"Pontoon bridge/bridge of boats" Topic

Greetings, Happy New Year an all that

I should be interested to know what members think the essential distinction might be between a 'pontoon bridge' and a 'bridge of boats.'

Many thanks

My instant answer would be that Pontoons are purpose built to a specific size and shape.
'Boats' would be grabbing whatever is at hand for a few miles up and down the river bank that you can make fit the requirements.

Speaking as a former Royal Engineer, I think Narratio is right.

In the late Peninsular War, Wellington had a pontoon bridge train that was used several times, not always successfully, in late 2013 and early 2014. However the crossing of the large Adour was on a Bridge of Boats, formed from 48 small coastal luggers, or chasse marées.

Rod

Either way would be nice to have a set in 15-18mm.

Roundway miniatures produced one in 15mm.

RM52 Pontoon Wagon, team & driver (NO pontoon)
RM53 Pontoon Bridge (2 pontoons & 2 road sections)

Have fun.

The Drum did a very nice one in 15mm, but unsure who owns the molds now though.

Pretty sure Minifigs have/had a wagon with a choice of loads, among them a single pontoon (i.e. the shallow-draft boat), but I may be "misremembering".

I think it would be easier to move artillery, wagons, etc. over a pontoon bridge.

The difference is two fold. Firstly one is an adhoc affair and consequently less serviceable, especially for 'transort' and guns (if at all). Secondly, the speed of assembly falls when everything is made to measure – pontoon trains are like a big 'flat-pack-bridge' and consequently the bits go together quite quickly and easily.

The difficulty for manufacturers when it comes t o pontoon bridges is that they were of different design by nation. Consequently, I believe there is a fear of producing 'generic pontoon bridges' because of the scorn they might engender from purists.

That's why I ended up making my own. I converted wagons by War Bases and built the pontoons and 'bridge sections' with balsa wood – easypeasy

A bridge of boats, rather than a pontoon bridge, given the need, wouldn't be worth making for most.

For this one I built six pontoons comprising 2x two pontoon sections with attached decking and two free floating pontoons (to go on the two wagons). This means I can adjust building rate according to the rules and time scale I'm using.

I figured making my own might have to happen. Thats partially why just got 2 engineer wagons carring lumber. Guess a generic wagon could be made to carry the pontoons

Fife and Drum Miniatures sells a pontoon wagon with pontoons. We also sell the pontoons seperately.

Irregular Miniatures must surely have these also. They have everything under the sun! Esp in the smaller scales…

Here is an image of 'British and Hanoverian troops crossing in heavy rain and wind from Nijmegen to Lent on the bridge of boats over the Waal, November 7, 1794' by Dirk Langendijk, (1794).

(Overtocht tijdens hevige regen en wind van de Engelse en Hannoverse troepen uit Nijmegen naar Lent over de schipbrug over de Waal, 7 november 1794)

link

Pretty sure Minifigs have/had a wagon with a choice of loads, among them a single pontoon (i.e. the shallow-draft boat), but I may be "misremembering

True, there was a model with 2 pontoons, a wagon, 4 horse team, and driver, in 15mm. I only had one cuz I wanted to see what it looked like, very nice model but I couldn't see it getting much use with my group at the time, so I never got enough together to really do anything.

I think some contemporary writers would use the term bridge of boats pretty interchangeably to mean either an improvised one or one made by the company of pontooniers.

@42 – illuminating image.

There is a line of boats protecting the bridge with their sails up.

The following is from Tousard's American Artillerist's Companion, Volume II, 415-435:

There are different types of military bridges such as trestle and pontoon and boat bridges. They ‘follow' the army so that they may always be at hand when rivers and streams are to be crossed in order that an army's maneuvers will not be retarded. Both the pontonniers and engineers build bridges, the trestle bridges being a specialty of the engineers.

The following are types of military bridges:

Rolling Bridge:

A type of wagon composed of two carriages connected by a coupling pole, two rear wheels, two fore wheels, twelve beams and twelve large flooring shutters, as well as carrying all the other material to construct the bridge itself. These bridges are useful in crossing creeks and portions of rivers which are five or six feet deep. The length of the bridge itself when emplaced is almost 45 feet. If the obstacle to be crossed is longer, additional rolling bridges must be used.

