Vintage BTF film - Britannia; A bridge - 1973

This vintage film, produced by British Transport Films in 1973, shows how the Britannia Bridge in Wales was repaired after the devastating fire of 1970 which totally destroyed the revolutionary tubes and left the Isle Of Anglesey without a rail crossing for about 20 months.

[@chugwaterjack4458]

The history in this series is very eye-opening; Look at how hard the men had to work, the terrible conditions, and practically no thought of safety. Folks just don't work that hard or that dangerously today. Another benefit of the series is as a record of film-making itself. The zooms, the framing, even the music, let alone the narratives give one a real sense of what films were like "back then."

[@colwichjunction3366]

Wonderful stuff.....A drawing board, slide rule & a pencil, oh and not forgetting the human brain 🧠 Who needs a computer when those tools saved an engineering masterpiece👏👏

[@fraggit]

Don't forget the critical part...lots of Tea!

[@johnclayden1670]

@@fraggit And smoke ..... happy days .....

[@nikerailfanningttm9046]

It’s amazing how after almost 200 years (Britannia will be 200 in the year 2046) she is still standing. Albeit her original Wrought-Iron tubes have gone, her towers still stand! A true Stephenson achievement!

[@inregionecaecorum]

I well remember the fire, a tragedy for any young rail enthusiast. Despite the advance in mechanisation seperating the original from the replacement, it seems it was all down to human skill in both cases, I am sure Stephenson would have appreciated it.

[@alancumming6407]

I bought the entire series of these BTF films. Absolutely brilliant. Some of them are works of art.

[@tomhollandroberts1737]

I was the Bangor fireman who received the fire call to the 'Tube' at 21.45 Hrs. on Saturday night 23rd. May 1970.

[@mce_AU]

Some very good engineering there to save that bridge.

[@petedenton9434]

Great film. especially good to have music by a local composer (William Mathias was a North Walian and is buried at St Asaph Cathedral just along the coast).

[@northwalescoast7911]

I saw the tube burn as a young boy...sad then but glad to see it in good shape now

[@eddherring4972]

Britannia bridge in its original form is such a loss. It was an amazing structure and solution to a difficult crossing. As I appreciate the effort with the replacement I can’t help thinking that a piece of history has been lost. The Conwy bridge although similar is just not the same, it is the baby brother and the last of its kind and I’m glad it’s still working and in its original form but Britannia, just wow.

[@mackan-kf4tg]

I wonder how many of those men in the film are still alive? Very few, if any, I’d guess. Filmed mainly in 1972 and released in 1973, adding 48 years onto their ages at the time of filming means that the odds of them still being around aren’t good😳What WAS good, though, was seeing footage of the Liverpool-based tug ’Martin Oldfield’. She was an ex-Royal Navy tug (”C618”) from WW2 that worked at HM Dockyards Chatham and Sheerness. She was declared surplus to requirements in 1956 and a few months later the Admiralty sold her to Hamilton Williams Ltd. Her fate is unknown, as she was eventually sold to a Greek shipping line shortly after this film was released and there’s no record of her since then. Seems that the Britannia Bridge project might’ve been her very last UK job⚓️

[@spike2000ification]

Wonderful narration.

[@michaelmiller641]

Fascinating! Well crafted film well paced

[@martyheresniak5203]

I was unaware of William Mathias's music before this film. Very interesting. Very solidly mid-century military band.

[@andro7137]

Excellent - what a great inspiration for young engineers!

[@petermostyneccleston2884]

The Conwy Rail bridge is still in the original form, that the Stephenson's built it in, opening two years before the Britania Bridge opened. The bridge from the 1980's carries the A55, across on top of the railway. But only the Down side of the Bridge is used for trains now.

[@nicks4934]

Why were the towers so high? Ans: to carry suspension chains if needed. They were never needed!

[@rolandharmer6402]

Wow that is impressive - all before computer aided design and calculators and at such short notice. Thanks for posting.

[@stuartbroome1258]

Many times have I travelled over this bridge both by rail and car. I can now appreciate it fully. Great film, thank you 😊

[@chugwaterjack4458]

One wonders what happened to all those zoom lenses and the dramatic music which so clearly defines these films as mid to late 20th Century.

[@BigJoeChrisLewis]

I was brought up on Anglesey in the 1960s and 1970s. Could that be my father's old grey Ford Anglia following the Freightliner truck at 5:12 - I wonder when that piece of film was actually taken? I remember the whole saga of the bridge quite well. The local chemical works in our town, Amlwch, lost its rail link overnight and everything had to go by road; there were quite a few nasty accidents with the trucks as the roads weren't designed for heavy traffic.

