Leamington Lift Bridge
January-May 2002
PREVIOUS STORY | HOME | NEXT STORY

The last bridge to be restored on the whole network, in Edinburgh a few hundred yards west of Lochrin Basin. Work got underway seriously in January 2002

12th January 2002. The bridge is still intact, with the old pedestrian walkway behind. Work commences re-routing the gas main which currently crosses the canal between the compressor and the walkway.

9th February 2002. The gas main has been diverted. The image on the right shows the severed ends. This unseemly pipe would be removed on the 11th February when the entire deck of the bridge was removed by crane for refurbishment.

The bridge deck is shown on the left. Workers told me they were having no end of trouble preparing the deck for removal as someone in the past had used it for welding training, or so it seemed, everywhere they looked it was welded, presumably to stop anyone ever lifting the bridge again!

Here is the same view taken on the 17th February with the deck (and the gas pipe) removed

Back to the 9th February, viewing from the west.

The top member of the bridge has been removed. This allowed access to the counter balances that are located in the thicker (right hand) columns. 

The weights in the columns are connected via pulleys to the deck, and drop within the column as the deck lifts. 

From the east you can (or cant) just see the control room located behind the centre of the pedestrian bridge (white lattice).

In the foreground at a low level is the temporary wooden bridge added to allow pedestrian access during the renovation.

17th February 2002, deck and all mechanism removed as seen here from the west.
The bottom of the control room can be seen in the top left of the image on the left

The view from the east. Work continues to recast the lips on the ground that the bridge decking sits into.

22nd April 2002. The deck returns from refurbishment to be replaced on the re-concreted supports.

this image courtesy of Roy Brown
Image from coverage of this the last piece of The Link (excluding the Falkirk Wheel) from the BBC Reporting Scotland Regional News coverage.

28th April 2002. Completion now very close. This view from the same location as the video still above shows that the tops have been replaced to the control columns, and re-painting has continued.

From the north side of the Canal, the re-furbished bridge looking good with a fresh coat of paint. 

Detail of one of four cable ends, used to attach the lift cables to the decking.

The view of the top of the new decking.

11th May 2002. 
The completed bridge, without scaffolding!

this image courtesy of Roy Brown

16th May 2002. A long time coming, but the Leamington Lift Bridge has opened, just beating the Falkirk Wheel into operation by a whisker. A super sight, the Millennium Link is complete!

this image courtesy of Roy Brown. More images can be found on Roy's web-site

24th May 2002 9:30. The bridge is officially opened, with members of British Waterways board and Edinburgh Council present.

There is also a good animation of how the bridge operates internally and another AVI from www.movablebridge.co.uk