MISS ELAINEOUS CROSSES THE PLESSEY BRIDGE...

This wasn't a visit as such, as it was only a walk over a bridge!

Footbridge 151, known locally as the Plessey Bridge, is an iron footbridge which connects Ley Street with High Road, in Ilford, Essex.
It's local to me and it wasn't the first time I've had a nosey across it.

This is the approach from Jaffe Road, just off Ley Street.  The obligatory wino was standing drinking his Special Brew at the top of the stairs...

Crossrail trains as I gawped through the iron grill section, right at the part where the stairs meet the bridge... 

View down the length of the footbridge.

Ilford suffered a large amount bombing during World War II; the target of the Luftwaffe being the Plessey electronics factory, where equipment vital to the war effort was being manufactured.  

German pilots frequently unleashed streams of machine gun fire, in an effort to interrupt the supply lines.  They were unaware that the factory had already been moved underground to a stretch of the Tube between Leytonstone and Gants Hill.

Apparently the Plessey underground factory was so large that foremen were issued bicycles to get from one end of the factory to the other!

View through a hole, a scar left over from one of these attacks and considered to be a vital part of local history.  There are more at a lower level, but I didn't nosey around looking for them, preferring an easy day taking photographs at eye level.  Plus, by this stage I was not alone on the bridge, and had to consider my own health and safety.  

This is my favourite 'through the hole' photo, taken from my previous visit in 2017 where you can clearly see the brand new Crossrail trains.

 Sticking my camera right into the hole, and I was surprised at how big this junction was, and at the amount of working lines, as Ilford Station has only four platforms plus one siding...

The way down onto Ley Street..  There is local concern that the history of the area might be swept away by modernisation, but there's no sigh of that happening yet.

View from the ground.  Apparently the Luftwaffe never did get to know about the existence of the underground factory...

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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