A bridge to nowhere?
When London Bridge was demolished and sent to the U.S., only a quarter of the granite blocks were shipped. What happened to the rest? The 19th-century incarnation of London Bridge was designed by John Rennie and opened in 1831. The granite blocks came from Dartmoor’s Swell Tor quarry.
The increasing weight of motorised vehicles meant the bridge had to be replaced in 1967.
On the recommendation of Common Council of London member Ivan Luckin, it was decided to auction it off.
At the time, Luckin remarked: ‘They all thought I was completely crazy when I suggested we should sell London Bridge when it needed replacing.’
The bridge was sold to U.S. oil tycoon Robert P. McCulloch for just over £1 million to link an island in the Colorado River with Lake havasu City in Arizona.
After the bridge was dismantled, it was transported to Merrivale Quarry near Tavistock, Devon, where 6in to 8in segments were sliced off more than a thousand stones to be used as cladding. These were reconstructed in the U. S. around a concrete frame. The rest of the stones were stacked in the quarry and forgotten.
The quarry, known for gravestones and agricultural rollers, stopped producing its own stone in 1970. For the next 25 years, it imported stone from Norway and Italy to be polished and dressed — the surfacing and shaping of the blocks.
Merrivale was abandoned and flooded in 2003 along with the remaining stones from London Bridge.
Notable recipients of Merrivale’s highquality granite were New Scotland Yard in London and the Falklands war memorial at Port Stanley.
The quarry’s last contract was for the granite used in the plinths of Portcullis house, Westminster.
A remnant of London Bridge can be found on a track leading to Swell Tor Quarry. These partially finished corbels, structural pieces of stone, were carved in 1901 when the bridge was widened, but were never used.
Alan Cross, Southampton.
The 1966 World Cup Final is famous for Kenneth Wolstenholme’s over-excited BBC TV commentary. Does footage exist of the German TV commentary?
IT CERTAINLY does, though it does not get much of an airing on German TV. The commentary was by Rudi Michel, who covered every World Cup from 1954 to 1982. he also commentated on eight Tours De France and wrote several sports books.
The commentary for German TV station ARD was deliberately toned down so as not to stir up bad memories of the war.
When helmut haller scored for Germany after 12 minutes, Michel’s sole comment was: ‘Goal!’ he then stayed silent for a full 32 seconds.
his commentary continued to be lowkey until england’s controversial third goal — it is still debated whether Geoff hurst’s shot crossed the line.
‘ Achtung! Achtung! Nein, nicht im Tor. Kein Tor. Oder doch? Was entscheidet der Linienrichter?’ (‘Attention! Attention! hey! Not in the goal! No goal! Or is it? Now what will the linesman decide?’) he then said: ‘Goal! Oh Lord! That will cause discussion now.’ (how true.) Tim Fisher, Birmingham.
How do builders ensure skyscrapers go up straight and true and don’t lean at the top?
PLUMB, level and square are the fundamentals of building anything from a garden wall to a skyscraper.
Plumb means to be perfectly vertical, directed to the gravitational centre of the earth. Level means perfectly horizontal. Square means that the walls come together at right angles.
historically, skyscrapers were made from reinforced concrete. This was a painstaking business where every section had to be levelled by a surveyor using a plumb bob and theodolite.
A regular matching of the reference system was required for surveys during the construction phase of a high-rise building once it was a certain height.
Today’s skyscrapers are constructed using steel frames. Pieces of steel are cut and fabricated to very tight tolerances and put up on site, using cables to pull them into a proper perpendicular shape, before tightening everything up.
For very large skyscrapers, the Leica Geosystems Core Wall Survey Control System is used. This uses GPS observations combined with laser ranges and a precision inclination sensor to provide reliable co-ordinated points. Corrections have to be made at every phase of the building’s construction.
high-rise buildings are subject to strong external tilt effects caused by wind pressures, thermal effects due to sunlight and earth movements.
Skyscrapers must be built to allow some movement and the materials chosen reflect this.
It’s not just the top the engineers have to worry about: due to settlement, towers can tilt from the bottom up, so sound foundations are crucial.
Mark Aldred, Richmond, Surrey.
How many British cities have an underground rail system?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, the Liverpool and Newcastle systems are not technically underground railways — they are sub-surface lines that are part of a surface railway.
Using such a criteria, Sheffield could also have been included as at one time it had a large underground station on a main line that ran right under the city.
Only London and Glasgow have genuine underground systems.
C. E. Sayers-Leavy, retired rail industry engineer,
Broadstairs, Kent.
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