![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaHey, so remember last year when I was kinda sorta following Agents of SHIELD and stuck with it, on and off, right through the season, even though it had a pretty shaky start...and then after Captain America 2 came out the show suddenly came into its own and got good and I ended up mainlining the last few episodes? Well, thanks to the lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
justwolf, who has been supplying me with files in the absence of tvtorrents, I am all up to speed on season 2 so far and it has so justified sticking with the show. Really enjoying it. They've fixed the things that weren't working last season, have built on the things that did work, have introduced new characters who bring new versatility and strength in depth to the set-up. Show got good. I am happy with it.
In other news, it belatedly occurs to me that I never blogged about that time I went up the Newport Transporter Bridge over the summer with my friend Noddy. This is the Newport Transporter Bridge (this pic isn't mine, I didn't get a decent long-shot so I've filched this online - the rest of the pics are mine)
The Transporter Bridge dates back to the turn of the 20th century - the scheme was given the green-light in 1900, construction began in 1902 and the bridge was opened in 1906. It was commissioned as a transporter bridge rather than a regular bridge for a number of very specific reasons. In 1900 Newport was a very busy port, much of it centred up river from where the Transporter Bridge now stands; industry was expanding on the east side of the river which, for the population largely based on the west side, meant a 4 mile walk to cross the river by the town bridge to get to work, so a faster, easier way of crossing the river was needed, but the site was a difficult one because of the very high tidal range (over 14m or 47ft) and the need to maintain access for high-masted ships. A conventional ferry operated at high tide, but was largely impractical as at low tide the River Usk has only a very narrow channel bordered by extensive mud banks, and, of course, the tide times were different every day. Various alternatives were suggested including a conventional bridge, a lifting bridge and a tunnel, but to achieve the necessary height the approaches to a conventional or even lifting bridge would have had to be extremely long and a tunnel was considered too expensive. So the decision was made to build a transporter bridge - basically a suspended ferry that can operate more efficiently than a conventional ferry. A high level boom that allows ships to pass underneath is suspended from towers at each end and carries a rail track on which a moving carriage or ‘traveller’ runs. A gondola or platform is suspended from the carriage and can be pulled from one side of the river to the other by means of a hauling cable.
The span of the bridge is 645ft. The height of the top of the tower from the water level mark is 242ft. The height at full tide to the bottom of the transverse cable is 177ft.
Today, Newport's Transporter Bridge is one of only six operational transporter bridges left worldwide from a total of twenty constructed. You can still drive your car onto the gondola and be ferried across the Usk - although its use has declined now that a shiny new modern bridge has been opened just up-river. Or you can do what my friend and I did, which is climb up the steps to the top of the tower and walk across the bridge on foot.
Views on the way up the tower - this is the River Usk, and beyond it you can make out the Bristol Channel, the islands of Flatholm and Steepholm, and even the coast of Somerset beyond.
View up-river from the top of the bridge, 177 feet above ground, looking north across Newport into the mountains beyond
Me! On top of the tower!
This is the view from one side of the bridge to the other - see the tiny gondola station way down below - and see note the mesh flooring of the narrow walkway across...
Me again, standing on that mesh flooring with a view straight down to the river far below
View halfway across the bridge - very cold and windy up here!
On the way back down, looking across to where we came from and the underside of the bridge - over 100 years old and still operational, the engineering is fabulous
Standing in the gondola looking over to the other side, waiting to be transported back across
The gondola departs
This was so much fun! I mean, it's a heck of a climb up to the top and it's windy and cold up there, definitely one to avoid if you aren't good with heights, but I'm glad I went!
justwolf, who has been supplying me with files in the absence of tvtorrents, I am all up to speed on season 2 so far and it has so justified sticking with the show. Really enjoying it. They've fixed the things that weren't working last season, have built on the things that did work, have introduced new characters who bring new versatility and strength in depth to the set-up. Show got good. I am happy with it.In other news, it belatedly occurs to me that I never blogged about that time I went up the Newport Transporter Bridge over the summer with my friend Noddy. This is the Newport Transporter Bridge (this pic isn't mine, I didn't get a decent long-shot so I've filched this online - the rest of the pics are mine)
The Transporter Bridge dates back to the turn of the 20th century - the scheme was given the green-light in 1900, construction began in 1902 and the bridge was opened in 1906. It was commissioned as a transporter bridge rather than a regular bridge for a number of very specific reasons. In 1900 Newport was a very busy port, much of it centred up river from where the Transporter Bridge now stands; industry was expanding on the east side of the river which, for the population largely based on the west side, meant a 4 mile walk to cross the river by the town bridge to get to work, so a faster, easier way of crossing the river was needed, but the site was a difficult one because of the very high tidal range (over 14m or 47ft) and the need to maintain access for high-masted ships. A conventional ferry operated at high tide, but was largely impractical as at low tide the River Usk has only a very narrow channel bordered by extensive mud banks, and, of course, the tide times were different every day. Various alternatives were suggested including a conventional bridge, a lifting bridge and a tunnel, but to achieve the necessary height the approaches to a conventional or even lifting bridge would have had to be extremely long and a tunnel was considered too expensive. So the decision was made to build a transporter bridge - basically a suspended ferry that can operate more efficiently than a conventional ferry. A high level boom that allows ships to pass underneath is suspended from towers at each end and carries a rail track on which a moving carriage or ‘traveller’ runs. A gondola or platform is suspended from the carriage and can be pulled from one side of the river to the other by means of a hauling cable.
The span of the bridge is 645ft. The height of the top of the tower from the water level mark is 242ft. The height at full tide to the bottom of the transverse cable is 177ft.
Today, Newport's Transporter Bridge is one of only six operational transporter bridges left worldwide from a total of twenty constructed. You can still drive your car onto the gondola and be ferried across the Usk - although its use has declined now that a shiny new modern bridge has been opened just up-river. Or you can do what my friend and I did, which is climb up the steps to the top of the tower and walk across the bridge on foot.
Views on the way up the tower - this is the River Usk, and beyond it you can make out the Bristol Channel, the islands of Flatholm and Steepholm, and even the coast of Somerset beyond.
View up-river from the top of the bridge, 177 feet above ground, looking north across Newport into the mountains beyond
Me! On top of the tower!
This is the view from one side of the bridge to the other - see the tiny gondola station way down below - and see note the mesh flooring of the narrow walkway across...
Me again, standing on that mesh flooring with a view straight down to the river far below
View halfway across the bridge - very cold and windy up here!
On the way back down, looking across to where we came from and the underside of the bridge - over 100 years old and still operational, the engineering is fabulous
Standing in the gondola looking over to the other side, waiting to be transported back across
The gondola departs
This was so much fun! I mean, it's a heck of a climb up to the top and it's windy and cold up there, definitely one to avoid if you aren't good with heights, but I'm glad I went!
