Transporter Bridge Stamp Highlights Engineering Excellence

Middlesbrough’s Tees Transporter Bridge features as a first class stamp on newly launched Royal Mail stamps.

And Royal Mail vans working locally in Middlesbrough will also carry an image of the stamp.

The Bridges stamp issue is aimed at celebrate the leaps in engineering that have seen the UK’s bridges evolve from humble stone crossings to dramatic and symbolic landmarks.

Completed in 1911, the Tees Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough is a most novel and visually arresting piece of engineering.

Vast in scale and utilitarian in appearance, its stripped-back, lattice-steel structure incorporates a pair of cantilevered trusses that span 259 metres – with a clearance above water of almost 49 metres – that are used to carry a ‘gondola’ across the river.

Powered by electric motors, the gondola – which can convey both people and vehicles – is suspended above the river and pulled from one side to the other by a hauling cable in approximately two minutes. This unique design – executed by Sir William Arrol & Co. of Glasgow – was economic to construct and ensured that the crossing would not interfere with river traffic.

Andrew Hammond, Head of Stamps and Collectibles at Royal Mail, said: “The story of Britain’s engineering genius can be found in its bridges. These new stamps celebrate ten beautiful and ground-breaking landmarks that span centuries of our history.”

The Tees Transporter Bridge’s Tosh Warwick said: “It is fantastic that the Tees Transporter Bridge has been recognised by the Royal Mail in this collection alongside other historical and modern engineering icons. The inclusion on Royal Mail postage stamps reflects the Transporter Bridge’s status as a nationally recognised heritage landmark and feat of engineering”.

“It is also testament to the area’s bridge-building heritage, which can list Sydney Harbour Bridge amongst its achievements, that the Tees Transporter Bridge appears alongside the Humber Bridge in the ‘Bridges’ Collection, having been constructed by a partnership including Cleveland Bridge and Dorman Long.”

Royal Mail will also be issuing a special postmark on 5 March to mark the stamp set along with Royal Mail Vans in each bridge location carrying an image of the new stamp.