North Queensferry

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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Lucky Poet » Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:27 pm

It's an amazing piece of work, it really is. Well worth going to North Queensferry to see it up close.

Speaking of North Queensferry (and I must read me some Iain Banks soon), I washed up there for a bit. Much photographed is this old stump of a pier:
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Turns out this is the one remaining bit of a marine mine-laying base: http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/recor ... int/rcahms

The one bit, apart from this other bit, the concrete landfall for the pier when it was complete:
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(It's all there on old maps, of course.)

In the meantime, while it rots away, it's much photographed. One more:
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There are obviously bridges to be had. In no particular order, one:
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(As a brief aside, this is a wee notice tied to one of the splendid concrete columns in that last shot, being a temporary memorial to the engineer in charge of the northern approach and foundations:
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Thomas McFeat Young / Tom Young, that bridge is quite a memorial to you.)

Two:
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And two and one quarter, at the moment. Leaving the arguments over the building of it to once side (hi Egg Man),
I'm chuffed to be seeing a major bridge in the making at long last:
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One last thing:
tobester wrote:Image


They finally restored it!
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby RDR » Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:44 pm

Your pictures of the mine laying base pier made me think of the torpedo school on Loch Long at Arrochar and I wondered if there had ever been any pictures taken of it on here. A quick search didn't reveal anything.
Many, many years ago, when I was in the TA, it was often used for weekend exercises, even though technically it was a navy installation. It was pretty dilapidated then. Mind you we also used Lanark Barracks for exercises as well and it was actually a RAF base.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby The Egg Man » Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:02 pm

RDR wrote:Your pictures of the mine laying base pier made me think of the torpedo school on Loch Long at Arrochar and I wondered if there had ever been any pictures taken of it on here. A quick search didn't reveal anything.
..............


Some info here http://www.arrocharheritage.com/HistoryOfTheRange.htm
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby RDR » Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:26 pm

The Egg Man wrote:
RDR wrote:Your pictures of the mine laying base pier made me think of the torpedo school on Loch Long at Arrochar and I wondered if there had ever been any pictures taken of it on here. A quick search didn't reveal anything.
..............


Some info here http://www.arrocharheritage.com/HistoryOfTheRange.htm


That's fantastic TEM, thank you very much.
If I remember correctly we stayed in the barrack like buildings to the top right of the Ariel photographs. This would have been 1984/85 not long before it closed and it was clear at that stage it was being run down.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Lucky Poet » Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:02 am

Anent the new Forth Road Bridge with the rather silly name, I went along a couple of weekends ago for a wee look at the progress. This was at South Queensferry, but it can go in this thread. (Usually North Queensferry gets lumped in with its bigger southern almost namesake, so it makes a change for it to be the other way round.)

I've long since given up on the debate over this thing, incidentally, as there was an awful lot of heat and precious little light generated on both sides. All I can be certain about is that it does have a daft name (the Queensferry Crossing, FFS!) and I do feel like taking photos as it takes shape. With the foundations now done, it's becoming an actual photographable thing, instead of just a bunch of cranes in the distance.

(Apology in advance - I only had a wide-ish angle lens, so much of it actually remains in the distance in the photos.)

I don't know why, but it's on a bigger scale than I expected (temporary stairs for scale):
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The steelwork up there is slowly creeping above the road:
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To meet up with this lot, currently under preparation:
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Safety first:
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It's going to look very odd with three bridges here. They definitely mean it:
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More later as work goes on.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Lucky Poet » Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:16 am

PS here's photo eleventy billion and six being taken of the original (and best) Forth Bridge:
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As a shameless plug, a partner in crime is going to be abseiling off this grand old thing next weekend for charidee (Health in Mind), hopefully landing by the pier I was standing by when I took photo eleventy billion and seven, from 150 feet or so above. Here's the link, if you feel inclined (oh go on):

http://www.justgiving.com/Euan-Jago

It's a good cause and a very long way down.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Lucky Poet » Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:52 pm

It's the new Forth Road Bridge with the rather silly name again, six months later on and seen from North Queensferry. They've definitely reached that point where after working for ages on preparation and foundations, it starts to look like an actual bridge taking shape:
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There's still a lot of work going on besides the bridge itself of course, this being what will become the northern approach road:
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The main attraction is the bridge itself though. With a lot of supporting structure also in place, the deck has begun to take place on the three rather bloody big towers/piers:
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Further round the coast, it's already becoming a landmark:
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With added reed bed goodness, courtesy of St Margaret's Marsh:
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Looks like 2015 is going to be the year to see it really take shape. If only it had a non-daft name. I'll try to get out there now and again to see what's happening:
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Ciao.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Dexter St. Clair » Mon Dec 22, 2014 1:23 am

"I before E, except after C" works in most cases but there are exceptions.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Lucky Poet » Mon Dec 22, 2014 10:36 pm

That's a bit steep. For charidee though. I can't say I wouldn't want to go do that, but I'd be well into climbing up it rather than using the lift.
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Lucky Poet » Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:43 pm

So, in the last eight months, this:
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Has become this:
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Yup, definitely a bridge.
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There's what looks to be the first two lengths of cable installed in that last pair of photos. Goodness knows how they got them up there, and I look forward to seeing how they manage to actually do something with them. Onwards and upwards...
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Re: North Queensferry

Postby Joel Cole » Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:07 am

Lucky Poet wrote:The wee tower thing is in fact a harbour light, which did have lighthouse-style 'cage' arrangement on top last time I saw it, and the notice says it's being restored. I don't know if the 15º angle it sits at can be sorted.

Took the bike over on Sunday, and the weather was grand. Only a few photos though.

It's interesting in its way, but I wish the white sheeting and scaffolding would piss off:
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Lest we forget how big the bridge is:
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Arguably Inverkeithing not North Queensferry, but sod it. A wee part of the massive scrap yard to the north of the Ferry Hills. Used to be a shipbreakers; Olympic and Aquitania were broken up here:
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I hope the Forth Bridge works are over soon. Back in the day I used to cycle out here and head on past where the portacabins are on the second photo, to relax and eat sandwiches right under the bridge's superstructure. I'm a bit worried the area there will never be opened up to the public again, and annoyed that I never brought a camera along when it was accessible.

The view from there beat South Queensferry hands down: you could stand under the landfall of the northern main span and gawk at the scale of the damn thing. Plus, once upon a time, there was set of wooden stairs up to the top of the north east foundation of the cantilever tower, leading to an unsecured iron door. Then a set of stairs up to track level. Along with a pal, I made it about half way up before completely bottling it. (Again, I wish I'd had a camera, but I was only 15.)


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