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The Stockport company, Thomas Storey Ltd. was founded in 1936. During the Second World War the company was involved in manufacturing Bailey Bridges and as a result got a licence to produce them from the National Research Development Corporation after the War.
In 1940 and 1941 Britain stood alone against Hitler and for Britain to achieve victory a bridge was needed which would allow mobile warfare in Europe again.
Donald Bailey did not build a bridge but designed a new method of building bridges: a method which enabled thousands of bridges to be put together quickly.
Born in Rotherham, Yorkshire, a graduate of Sheffield University, Donald Bailey worked at the Experimental Bridging Establishment.
The bridge had to be:
- quickly available,
- able to take loads of up to 70 tons,
- be assembled in different forms so it would be reasonably economical,
- be able to cope with very different loads such as standard army 3 ton trucks and huge tanks and their transporters.
- Possibly most importantly, it had to be speedily erected and have a design which ordinary soldiers could put together perfectly.
- All the parts needed to be light and easy to fasten together and to transport to the site. This meant the parts must fit into standard army lorries and also aircraft.
Bailey鈥檚 idea was to prefabricate part of a complete girder from top to bottom which would serve for any length of bridge in the form of a panel. The basic unit was 5 feet and 10 feet with 2 diamond shaped cross braces joining a vertical bar in the middle. The panels could be pinned together end to end to form a girder of any length as long as it kept enough strength to cope with a predetermined weight of load.
Bailey ensured no part was heavier than a 6 man load so small teams could carry on building a bridge even under air attack and heavy gunfire. Crucial time was saved by having the panels assembled on rollers. The first part or nose was put together with the decking or roadway omitted. The bridge proper was built on this nose and the whole was moved forward on rollers as the panels were assembled. The Bailey bridge was actually crossing the gap as it was being built.

This information was submitted by the Stockport Local Heritage Library, Stockport Central Library

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