Introduction
1 - Build us a bridge!
* Victorian London - confident and thriving
* Toil, glitter, grime and wealth on a flowing tide
* London's traffic problems
* The bodies responsible for London's bridges
* Demand grows for a new river crossing east of London Bridge
* Possible solutions
* From the ridiculous to the sublime - proposals considered by the Special Bridge or Subway Committee, June 1876-December 1878
* The Metropolitan Board of Works weighs in
o The material to be used
o The preferred location for the bridge
o The preferred type of bridge
* A clash of Titans
* Horace Jones' initial specification and outline design
2 - Tangible progress
* The impact of the Tay Bridge disaster
* The last throw of the dice for Sir Joseph Bazalgette
* 1884 - decision time!
* The detailed design phase
* The laying of the memorial stone
* The bridge as built
* Ten bridges in one
* Now twelve!
3 - A bridge is born
* The method of contracting
* The individual contracts
* The tendering process
* Contract No. 1
* Project management
* Construction of the piers
* Construction of the superstructure
* Actual timescale and cost
* The grand opening
* The first year of operation
* Personnel
4 - The suspension bridges
* Sources
* Overview
* The northern approach, a masonry arch viaduct
o Preparation
o The site
o Contract No. 2
o Accommodation beneath the arches of the viaduct
o The northern abutment
o Metrics
* The southern approach, also a masonry arch viaduct
o The site
o Contract No. 4
o Accommodation beneath the arches of the viaduct
* The piers and their foundations
* The main towers
* The main chains and the suspended roadway of the shore spans
o Main chains
o The suspended roadway
o Stiffening girders
* The abutment towers
* The high-level ties
* The anchor ties and anchor girders
* The external masonry
* The forces in the structure
5 - The bascule bridges
* One bridge or two?
* The bascule principle
* The second largest Meccano set in the world
* The steel girder bridges spanning the bascule chambers
o The fixed girders
o The cantilevers providing support under the main bearings of the moving leaf
o The triangular box girders
o The roadway
o Recent changes to the roadway construction over the bascule chambers
* A simple force diagram of a bascule
* Bascule design
* Quadrants and racks
* Pinion shafts, pinion shaft bearings and pinions
* Pivot shafts and main bearings
* Roadway construction
* Bascule buffers
* Pawls
* Resting blocks
* Nose bolts
6 - Bascule bridge operating technology
* The overriding principle of the design
* Steam plant - boilers and steam-operated hydraulic pump sets
* Hydraulic accumulators
* Pressurised water distribution
* Hydraulic engines
* Bridge control
* Hydraulic lifts
* Fire, domestic water and bilge hydraulic pumps
7 - The high-level bridges
* The high-level footbridges
o Overview
o The cantilevered footway sections
o The simply supported central footway sections
o Roofing and ornamentation
o Method of construction
o High-level tie support
o Forces in the structure
* The high-level tie suspension bridges
o Design
o Cable clamps, suspenders and carriers
8 - The men who built the bridge
* Introduction
* Sir John Wolfe Barry
* Sir John Jackson
* William Webster
* Sir William Arrol
* Sir Herbert Henry Bartlett
* Baron Armstrong of Cragside
* Common threads
* Sir Horace Jones
9 - Bridge maintenance
* Acknowledgement
* Description of the major works since the opening of the bridge
* Stewardship of the bridge
* Areas for study and possible attention
o Monitoring and maintaining the condition of the steelwork
o Maintaining the balance of the bridge
o The Thames Tideway Tunnel
* The next 125 years
Appendix 1 - Suspension bridge force analysis
* Objective
* Method
* Assumptions
* The geometry of the two suspension bridges
* Calculated weights
* Force analysis of the Middlesex suspension bridge
* Force analysis of the Surrey suspension bridge
* Health warning
Appendix 2 - Availability estimate for the bridge as built
Appendix 3 - Unit conversions
Bibliography and sources
Index
