Handyside Bridge, Darley Abbey, Derby built by Andrew Handyside in 1877.

The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made the next GNR railway bridge North of Friargate Bridge, today this bridge is called Handyside Bridge but when originally built it was just a "GNR railway bridge" of course. This bridge is located very near to Handyside's former Britannia Foundry and even had its own branch line which it was able to use to get goods onto the Friargate line.

This bridge contains 155 tons of wrought iron and 11 tons of cast iron.
The railway bridge was converted into a footbridge in 1978.

I have made a short film about this bridge to get across the facts about the bridge which you can watch below. I have recorded it in 720p HD so best watched in fullscreen. This film pretty much covers all the details about this bridge. Let me know if I have missed any details and I will add it to this text.

Handyside Bridge in Derby.
A short film about this 134 year old bridge built by Andrew Handyside & Co Ltd


The Beeching Axe.

Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage.

The GNR Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension route or Derby Friar Gate Line as its often referred to locally was a "back line"that opened in 1878 and ran from Nottingham through Derby (over Handyside bridge and Friar Gate Bridge) and to Egginton where it joined the North Staffordshire Railway.
This line closed in 1964 and slowly taken apart but there are still plenty of reminders where the Friargate line once ran such as Handyside bridge.
If you would like to know more about the GNR Derby Friargate Line then you can follow the entire route of it on my map here

The Derby Friargate Line Route Map (aka GNR Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension).

If you would like a map centred over this bridge the click here:
http://tinyurl.com/handysidebridge

The next bridge downstream to cross over the River Derwent is Saint Mary's Bridge which is 448 meters downstream.

The next bridge upstream to cross the river is Haslam's Lane Toll bridge which is 1541 metres upstream

Hope you found my video of interest. Next time you walk over Handyside bridge take some time to have a look at how its constructed and imagine what it must have been like to see trains thundering across it.

Photographs of Handyside Bridge:







Photograph of the makers badge.
This plaque used to be fixed to the top arch of the bridge. It was removed and put into storage at the museum so doubt many people will have seen this.
I would like to thank Roger Shelley, principal keeper of Derby Industrial Museum (The Silk Mill) for allowing me to photograph this.


Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Google Streetview  has not managed to capture the bridge but you can see the path that goes over it here.

Can you help find more Andrew Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other bridges around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy