please empty your brain below
A very fine city indeed.

QE2 bridge, that'll be the metro one surely? How many bridges/ buildings named after her?

Lorenzo | 20.06.17 - 8:11 a.m. | #

Hi, Hope your enjoying my home town. Croossing the Redheugh Bridge, in the howling wind and driving rain, was always entertaining when i was a kid

Ben | 20.06.17 - 12:27 p.m. | #

Compared with other cities, the bridges in Newcastle are interesting because of their relative heights, they are fairly close together and the variety of designs.

Still anon | 20.06.17 - 1:05 p.m. | #

I remember crossing the High Level on a bus (or was it a tram?) when I was young ... scary ... there seemed to be only inches between oncoming traffic

Caz | 20.06.17 - 1:26 p.m. | #

I've only ever visited Newcastle twice, but whenever it's mentioned I can't get some of the 40+ year old images from "Get Carter" out of my head, so many times have I've watched it.

Tim | 20.06.17 - 1:56 p.m. | #

I did my school project on the bridges of Newcastle, brings back memories

david s | 20.06.17 - 2:27 p.m. | #

Occasionally trains to or from London do cross the High Level Bridge: this means that they have to change direction in Newcastle station, much to the confusion of passengers to/from points further north.

Andrew M | 20.06.17 - 2:34 p.m. | #

When you approach the Swing Bridge on foot from the north you travel down the wonderfully-named Side. Is this the shortest street name in Britain?

Mark | 20.06.17 - 3:00 p.m. | #

My dad's office was on that road, and I think the postal address they gave was "the side" rather than just side.

Messiah | 20.06.17 - 3:32 p.m. | #

Fun look around the bridges. Worth re-watching Get Carter for the things that have changed and the pieces like High Level Bridge that look more or less the same. Also rewatch Our Friends in The North. Can't beat the closing 10 minutes for a quick speed around Newcastle.

You may have noticed The Central Pub in Gateshead on the way to the HLB. Interesting because it's easy to select one of 4 close bridges from there and on foot to end up in quite different parts of the city. (HLB, Swing, Tyne, Millennium)

rashbre | Homepage | 20.06.17 - 6:26 p.m. | #

Love Newcastle. Some fine walking too - Jesmond Dene must be beautiful at this time of year.

THC | 20.06.17 - 6:31 p.m. | #

The Swing and Tyne both look a lot spiffier than they did in Get Carter. Interesting post DG.

Burntweenie | 20.06.17 - 7:33 p.m. | #

@Caz

There was indeed a tram line across the High Level Bridge. In fact until the Tyne Bridge opened in the late 20s, it used to be the A1!

Mark | 20.06.17 - 8:36 p.m. | #

I've always found the number, design and closeness of the bridges in Newcastle fascinating. London has a great variety of bridges, but they tend to be a bit more spaced out than in Newcastle, where they are all in such a small area.

Long distance trains do use both bridges and even the metro - I remember once travelling from Sunderland to London when the Durham coast line had been closed, so the train diverted along the metro tracks (and I think crossed the lower bridge).

Jon Combe | 20.06.17 - 11:12 p.m. | #

Ah my home city. I always felt properly at home when the train curved over the King Edward bridge and you could see the other bridges. A sight of a yellow bus or Metrocar sealed the deal.

I've walked the Tyne, High Level and Swing bridges. The old Redheugh bridge was a ghastly thing and the new one is far too terrifying. Walking both the Tyne and High Level bridges took huge amounts of effort as I'm very bad with heights over water. The High Level was especially difficult as there was two way constant traffic back then as someone mentioned above. The noise and sensation of passing vehicles forced you nearer the watery edge of the footpath which was even worse! Walking the Tyne Bridge was more a case of one foot in front of another and stare ahead and don't dare look to the side.

When I watch programmes like Vera (on ITV) set in the North East where they blithely do film sequences on both the High Level and Tyne bridges it sort of brings back the terror.

I wonder if DG will cover any of the few remaining "urban walkways" dating back to the 60s and 70s Central Motorway and Eldon Square redevelopments. It's the sort of thing that would fascinate him given only part of the original "vision" was ever completed. Anyway lovely to see Newcastle featured on DG.

PC | 21.06.17 - 12:15 a.m. | #

Inter City trains often use the HL bridge in order to get them back the right way round, as there are places (such as Gloucester and sometimes Leeds) where they reverse. It is also sometimes done if there is a fault in the driver's cab at one end of the train, so that the train can be driven south using the good cab at the other end.

Only diesel trains can use the HL bridge, as it is not electrified.

@Jon Combe
As they are electric, Metro vehicles can't use the High level bridge in Newcastle. The metro uses main line tracks in the Sunderland area (rather than vice versa).

timbo | 21.06.17 - 8:09 a.m. | #

@timbo:

The High Level Bridge is (partially) electrified. Electric trains can loop over it to the south, they just can't head towards Sunderland (because the wires stop).

Arctic Troll | 21.06.17 - 4:44 p.m. | #

The Metro's electrification is totally incompatible with National Rail electrification anyway. Metro vehicles can't use any mainline tracks in Newcastle and Gateshead (I mean apart from the obvious fact that the systems don't connect at all north of Heworth).

John must be misremembering, if a mainline train used the Metro tracks it would end up underground!

Mark | 21.06.17 - 4:56 p.m. | #











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