The Victorian engine room at Tower Bridge

Image: © Marathon Taken: 9 Oct 2019

Tower Bridge was built between 1886 and 1894. Sir John Wolfe Barry was the engineer and Sir Horace Jones as the architect. The bridge was officially opened on 30th June 1894 by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), and his wife, The Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark). The high-level open air walkways between the towers were closed in 1910 as they had gained an unpleasant reputation as a haunt for prostitutes and pickpockets. The walkways reopened in 1982 and are the main feature of the Tower Bridge Exhibition. A glass floor has been installed in part of the east walkway which gives a view of the roadway below - see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5695680 The west walkway includes not only a glass floor but also a mirror on the ceiling which gives very unusual photographic opportunities. In 1974, the original operating mechanism was largely replaced by a new electro-hydraulic drive system. The Victorian engine rooms still house the original steam engines and some of the original hydraulic machinery and are visited as part of the Tower Bridge Exhibition although they are not now used to power the bridge.

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