Two articles on Newport Transporter Bridge from our archive

OF THE thousands who have travelled across Newport Transporter Bridge few have realised that their lives were in the hands of Mr G A Coes, driver of the “cage”. Mr Coes, who celebrates his birthday today, yesterday retired from the service of Newport Corporation.

He began work on the Transporter Bridge a fortnight after it opened (in September 1906) and in that time, with the exception of the period of the last war, has made 45 double journeys across the river every day.

Mr G A Coes

Among his passengers were the present King George VI, when he was Duke of York, and the Duke of Windsor.

Mr Coes has done painting and repair work on all parts of the bridge but was obliged to relinquish that part of his service shortly after the last war, in which he served with Mons Tunnelling Company and was gassed in the operation which led to the blowing up of the famous Messines Ridge.

“Driving the ‘cage’ is no simple operation,” said Mr Coes to a South Wales Argus reporter. “It requires careful handling in rough weather. A strong wind can take the ‘cage’ across on it own.”

The son of Mr W J Coes, wharf foreman at Pennar Wharf, Mr Coes lived as a boy at the site of the bridge. He and other boys rowed across to the East side of the river to pick mushrooms for breakfast.

People on the Newport Transporter Bridge

In his long service he has seen many changes in river traffic.

Both Mr and Mrs Coes, who live at 3 St Vincent Road, Newport, are members of Alma Street Baptist Chapel. Mrs Coes is a daughter of the late William Harding, former manager of Newport Cattle Market.

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The second article, from the South Wales Weekly Argus, was published on January 14, 1965. The piece was headlined Still has faith in the Transporter and has the byline 'Merlin'.

ONLY a few feet above the cold, dark waters of the Usk, which surges out into the Bristol Channel, Newport’s transporter bridge, the pride and joy of South Wales engineering achievement when it was built in 1906, continues to “bridge the gap” between the town’s thriving docks and the industry concentrated around Corporation Road.

An important task, if not perhaps a particularly romantic one. But for one man, the bridge and its achievements and problems have become not so much a job of work as a way of life.

He is Mr Neville Purnell, superintendent of the bridge, who has been directly concerned with its running for 36 of his 54 years. “It’s fair to say the bridge has become part of my life. But I still get a ‘kick’ when I’m called upon to drive it,” he told me when I called on him in his office recently.

The Prince of Wales visits Newport in 1924

In his cosy little room, which looks out on to the bridge and the river which he obviously holds so close to his heart, he chuckled as he recalled his first impression of the transporter of which he was one day to take charge.

“I was only a schoolboy then. We used to cross the river to play football at Corporation Park, and I loved to stand on the front of the bridge and watch the other side of the river seemingly moving towards us.” The bridge still carries countless hordes of schoolboys to their recreation, and is still just as fascinating to them.

When he left school he worked for Newport Corporation, and joined the “crew” of the bridge in 1928. His job then? Controlling the level crossing over which vehicles using the bridge had to cross! He did this for three years until he was “promoted” to conductor.

“In those days, of course, there was a toll charge for everyone using the bridge. The toll was discontinued in 1946,” he said.

The Transporter Bridge taken by South Wales Argus Camera Club member Alan Phillips

Anyway, Mel was a conductor for some years, but in 1941 he became a relief driver, and was made a full-time driver later in the year. Came the fifties, and he moved to the post of deputy superintendent, and was transferred to the maintenance side. Then in 1955 he was appointed superintendent

He is in charge of a staff of ten, who are responsible for the running and maintenance of the bridge –a pretty tough and exacting responsibility.

Mel, married with a 16 year old daughter, lives on the Gaer Estate. “But I live here almost as much as at my home,” commented this pleasant family man, who is so proud of the fact that Newport has one of only two such bridges in this country. The other one is Middlesborough and Mel visited it a few years ago.

In its early days the bridge’s cargoes were generally horse-driven. But horses were not the only animals to take advantage of the short-cut into town. “I remember that on market days, we used to take herds of cattle across! It was a case of every man for himself then, I can tell you,” he grinned.

Since then, as post-war Britain boomed and the number of vehicles on the nation’s roads multiplied into millions, the authorities at Newport, itself with one of the worst traffic trouble spots in the country, decided the time had come for a new bridge.

Thus, the George Street bridge came into being. Opened last April, it has already greatly helped to alleviate the problem, although the full effect will not be felt until the Wharf Road improvements are completed.

Newport Transporter Bridge by Roger Fuller

When the new bridge was opened, it cast a doubt on the future of the old transporter. “Out of date” ….”a waste of money”…”unnecessary” …These were some of the comments when Newport council held a vital meeting to decide its fate.

“A lot of people were convinced that the bridge was nearing its end. But I was just as sure it wasn’t. I’ve always been confident that the bridge has an important part to play in Newport’s development. And I’ve always had the feeling that I shall still be superintendent when I retire –and that’s not for another ten years,” Said Mel.

He could well be proved right. After a searching enquiry, it was decided to keep the bridge open –for a five year trial period. This was after experts had estimated that the bridge –which cost £98,000 to construct –would cost £95,000 to pull down!

Mel also produced a census, showing that while the weekly transport figures dropped from 5617 in May 1963 to 2455 in July last year, the number of passengers leap-frogged from 4452 to more than 12000 in the same period although it must be appreciated that July is the peak of the holiday season.

“I feel these figures show the need for the bridge. In fact, I would go so far as to say that in another ten years time, we will be in precisely the same position as we were before the George Street bridge opened. The amount of traffic on our roads is growing all the time,” he commented.

Being almost unique in this country, the bridge has a great tourist attraction. “We had visitors from New Zealand, America –all over the world last year,” Mel told me proudly.

The Transporter Bridge in Newport taken by Benjamin Jones of the South Wales Argus Camera Club

The bridge has also had its tragic moments. Twice young men have climbed the nine flights of steps that lead to the top deck, 177 feet above the landscape, and lept, suicidally, to their deaths.

There was also the breakdown, that left workers stranded for two hours, after a fire in Newport’s power station, a few years ago.

But, happily, no one has been killed or injured through an accident during the crossing. “That’s something we’re all proud of,” beamed Mel.

I have to make a confession here. Before meeting Mel, I’d never taken advantage of the bridge. So, before leaving, I walked onto the wooden deck and treated myself to a ride across the 840 feet wide span between the banks. It will go down in my record books as the one time I watched water below me –and wasn’t seasick.