]

Very charismatic that chief engineer.....

[@lynton09]

I see Marples had his dodgy little fingers in the pie...

[@stefankassbohrer2765]

Great footage. 11:00 ... The Speaker sounds like James Villiers

[@Jungleland33]

Notice how slim and well dressed everyone was back then.

[@09weenic]

The engineer checking the track gauge had polished his shoes that much they were gleaming

[@KlunkerRider]

Groovy 60s surf music, wish it said who it was, sounds like the Sentinals or the Pyramids, but it could be any number of bands

[@brianfearn4246]

Absolutely brilliant.. it's amazing to see men working in ordinary clothes .. looking at the green trains and some blue it looks dated around 1967 . I wonder if some of the workers are still around?

[@simonjackson7269]

I dont know how many times I've crossed that bridge!!

[@mikerochburns4104]

Woah, that intro... trippy

[@Butlerbob]

I personally love these old films, look at the manpower and how many people worked on it, compare that now in 2020 more machines do the work now. I find these kinds of films from England's past interesting because I myself drove on England from various countries in Europe for many years and end up driving on the left? ha ha you are completely used to that for one day, yes really, so much so that when you got off the ferry in Hoek van Holland or Dunkirk / calais you almost left again, strange feeling, ha ha

[@benters3509]

Very informative. A complete lack of high visibility jackets. How refreshing. I read that Dr Beeching was just doing Ernest Marples' bidding when he carved our railway system to pieces. Marples was a road man! I wish the narrator had stopped using the term "Half Arch" throughout the piece. I kept wanting to say "Half-Assed Arch?"

[@mozdickson]

The Shadows had such influence that even technical documentary films had to give the youngsters a nod. What stands out is that nowadays the lead engineers speaking would be at leat 20 years younger than these gents. The age based hierarchy of the workplace gave way to a competence based one. And of course there are now women in lead roles on these projects. And they used the tide as s crane, wow! Great stuff.

[@TheFlow2006]

fascinating to see that the bridge was winched by hand into place i believe here in germany at this time something like this would have used motorized power winches

[@ou81aswell]

HFS. No computers were harmed (or used) during the remaking of the Grosvenor Bridge. Mind boggled.

[@longbar2344]

i enjoyed that

[@fordlandau]

This film is actually pitched at a technical audience. A lot ofinformation is quite complex for the layman. An analogy for me is putting a crown on a worn tooth. The core structure of the original bridge remains supporting the new engineering. But the primitive winches, digging and minimal safety equipment seem ancient in the 1960s. And the crucible welding process looks terrifying. What about thermite/ electric welding ? Still its an amazing film.

[@ThePanzer6]

Groovy Soundtrack

[@highdownmartin]

I genuinely don't believe that this could be achieved now. The skills and experience and expertise don't exist in the necessary quantity. And there'd be 700 different groups doing it.

[@mikevale3620]

Have you heard of the Crossrail tunnel ?

[@jesuisravi]

oh yes they can!

[@walsakaluk1584]

Listening to the introduction made me feel like driving an MG...

[@michaelconnors7668]

The Grosvenor Bridge was rebuilt between 1963-67, so this film probably dates from 1967 or 1968.

[@JimTLonW6]

Very interesting video. Interesting too that the contractors were Marples Ridgeway, the very same Marples who was Transport Minister during the implementation of most of the Beeching Axe. There was for many years a bridge on the M1 with the legend 'Marples must go' painted on it, I wonder if it's still there?

[@fpreston9527]

I think one or two bridges have 'the pies the pies ' painted on them

[@ramairgto72]

Whats the story behind this? I'm American and don't know what the controversy is about?

[@SCHRANZ3040]

ramairgto72 hahaha you Americans will never understand us English you see, another thing that makes me laugh and nothing railway related is how you Americans think Meghan markle will be a princess.... let me correct that and say she will only ever be a duchess! Was Wallis Simpson ever a princess? No she also was a duchess set out to destroy the royal family such like Meghan will also!! Watch this space in time and in history.

[@highdownmartin]

That graffiti worked the bridge is still there but Marples has gone.

[@diabolicalartificer]

Bollocks old chap. Give Meg a bomb, Royal Family my arse.

[@wcstevens7]

Not a COMPUTER in sight....Just brilliant design, and teamwork those guys doing the hard work really knew their stuff.

[@matsv201]

Well.. it takes a lot more engineering if one have no computers. There was probobly scores and scores of engineers and that was calculating this

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

Elizabeth Reign Castillo all the computer really does it allow different designs to be created and tested more quickly reducing the time taken during the design phase provided the design engineers have been given accurate information. Computers have been used in engineering since the 1800s, but back then they were humans who did the calculations.

