Ferdinand’s Flying Ferry!

Newport Transporter Bridge 1906 – 2006

Newport Museum & Art Gallery Exhibition

9^th September 2006 - 27^th January 2007

Come and celebrate 100 years of Newport’s famous landmark at Newport Museum and Art Gallery’s exhibition. See the original designs for the Transporter Bridge and photographs of the construction and listen to the people of Newport tell their own story of the Bridge. Find out why Newport needed a Transporter Bridge and what Newport was like in 1906 when the Bridge opened.

The people of Newport see the Transporter Bridge as an iconic landmark of the city and each has their own story. The exhibition will include a selection of the original drawings of the Transporter Bridge designed by Ferdinand Arnodin and photographs of its construction.

To see how the Transporter Bridge was built Climb Aboard’ the Transporter’s mini website on the right of the screen!

Why was the Bridge needed?

The development of the east side of the river and the construction of the Orb Steel Works in 1897, Newport Corporation decided to build a Transporter Bridge.

Newport Pictorial 1906 explains that;

“A most important work is now in progress and approaching completion. This is a Transporter Bridge, intended to improve cross-river traffic and thus to supplement, and of course relieve the existing Town Bridge, which even with the bracketed widening of the footpaths, is no longer equal to the great and increasing public requirements.”

What is a Transporter Bridge?

A Transporter Bridge is a suspended ferry, free from many of the problems of a floating ferry:

“It may be briefly described as an overhead Bridge, by means of which, not only will the great rise and fall of the tides be provided against, but the navigation kept clear in all other ways.” (Newport Pictorial 1906)

Building the Bridge

The South Wales Argus reported on the construction of the Transporter Bridge in 1905:

“The people of Newport – and engineers from various parts of the country – watched the progress of the undertaking with curious, cynical, or sympathetic or hostile interest”

The Later History of the Bridge

The Transporter Bridge has been a great attraction since the Opening Day when 8,000 people paid the penny toll to take the crossing, but it has always run at a financial loss. With the opening of the Alexandra Dock in 1914 which gave shipping access to the Bristol Channel beyond the Bridge and the increase in the use of cars and the opening of the George Street Bridge in 1963, the Transporter Bridge was used less and less. The Bridge was closed in 1985 and restored and re-opened in 1995.

According to those who work on the Transporter Bridge, their best part of the job is the view from the top:

“..on a clear day you can’t beat the view from the top of the Bridge; you can see all the way down the channel and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff”

Other Transporter Bridges

Did you know the first Transporter Bridge was built in 1893 near Bilbao in Spain and less than 20 Transporter Bridges were built in the world between 1893 and 1916? The first Bridge in Spain was called “Transbordeur” which is where the name “Transporter Bridge” originated.

What was Newport like in 1906 when the Bridge opened?

“Newport, today the Commercial Capital of the rich and important county of Monmouth, as well as its Shipping Centre, and also for much of South Wales.”

(Newport Pictorial 1906)

Newport’s population had increased from 1, 135 in 1801 to 67, 270 in 1901 and had experienced rapid growth as an industrial town and major coal and steel export centre. The Alexandra Company claimed they could move 11,000 tons of coal in a steamer in 36 hours.

“This ingenious design is one of the most remarkable and interesting of the later public improvements of the Town.” (Newport Pictorial 1906)

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