The Lincolnshire Echo reported that the first passenger train to cross the new bridge left Althorpe Station at 10:35am on 21 May 1916.

[3] Its 50-metre (163 ft) electrically powered bascule (lifting span) was one of the first of its type in Britain and, when built, was the largest in Europe.

It was electrically powered, originally by a large storage battery fed by petrol-driven generators housed in the engine room beneath the east approach span.

The bridge was controlled from a wooden signal cabin, mounted by the north-east side of the lifting (east) span.

[5] At the same time, the signal cabin was removed from the bridge structure and the tracks on the railway were fixed in place.