‘HOW are things going in Darlington?” asked Elizabeth, Duchess of York, as she stepped off her train at Bank Top station on February 27, 1934. Before her, running off the platform, down the steps and through the underpass, lay a red carpet, and next to her was her husband, Prince Albert of York.

“She made an admirable picture beside her typically British, staid and studious husband,” said The Northern Echo, in what was supposed to be a patriotic compliment.

Little did staid and studious Albert know it, but in two years’ time, he would be catapulted onto the throne as George VI, following his older brother’s surprise abdication.

The mayor of Darlington, Councillor WG Chandler, responded to the duchess. “They are slightly better but there’s nothing to boast about yet,” he said.

The nation was slowly beginning to emerge from the Great Depression. The duchess didn’t purr on hearing the report from Darlington, but she did, said the Echo, smile. “I am delighted to hear that there is an improvement,” she said.

And then she and her husband followed the red carpet down the stairs, through the underpass and up to the Victoria Road entrance, where they were greeted by an icy blast. An 80mph gale was whipping through the town, crushing a workman to death in Cumberland Street beneath a wall.

But the crowd was warm, and after shaking hands, the royal couple motored to Wynyard Hall where they were to overnight as the guests of Lord and Lady Londonderry before formally opening the Newport Bridge over the River Tees.

DURING the 1920s, the growth of traffic to the Billingham chemical works on the north bank of the Tees had made a second crossing of the Tees estuary necessary. But engineers faced the same challenges as their counterparts who had built the nearby Transporter Bridge in 1911.

The riverbanks were very low yet the wide river was used by tall ships. How to get the required height?

The designers of the Transporter bridge solved this problem by parking the deck neatly to one side so that ships could sail by.

The designers of the Newport bridge – the London firm of Mott, Hay and Anderson – solved it by lifting the deck so high that ships could sail underneath. They used a design that was common in north America but had never been employed in this country, and it was to be the heaviest bridge of its kind in the world.

The foundation stones were laid on July 14, 1932, and because the river had to be kept clear during construction, the 170ft towers had to be built first. Then the deck was strung across the river in its highest position, 125ft above the waterline.

It was ready for opening on February 28, 1934, and the duke and duchess motored from Wynyard to Stockton, changed into a open top car – the snow-winds of the previous day had blown themselves out – and then took a wrong turning into Thornaby. With crowds pressing against the side of the vehicle, they righted themselves and motored onto the river.

“I sincerely hope that this bridge will be a complete and lasting success,” said the duke as he pressed an electric button, and the 2,745 tons of steel glided downwards.

The chairman of the Newport (Joint) Bridge Committee, Alderman Thomas Gibson Poole, presented the duke with an inscribed silver cigarette case, which he undoubtedly treasured for many years.

With the deck in place, the duke and duchess ceremonially motored over to the Durham side. They were unable to go any further as the road had yet to be completed, so they turned round and motored back.

At their express wish, they were then given a ride to the top of the bridge, inspecting the wood-panelled driving house where the four drivers controlled the elevation. Once at the top, the Acklam Cross, Britain’s first electric tug, sailed beneath them and became the first vessel to pass beneath the Newport.

After they were lowered to the ground, the royals motored to Middlesbrough Town Hall for a celebratory luncheon and then they motored – sorry, the Echo’s 1934 report has them motoring this way and then motoring that – back to Bank Top where they caught the 2.40pm Queen of Scots Pullman home to London.

“Yesterday, they bounded the hearts of the people of the area more firmly in affection towards the Royal Family,” concluded the Echo the following day.

The bridge, built by Dorman Long which had just completed the Sydney Harbour job, had cost £512,000 – 75 per cent paid for by the Ministry of Transport and 12½ per cent each by Durham County and Middlesbrough Town councils.

IT took 90 seconds to raise the bridge, and all sources say that in the late 1930s, it was being raised 800 times a week, peaking at 1,400 times a week.

Memories is not a mathematical expert but that would be 200 times a day or, if there’s a 12-hour working day, that’s 16 times an hour – which would mean it going up 24 minutes out of every 60 with another 24 spent coming down, leaving just 12 minutes for the traffic to go across. The queues must have been even worse than they were this week when, the bridge’s closure coupled with roadworks on the A66, saw a snake of cars reaching almost as far west as Darlington.

Perhaps fortunately, then, river traffic declined after the Second World War and since November 18, 1990, the Newport Bridge has been bolted down so that it is permanently available for motoring over – a part, of course, from when it is being painted.