Bridges

Nov 25th, 2010 | | Bridges | 2 Comments

Royal Albert Bridge, Cornwall

Patrick Baty risked life and limb to sample the paint on Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge

View of the ‘Tube’ from the Devon side looking towards Cornwall


The Royal Albert Bridge is a railway bridge that connects Devon and Cornwall.  I was commissioned to carry out the paint analysis in order to see how it been painted when Isambard Kingdom Brunel had built it in 1859.  Prior to my epic sampling climb I was interviewed by the BBC on the bridge.

Patrick Baty risked life and limb to sample the paint on Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge
Isn’t she magnificent!


An earlier career as a miltary parachutist took some of the fear of having to walk across the bridge away.  However, 185ft in pitch black on the night of October 1st 2009 is something that I will remember for a very long time!

Patrick Baty had to walk over the top of the Royal Albert Bridge in order to take paint samples
Walking the ‘tube’ at night (when the trains were not running below)


Although it wouldn’t be quite true to say that ‘walking the tube’ was a ‘piece of cake’ an earlier generation seems to have been quite relaxed about it:

Patrick Baty risked life and limb to sample the paint on Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge

It was interesting to observe that the “Anti-Corrosive” paint that was originally applied was very similar to that employed on the iron framework of the Great Conservatory at Syon House.

A description of the project is given here – Part 1 and Part 2.

You can also see a slideshow of the project here:



The local BBC website announces the plan to go ahead with the repaint.

And finally…here is a rather charming view of the bridge by the naïve painter Alfred Wallis:

Boats under Saltash Bridge (Royal Albert Bridge) by St Ives artist Alfred Wallis




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Comments (2)

Reply
Chris HaughtNo Gravatar » 10. Jun, 2012

Spectacular!

Reply
That Riviera Touch | CORA DEVINE » 16. May, 2013

[...] As part of a recent restoration project, Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints in London was asked to make a paint analysis in order to ascertain the original colour of the Royal Albert Bridge. You can read more about this here: http://patrickbaty.co.uk/2010/11/25/royal-albert-bridge-cornwall/ [...]