Bridge Postcards of 2018

It turned out to be a very good year for acquiring bridge postcards with 89 examples added to the collection. This is a selection of the best of them. It includes the pioneering Iron Bridge from Shropshire and the now lost splendour of the Spiral Bridge in Hastings, Minnesota. There’s the ramshackle Cane Bridge near Darjeeling, roped together from locally sourced materials – not for the faint-hearted. Some locals pose for the camera by another timber built footbridge, across the River Wey at Guildford. Another lost bridge is the Shoreham Suspension Bridge opened in 1833 (as the Norfolk Bridge) across the River Adur and replaced in 1922. There are lifting bridges from Cleveland and Amsterdam and a view of Brunel’s 1859 Great Western Railway bowstring bridge across the River Tamar that includes the departure of the Torpoint Ferry.

Bridge Postcards of 2016

This year’s selection begins in Romania – a train crossing the Danube emerges through a ceremonial arch from a truss bridge toward a platform where a listless group of passengers wait. Elaborate castellations are flanked by oversize sculptures of armed guards, bayonets at the ready. And there’s some nonsense with a ladder. On our imaginary journey to Quincy Point we pass suspension bridges, lifting bridges, swing bridges, causeways and viaducts. Last year's selection can be revisited by following this link.

Great Railway Stations Number 9: Haarlem

The railway station at Haarlem is rather special – early Machine Age engineering and architectural ceramics combine to offer a richly anachronistic experience. Recently restored to its full glory with beautifully varnished timbers, painted steelwork and glowing ceramic pictorial panels. A tall unglazed curved canopy supported on slender tapering steelwork soars over unenclosed platforms. Daylight comes mainly from the side rather than from overhead creating some unusual effects of light and shade. A unique feature is the provision of an elevated signal box of hardwood construction over a ground floor plinth in glazed brickwork, embedded in the heart of the station. The station roof is the longest in the Netherlands and was designed by an engineer named H Werker. The rest of the building was the responsibility of the architect, Dirk Margadant and built in 1906-08. The largest ceramic panels decorate the Stationshal with images of farming and metal bashing designed by D J P de Ruiter at the Rozenburg studio in Den Haag. The smaller panels were also supplied by Rozenburg to designs by E Cuyper. The decorative scheme is completed with stained-glass windows and carved floral motifs.