[@billy4072]

Peboc?

[@rresc06]

@@billy4072 Octel

[@mortuaryartist]

Not seen a slide rule since I was a child

[@flybobbie1449]

Got one in my draw at work.

[@kevinheard8364]

I am a fairly new subscriber; but am so very impressed with this channel....great work & thank you. Merry Christmas

[@BennettBrookRailway]

Thanks and welcome!

[@BibtheBoulder]

Fabulous video.

[@victorianlitterpicker9887]

Wow imagine that conversation with the parents , serious grounding . Probably still grounded to this day lol

[@ralphmillais5237]

If anyone is wondering, the youths concerned were found and admitted their guilt but were not prosecuted as it was deemed to be an accident borne of carelessness. One of them tore a page out of a book and lit it as a makeshift candle in order to light the way into the tube. I wonder where they are now?

[@archerry6457]

When I heard that in the film I was immediately suspicious. One thing that the last few years of insanity has taught me (since 9-11 probably and the amazingly collapse of a building that wasn't hit by a plane but housed many federal agencies) is to question everything. I reckon there were no boys in the tunnel, no makeshift candle but probably a massive issue with insurance, a tunnel that had been found to be unsafe because of a century of oil and grease on timbers (like old mills that had a nasty habit of burning down) and big dose of corruption. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the boys never even existed or if there were some boys who "confessed", it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it turned out they were from a borstal, children's home, or somehow involved in what we'd now call safeguarding (it was the 70s after all). What a wonderful job creation scheme though and how quickly it was planned and finished: makes you wonder if there already was a plan in place, doesn't it? How so that years and years of steam trains hadn't ignited the oil-soaked timbers (yet they still cause fires even today on heritage railways) but a boy with lit piece of paper did? Reckon there's plenty of scope for an investigative documentary to be made but that it'll be murky and someone somewhere made a lot of money out of it... "But the boys confessed! Nothing to see here, move along!" Follow the money. 😉

[@polbecca]

I have often wondered this, too. They would be in their late 50s now, I suppose, perhaps having lived lives of extraordinary shame.

[@billpugh58]

@@archerry6457 9 11 was a russian plot with the Democrats to destroy America using secret alien technology! If you believe anything else you are a blind sheeple bowing down to antifa

[@quirkrail]

Superb Bennett

[@BennettBrookRailway]

Many thanks

[@Bob.W.]

Not sure if I have been across it, but took a train to and the ferry out of Holyhead in April, 1981 in a strong gale. I barely remember drinking in the Dublin Packet there.

[@a11csc]

very interesting

[@Kenzothebully]

Main support built on a rock... tectonic shifting will eventually take it.. and the way we're going it will be soon than we think

[@richardsmith2627]

RIP Cleveland Bridge

[@meirionevans5137]

I was 9 when this burnt, l remember the heavy traffic following as all rail freight had to go by lorry. Quite a few transport companies flourished, although the traffic was awful. I think kids gathering pigeon eggs from the rail tube was the root cause, and accidentally set the roof alight.

[@scottphillips7108]

And they received nothing more than a stern talking to by the law and no jail time because you didn't throw kids in jail much back then...

[@johntomlinson6849]

@@scottphillips7108 More's the pity...

[@analogueman123456787]

How on earth does one arrive at such a devastating fire from simply kids gathering pigeon eggs? What were they doing with them... having a fry-up?

[@tomhollandroberts1737]

The boys were looking for bats in the tube. The tubes were heavily covered in pitch but what really caused the spread of the fire was the wooden roof covering which was also covered in pitch and the fierce through draught of air in the tubes. There was absolutely no way on earth of stopping the fire due to lack of water and access problems for fire engines.

[@gavinmellon9313]

Piers Morgan gets everywhere. There he is at 4:13

[@scottphillips7108]

@GavinMellon...: Yup the thought crossed my mind as well when I saw the chap... But I immediately assumed the gent was too old for Piers and thus maybe it was his dad...

[@michelegianni389]

Those guys where amazing. I'm not sure that today such a feat could be accomplished without computers or just pocket calculators. Better start learning again how to use a slide rule :)

[@limeyfox]

Why, are computers and calculators about to disappear? I’m sure today’s bridge engineers are still well versed in basic theory, regardless of the tools employed.

[@michelegianni389]

@@limeyfox I agrree, but an intense geomagnetic storm can change the game.

[@flybobbie1449]

Today that would be 5 year project to lowest bidder.

