Goole railway swing bridge

The bridge was designed by Thomas Elliot Harrison for the Hull and Doncaster Branch of the North Eastern Railway and opened in 1869.

[2] As part of the construction of the line, a bridge was required over the River Ouse near Goole between Skelton and Hook.

[8] The fixed spans were 116 ft (35 m) long, made of three wrought iron hogback plate girders each, resting on three piers.

[9] The bridge rotated around a central column, which contained a hydraulic accumulator of 17 ft (5.2 m) stroke, with 16.5 in (420 mm) diameter ram loaded to 67 long tons (68 t), used to power the turning mechanism.

[13] The bridge superstructure was designed was T. E. Harrison of the NER, and erected by Pease, Hutchinson and Company (Skerne Ironworks).

[23][29][30] On 2 August 1976, Danish vessel Leon Sif (IMO number: 6711493) hit one of the bridge's piers.

[8] On 23 November 1988, one of the fixed spans was pushed out of alignment by a collision with the Swedish vessel Samo (IMO number: 7016383), which became trapped between the bridge's piers.

In 2009, a modernisation programme began – Clancy Docwra installed services (telecoms, fresh and waste water, electricity, signalling) to the central pier through piping under the river bed.

[37] For quite some time the pages of the Yorkshire Ship Enthusiasts' Newsletter have enthralled their members by recounting the efforts by numerous vessels to demolish the railway bridge at Hook, near Goole