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

Computers were available to Engineers from late 1950s. Engineers at Ove Arup used a computer on Sydney Opera House In 1959.

[@rowanNClangley]

@@user-ky6vw5up9m The Motorways Archive notes that county council finance computer was diverted from totting up peoples rates bills to run all the calculations for a particularly demanding section of motorway construction - may have been threading the M6 along side the railway in the Lune Gorge

[@stevehillier7018]

Brilliant. Would these works have been under head office, Southern House at Croydon.

[@srfurley]

Blue trains starting to appear at the end of the film, so I must have passed over the bridge from time to time while the works were in progress but I don't remember seeing it, and was unaware that the bridge had been replaced in my lifetime. Never heard about it befre either. Does anybody know the exact dates? Interesting that even at that late date all of the winching was still done by hand, though there was a steam crane in use.

[@nickmad887]

thanks

[@kevinbyrne4538]

27:06 -- I like the engineer in suit and tie checking the gauge and level of the tracks. Does one see such dress much nowadays at construction sites?

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

Kevin Byrne yes sometimes, as long as one was wearing regulation PPE on top.

[@timtim8468]

Yes, it can! Big surprise.

[@gunslingr45]

Why is it again that Sheldon Cooper thinks engineer's are not very smart? This was pretty freaking amazing!

[@patmullan4354]

gunslingr45

[@HyperBiker]

He said".......and maybe a link to the channel tunnel" right at the end there.

[@frankroberts9320]

32:02 Did that welder use his torch as a climbing axe?

[@SidneyPratt]

A great history lesson.

[@LupusAries]

Marples Ridgway..................co-owned by the same Ernest Marples that was the infamous transport minister and boss of MR. Beeching.......nope no conflict of interest.....

[@A60stock]

+LupusAries Actually he always maintained the company was owned by his wife and therefore there was no conflict of interest.

[@LupusAries]

Beulah23 I know but that argument of his, but I think we can agree on it that it is a very weak argument and in essence wordplay.

[@wcstevens7]

LupusAries ...They were just a bunch of greedy, useless, bastards!!!!!!

[@peterbuckley265]

BUT MORE SO TODAY IN 2019.@@wcstevens7

[@neilmartin1531]

He did a runner abroad coz the tax man and creditors were after him.

[@batman51]

And now back to 8 tracks plus a siding!

[@lolzlolz102]

9 tracks 1 siding. (siding is not actually on the bridge)

[@YesYouAreAbsolutelyCorrect]

Those engineering gangstas were real gents.

[@fpreston9527]

Most people wouldn't have though about the tide.

[@sylviaelse5086]

There was never a connection from Victoria to London Airport (Heathrow).

[@rayford21]

A great video...Can anyone identify the accompanying background music?

[@fpreston9527]

Yeah, its called shite

[@mojoden]

f preston .If oi remember, paddy me boy, the album was called "shite". This is the turd movement.

[@johncarmody2936]

Strokes

[@ianturner2229]

Why on earth didn't they use electric motor power to wind those winches, it was available at that time after all. 3 men winding each one of god knows how many there were is just crazy economics.

[@TheByard]

You would need a generator on the barge, just something more to go wrong. OK the could have used power winches on the gantry. But when working with the rivers current and rise of tide, you don't have much time to fix problems. Keep it simple.

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

Labour was cheap and plentiful in those days.

[@GreenmanXIV]

Men with shovels! Says it all really.

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

GreenmanXIV says what ?

[@turboconqueringmegaeagle9006]

@@user-ky6vw5up9m says it all

[@mikerochburns4104]

1:46 poor Peter ✂╰⋃╯

[@patkcorcoran]

Real men, tough son of a bitches, smart ass engineers figuring out how to do it, I should have gone into bridge construction rather than being a machinist.

[@mnewman7303]

The days when a banksman had a red flag and a hard hat was never to be seen

[@BJHolloway1]

Watching this in 2022 it is clear to see why the construction in the 1960s was such a unsafe industry with an unbelievable death rate per annum.

[@SMichaelDeHart]

Gotta die sometime. If you think about it, we're ALL already dying everyday...won't live forever.

[@BJHolloway1]

@@SMichaelDeHart Do accepted unsafe work practices justify your life philosophy . Ends justify the means maybe.

[@BJHolloway1]

@@SMichaelDeHart Do accepted unsafe work practices justify your life philosophy . Ends justify the means maybe.

[@SMichaelDeHart]

@@BJHolloway1 omg...surely your NOT that stupid...it's called SARCASM, I WAS BEING FACETIOUS you m@ron!!

