![]() The exhibition also includes photos, holograms and a film detailing the build, along with access to the original steam engines that once powered the bridge bascules, housed in a building close to the south end of the bridge.Ī Behind the Scenes tour can be booked in advance, on which it is possible to see the bridge's command centre where the raising of the bridge is controlled when a vessel passes underneath. They have now been reopened as part of the Tower Bridge Experience, an exhibition mostly housed in the bridge's twin towers. ![]() The high-level walkways between the towers gained an unpleasant reputation as a haunt for prostitutes and pickpockets and were closed in 1910. The old mechanism is open to the public.Įvening fog obscures London's Tower Bridge from passers by. Today the original hydraulic machinery still opens the bridge, however it has been converted to use oil instead of water and electric motors have taken the place of the steam engines and accumulators. Water was pumped into the accumulators by steam engines. The original hydraulic raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in six accumulators. Although each bascule weighs over 1,000 tons, they are counterbalanced to minimise the force required and allow raising in one minute. The central span of 200 feet (61 m) between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83 degrees to allow river traffic to pass. Jones' design was for a bascule bridge 800 feet (244 m) in length with two towers each 213 feet (65 m) high, built on piers. The evaluation of the designs was surrounded by controversy, and it was not until 1884 that a design submitted by Horace Jones, the City Architect, was approved. Over 50 designs were submitted, including one from civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. ![]() ![]() It opened the design of the crossing to public competition. A tunnel beneath the Thames, the Tower Subway, was opened in 1870, but it could only accommodate pedestrian traffic.Ī Special Bridge or Subway Committee was formed in 1876 to find a solution to the river crossing problem. A traditional fixed bridge could not be built because it would cut off access to the port facilities situated at that time in the Pool of London, between London Bridge and the Tower of London. In the second half of the nineteenth century, increased commercial development in the East End of London led to a requirement for a new river crossing downstream of London Bridge. ![]()
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