steamer or revolutionary “call-boy,” fearing for their funnels, grow wrath thereupon; these dimensions were not lightly come by, a committee of the House of Commons having met, duly weighed evidence, and deliberated, before they were finally fixed upon, rightly considering that convenience of men and horses was of more importance than many funnels. The total length of the seven arches is 820 feet, and the total width of the roadway between the parapets 85 feet, of which 52 feet are carriage-way, and 16 feet on either side foot-way. Fifteen ribs forming the arches, and springing from the piers, make up this width. Each rib is composed of cast-iron, having for its centre or crown a girder of wrought-iron, and placed about 5 feet 3 inches apart under the carriage-way, and 7 feet apart under the footway. They are firmly held together, laterally, by connecting braces, and the whole covered in with plates of wrought-iron (called “buckled plates”) bolted to transverse bearers carried by the ribs, the paving and granite pitching of the roadway being laid over all. On either side of the bridge the ribs (being more useful than ornamental) are covered by a decorated face-work of iron, Gothic in design, and on this is carried the parapet, which is Gothic also. This parapet will be remarkably low, standing only 3 feet 5 inches from the footway, thus giving an uninterrupted view of the new palace.
Having now—we hope successfully—got over these dreaded facts, we are in a position to walk leisurely over the works, and describe the various details of the undertaking. In the present condition of the Thames we scarcely dare ask the boldest reader to don a diver’s dress, even in imagination, and examine into the construction of the new granite piers. The mere idea of such a bath would be too much for most people; and, as the minutest description of all their peculiarities may be found already published in the Parliamentary blue-books, we would refer the curious to those interesting works, and proceed at once to deal with the superstructure.
The iron-work for the new bridge has three separate stages of existence. The castings are made at Messrs. Cochrane’s works at Dudley, they are then delivered to the bridge works at Battersea Fields, where they are planed and fashioned to their proper shape, and are afterwards fixed on the piers at Westminster. Any frequent passenger by steam-boat, travelling between Chelsea and the east, cannot fail to have noticed the yard where the Westminster bridge works are now carried on. Situated under the shadow of the huge standpipes of the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks, and immediately opposite what were till lately Mr. Thomas Cubitt’s premises; this yard, with its travelling-cranes and low black arches of iron dotted irregularly about it, is sure to attract attention. It is here that by far the most interesting operations in connection with the work are being carried on, and it is here we propose to conduct the reader.
We take boat, then, and, braving the Thames’ foul smell, are carried rapidly up to Nine Elms pier. On landing, a walk of ten minutes brings us to a little black door, set in a range of black railing, with a dirty white board which bears an intimation that these premises are the property of her Majesty’s Commissioners, and the usual inscription, “No admittance except on business.” Having business, we enter, and find ourselves in a spacious yard. Immediately before us and right across the yard runs a tall scaffolding called a gauntry, carrying on its top two travelling-cranes. On our right a little arm of the river runs up, and the gauntry is carried out into and over the water, allowing the travellers to load and unload with the greatest facility, while on our left are the contractors’ temporary offices. Being franked everywhere, we enter these first, and spend half an hour pleasantly enough in looking over the drawings with the polite manager, and then return to the yard for a completer investigation.
Under the gauntry, on the space now before us, the whole work of the bridge is temporarily erected, in precisely the same way as it is afterwards permanently fixed at Westminster; and we stand now immediately under one of the widest arches of the bridge. The length of the gauntry is 350 feet, that of the bridge itself, 820 feet; three arches only, therefore, are erected here at one time: when complete, these are removed to their proper site, while others take their place. We see, then, a temporary erection which is a prototype of the true bridge. Beyond the gauntry the yard stretches to the river side, with the fitting and smiths’ shops in convenient positions. Large castings, arranged in apple-pie order, almost cover the ground; while between them miniature lines of railway run in every direction. Three more travelling-cranes run in parallel lines to the river: these are all busy now, picking up and removing the heavy castings, or unloading fresh arrivals from barges. Let us watch that piece now hanging from one of these gigantic gibbets, and follow its various adventures. It is, as we see, a rough casting, and to be fitted for its future destiny it must be planed to its proper form and dimensions — much in the same way, though by very different means, as the partially shaped stones of the mason are dressed into truth of surface and finish. The traveller has dropped it on one of the little trucks forming the only “rolling-stock” of these railways, and as it stops upon a turntable, we see in a moment that its passage is taken for the long black building on our left. This is the fitting-shop. Following the truck, we enter a large, well-lighted shop, in which the hum of machinery drowns every other sound: here, too, the little railways, with their turntables, branch in every direction; and ranged along the building are machines of various kinds. First, a drilling machine, next a lathe; in the corner yonder, a screwing machine; and beyond this others again. At one end of the shop is the steam-engine driving the whole; and at the other the foreman’s little glass-house. But the truck has stopped by the large planing-machine, and three or four men are, by the aid of a crane, laying the casting upon its side thereon. If we wait a few minutes while the piece is adjusted and fastened firmly down, we shall see the revolving cutting tools of the machine, like a ring of sharp,