[@benitopussolini544]

@@michelegianni389 and the sooner that happens the better!

[@adelestevens]

Anyone know if there is a video showing how the road deck was constructed and added to Brittania Bridge?

[@buzzofftoxicblog791]

🌍👍amazing engeenering

[@mikethespike7579]

Interesting to see how the new parts had riveted joints just like in Stephenson's times. Nowadays they'd all be welded joints, hardly anything is riveted together now.

[@barryroberts2196]

WOW !!

[@K1W1fly]

Hi-Viz? Hearing protection? Fall restraints? At least most have hard hats!

[@scottphillips7108]

The guy spraying that yellow bridge paint using what looked like a piece of leather with some strings to tie to his head probably died of cancer of the lung in the end...

[@Keithbarber]

Health and safety at work act (1974) wasn't too far behind into force

[@daisy4223]

Sadly many died constructing this bridge

[@treefiddy5092]

I have driven across this bridge many a time only you can not see the lions from the road crossing and I have driven across the Menai bridge many a time and my daughter's second name is Menai

[@Bungle-UK]

I wonder what happened to the scumbags that caused the fire?

[@simonf8902]

Have there been other tubular bridges ?

[@owencarlstrand1945]

Conwy, not far from Caernarfon is the only one left working I believe.

[@simonf8902]

@@owencarlstrand1945 thank you

[@michaelmiller641]

I remember travelling on the Prague metro in a tubular bridge across the Vltava river

[@owencarlstrand1945]

@@michaelmiller641 The Hurka Bridge built in 1994. It is more of a covered bridge than a tubular bridge. The essence of Conwy and Brittania is that in both the tube is the essential part of the structure. Why they wanted to enclose the Hurka bridge in glass I have no idea, perhaps soundproofing?

[@JDAbelRN]

Well done piece of engineering, and really fascinating documentary. Is this bridge still in use?

[@DavidHennessey1984]

The bridge is certainly still at work, albeit reduced to single track (presumably to reduce stress).

[@DrivermanO]

Shame about the appalling music though!

[@DavidHennessey1984]

@@DrivermanO It's from the 70's. What else did you expect? 🤣

[@richiehoyt8487]

@@DrivermanO Quite right. Some of that repetitive, electronic, copyright - free, corporate, digital - library stuff that constantly sounds like it's building to a crescendo while wilfully refusing to ever actually get there, like an apathetic uuank that only serves to annoy; that's the stuff wots needed here! Sorry - went off on a bit of a rant there. Much as we might feel differently on the issue, please don't feel like I'm having a go at _you!_

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

As each tube was single track it wouldn't make any difference.

[@janinapalmer8368]

What does BTF stand for ?

[@nicks4934]

British Transport Films

[@yan24to]

The boys who accidentally burnt this bridge will be over 60 by now,I wonder if they watched this film.

[@mikeburkitt1187]

Real men wear bobble hats

[@v8pilot]

Reminds me of the nuclear command centre built to endure nuclear attack by the USSR. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by two teenage vandals.

[@jackgaydar8806]

For the Engineer: What God did not create, Engineers do. Its as simple as that. It is a great career for anybody, just the desire to solve problems and LOVE of Math and Science, more like a passion. Jack R. Gaydar, P.S., P.E., Medina, Ohio.

[@mickcarson8504]

The Romans built rock bridges, didn't they?

[@davidpoulton2860]

Lovely bridge, until the boys who were tresspassing had set it on fire in 1970.

[@ifyouvote.5005]

Back in the days where the british made, not imported.

[@Becu1001a]

What happened to the naughty boys who "caused" the fire.

[@elizabethwilcox8006]

i would enjoy this film if it wasn't fo the awful interfering music..why is it needed? Does it enhance the scenes?

[@billy4072]

🙄you do realise the music is for the film, 1973 , not bolted on 2021 . Anyway it is perfect, portrays an sense of urgency, and rejuvenation. And the composer ..died in Menai bridge , to make it all👌 kzbin.info/www/bejne/h16kamiXpcebrpI

[@patagualianmostly7437]

@@billy4072 Personally, whilst I get it that it is "period-related" and it's good to have music by a local composer (William Mathias, buried at St Asaph Cathedral just along the coast). I can't say I was overly impressed! But, hey, each to his own.

[@bencarter2334]

I like the music.

[@elrjames7799]

"A group of boys": were they arsonist: where are they now? 'Probably a 'slap on the wrist' at the taxpayers expense.

[@brianwhiting5658]

more replaced than repaired .