BLUEPRINTS of one of the region's most famous landmarks, the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough, are being restored and preserved for the future by experts.
The blueprints, stored at Teesside Archives in Middlesbrough, date from just before the First World War and are mostly copies of original drawings dated 1909-11.
They are sensitive to light and chemicals, so need to be conserved and stored in a controlled environment.
The archives service, in Exchange Square, holds hundreds of blueprints of the bridge, ranging from original visualisations of the finished construction to detailed diagrams of individual nuts and bolts.
Helen Kendall, principal conservator at the archives, is preparing this important slice of history for modern digital copying, to be published in a new conservation report by Middlesbrough Council.
She said: "This is a unique archive of one of Middlesbrough's most important icons, so we are conserving and digitally copying the blueprints today to ensure that people can study and enjoy them into the future."
Teesside Archives cares for more than one million records on more than two miles of shelving. It receives more than 6,000 public visits each year, mostly from people researching their family roots.
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