[@BJHolloway1]

@@SMichaelDeHart very intelligent aren't we NOT. Try to grow up.

[@ZerokillerOppel1]

Sometimes when you work hard you tend to sweat and all the dust and grime don´t make matters any better inside your goggles(speaking from experience). Totally agree with your point about the hard hats etc. but that´s just how things were done back then. Probably when the original bridge was erected in the 19th century some workers would have died in the process. That was all calculated in at that time. Unheard of today ofcourse...

[@yhnbgt365]

Impressive lack of safety equipment such as hard hats and fall protection.

[@unclealbert7689]

no elf and safety back then men were allowed to get on with there work without some stuffed shirt getting in the way great vid thanks

[@rickhctep1503]

Very true.

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

uncle albert yes, those stuffed shirts do get in the way of people being kiled and injured, don't they.

[@simonmd2000]

Amazing, the only hard hat I saw was on a guy who was obviously part of the management and therefore would never get into a dangerous place! Also amazing to hear the narrator mention the channel tunnel, at least 25 years before it was built!

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

simonmd2000 there was IIRC a tunnel started in the early 1960s.

[@bfcmik]

There was an even earlier channel tunnel that started being dug in the 1890s

[@jasonnewton8384]

Lionel trains o scale

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

There were various attempts dig a Channel Tunnel over many decades.

[@locksmith7887]

What you say about H&S is right, but I wonder how many workmen were possibly killed and injured? On this site.

[@A60stock]

There were injuries and deaths among the workforce. I seem remember that there were at least tow deaths.

[@johnlewis9158]

i was hoping to spot i my old dad he worked on this and the London bridge in the seventies. He also worked on the Thames barrier. He was not on the building side of any of these projects. He was a lighterman and waterman

[@terrythomas5463]

Hi What was your Dads name as my dad, Les Thomas, had 30 men working for him on this bridge and the Woolwich Ferry approaches that were being built at the time

[@johnlewis9158]

My fathers name was bill Lewis. That's a coincidence you mentioning the Woolwich ferry i worked on it for quite a few years my brother still does

[@terrythomas5463]

Sorry but I don't remember your father. I worked with my father on the bridge for 6 months between leaveing school and my apprenticeship binding. I then started for Gaselee. My dad had a court case over the London bridge contract because the contractors wanted to class the removal of the old bridge as port registered work and said it was not it was civil engineering. He won the day and was offered the contract. Dad being dad told them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. My uncle used to work on the ferry but claimed he left because the skipper wouldn't tell him where they were going!

[@jgvgjv2980]

Two speakers finding it difficult to pronounce their ‘ rrs’

[@tomleader7054]

Mr Cantrill, I bet he was a laugh at parties.

[@mediacityavid]

Bloody hell. How to string out a doco. This is a 5 minute item made into 35 minutes.

[@lolzlolz102]

You must have the attention span of a puppy then.

[@JimTLonW6]

Old excuses are the best excuses!

[@j0nA82]

Welease Woger!

[@alijanlondon]

This actually a rip of a BFI DVD - shame you didn't give them credit

[@A60stock]

No this is from the original telecine I made back in 1986 under contract to British Rail. If the BFI released it they did so much later.

[@rickhctep1503]

You wouldn't get men working like that now, for next to nowt.

[@TheByard]

Construction work in the 60s and 70s was well paid. I worked as a miner on the Victoria Line Underground and cleared 100 quid a week. An Austin mini was only about 400 quid. The Irish miners would buy a new suit Friday evening wear it all w/e and come to work in it on Monday.

[@peterbuckley265]

BUT NOW IN 2019 INCOMPETENT LAZY FAT CAT BOSSES GET MANY MORE TIMES THAN THEY ACTUALLY EARN FOR DOING VIRTUALLY NOWT !!!..

[@silver760]

A thousand trains a day into St.Pancreas !! The number of trains per day must be less than 1/10 of that number today.After Beeching closed 55% of the stations and 33% of the network,100 trains per day would not be unrealistic/

[@cjmillsnun]

St Pancras? This is about replacing the bridge into Victoria. The southern commuter services suffered little from Beeching in comparison with other areas, and yes a thousand trains a day into Victoria is probably still not far off correct.

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

The lines which Beeching closed did not run into London.

[@hamjazz]

Very interesting but the dreadful clipped narrator voices and their type of person helped to keep U K behind in progress

[@MuhammadRiyanfauzan-ek2xb]

Statik wathers komposisi batu semen

[@jasonjordan5391]

I miss the old days things were done quicker I think technology has ruined everything!!!!

[@lolzlolz102]

The bridge was done in 4.5 years. It wouldn't take that long these days with current technology and it would also be a safer environment for the workforce.