162: Building Tower Bridge

How Tower Bridge Was Built: The Untold Story of London's Most Famous BridgeDiscover the remarkable history behind Tower Bridge, one of London's most iconic landmarks. Learn how political battles, engineering innovation, and Victorian ambition transformed a transport crisis into one of the greatest bridge-building achievements of the nineteenth century.00:00 Building Tower Bridge01:00 Why London Needed a New Thames Crossing03:00 The Engineering Challenge05:00 Early Designs and Political Battles06:00 Choosing the Bascule Design06:30 Horace Jones and John Wolfe Barry08:00 The Tower Bridge Act of 188510:00 Building the Foundations Beneath the Thames12:00 The Six Divers of Tower Bridge14:00 Constructing the Steel Superstructure16:00 The Revolutionary Hydraulic System18:00 Victorian Engineering and Safety Standards20:00 Costs, Delays and Human Sacrifice22:00 Legal Disputes During Construction24:45 Why Victorian Critics Hated Tower Bridge27:30 The Grand Opening of 189429:00 Tower Bridge's Lasting Legacy