June 2013: into the guts of the Tower of London

so I was invited to some sort of a corporate shindig in the Tower of London         

and here’s my darling HMS Belfast, isn't she so pretty? what a lovely old girl.

 

there’s the tower bridge in the hazy sunshine 

the Mayor’s office and the Shard in the background.

 

looking up at the bridge, see those two walkways? I will be up there soon.

there’s the tower of London

and somebody is actually rowing in this river!        

I'm now in the room where the event is taking place.

then they took us out.

a little slide show…about how it was constructed and a bit of history

and then we go up to the two walkways. On the sides, you can see small plaques talking about the history of the bridge and the city.

peering eastwards…can you see my office there on the left in the back?

looking down west

a model of how the bridge was build it put together.

London’s bridges

Looking across to the other walkway

 

 

a helpful little graphic showing the views…to the west

some interesting factoids…

we finish the briefing and were offered to pop down to see the engine room.

follow the paw prints…

we move to the south tower

where these two giant plaques are affixed to the wall.

and then we meet up with the guide. Pink??? really?

 

these were the boilers…coal fired..which powered the pumps and machines. 

 

coal was brought through these hoppers into the bunker on these rails. 

and here’s the engine. The engine itself wouldn't raise the bridge, its too massive for that, but it will work the pneumatic hydraulic plumbing which did make it work. 

 

and here’s the accumulator tower, this weight going up and down will actually move the bridge. A YouTube video is shown below

here is a great documentary on the tower bridge which goes into more detail.

 

waving goodbye to the bridge…amazing stuff