Leamington Lift Bridge

page 1

This bridge is a vertical lift bridge, which, is located close to the end of the Edinburgh Union Canal at the entrance to Lochrin Basin. It was built by Armstrong of Newcastle (of armaments fame) in 1906 and was originally located further up the canal, which at that time extended further towards the centre of Edinburgh. When the canal was shortened, the bridge was moved to its current location.

The bridge is constructed of riveted mild steel. The deck comprises longitudinally spanning riveted trough sections, infilled with tar. The deck above the troughs and tar was originally timber. At some stage, the timber deck was removed and replaced with a thin concrete slab, overlain with tarmac.

Ropes raise the bridge. At each corner of the bridge a rope passes upwards to a sheave at the top of its tower. The North side ropes then pass over a second sheave located over the South towers and then down to the counterweight. The South side ropes each pass directly over their sheave to their counterweight

Animation of Original Mechanism

The counterweights are constructed of purpose made cast iron slabs. A single rope passed from the underside of each counterweight, this rope then passed over other sheaves, in the case of the West side, the ropes passed under the road, they then passed to a single winch drum within the machinery room.

Photograph Of The Bridge Between The Wars		A set of manually driven rope operated drop arm barriers were provided. It is still possible to deduce how these operated. The bridge fell out of use, probably in the late 1950s and was left derelict. As part of the Millennium re-opening of the Forth & Clyde and Edinburgh Union Canals, the bridge was refurbished. The bridge deck was removed to the works of Lambertons Ltd. at Coatbridge. The deck required a substantial amount of strengthening to the end girders, however, the troughs were in good condition.
During refurbishment, it was possible to deduce that when the bridge was originally built, the deck troughs were temporarily bolted together and then riveted probably on site. The opportunity was taken to reinstate the timber deck as it had been when constructed. The sheaves and their phosphor bronze journal bearings were in good condition. The original machinery could not be re-instated as it was badly damaged and its location did not comply with current safety legislation. The remains of the electric motor, worm gearbox and winch drum have been cleaned and painted and remain in the machinery room.	Leamington Bridge Prior To Refurbishment