Flying Bridge:

This is also known as a ferry. It is constructed with either two boats or pontoons that are lashed together and is attached to a long cable to an anchor grounded in the water obstacle to be crossed. It can also be attached to a fixed point on one of the riverbanks, such as a tree or a large rock. The cable has to be long enough to reach both banks of the river. The bridge will navigate the obstacle more efficiently and quickly if the cable is longer so that the arc it describes will be shorter. The cable must remain above the surface of the water so that it will not become entangled in any obstacles in the river itself. Small boats should be posted at the crossing point in the river to which the cable can be attached. Butments need to be constructed on both sides of the river where the bridge will land. Alternately and additionally, a cable can be fixed to the flying bridge itself, fastened to both banks in order to ferry the bridge over the water obstacle.

Raft Bridge:

These are constructed in order to facilitate and conceal a hasty crossing of a water obstacle. They can be used on wide rivers as well as smaller ones. They can be constructed on site as long as there is sufficient wood from a forest for the task. Rafts were constructed and used with effect to ferry troops across the river at the crossing of the Berezina in 1812 and then used to assist in the construction of the two trestle bridges.

Flying Raft Bridge:

This is the combination of using rafts with the apparatus of a flying bridge, though the rafts themselves are not square but in the shape of a trapezoid.

Trestle Bridge:

Also called pont a chevalets. This bridge is supported by wooden trestles which are sunk into the bed of the river that support the roadway of the bridge. Usually the trestles were six feet high, but can be as high as either feet and should only be construced across streams or rivers four feet deep to allow space between the surface of the water and the floor of the bridge. Trestly bridges were an engineer specialty, though pontoneers and sailors could also construct them when necessary.

Cable Bridge:

Also known as ponts de cordes. These are used to cross both deep ravines and fast-flowing rivers that would inhibit the construction of either trestle bridges or pontoon bridges.
Pile Bridge: Also known as ponts de pilotis. These are constructed when either boat or pontoon bridges cannot resist the rapidity and strength of a river current. They are constructed with large timbers of eleven or twelve inches in diameter and high enough in proportion to the depth of the water obstacle. The wooden piles are driven into the riverbed with a pile-driver, an engine built specifically for that purpose. It is a large ram which is raised to the top of two guide posts and is then dropped on the top of the pile, or timber, to drive it securely into the river bed. It can be powered by either men or horses and may be with or without wheel work. Those with wheel works are called sonettes, and are found in the field equipment of the engineer train. The piles are driven into the riverbed by twos breadthways and are usually 18 to 28 feet apart, based on the rapidity of the current.

Cask or Barrel Bridge:

These are constructed by a number of empty casks supporting the planks of the walkway. They are used when pontoons or baots are not available. Five tons of casks would support 9,000 pounds above the water.

Pontoon Bridge:

Also referred to sometimes as boat bridges, even though the definitions of each are somewhat different. Pontoon bridges were ‘thrown' across a river, the pontoons being carried in four-wheeled hacquets in the pontoon train. In the Grande Armee the pontonniers were assigned by company to the units, usually one each to the Cavalry Reserve, each corps d'armee, the army parc, and the Imperial Guard, which would have its own pontonniers eventually. It took one company of pontonniers seven hours to emplace or ‘throw' a pontoon bridge of between sixty to eighty pontoons which would be between 350 and 500 feet long. The pontoons would be brought on the hacquets to the river's edge and launched into the water, being ‘attached' to the bank by ropes and steadied in the water by anchors. The planks for the roadway would then be laid in order to the troops, horses, and guns to cross.

This artillery manual is out of copyright.

The basic difference between a pontoon and a boat bridge is that the former is constructed from regulation pontoons carried on hacquets while the latter is actually constructed from boats available or found on the waterway to be crossed. In function, they are almost identical.

That Rolling Bridge looks interesting – is there an image available?

Olicana if nothing else you have inspired me

Another stop to the model train store and found these,
Pictured are my Prussian pontoon company, so some planking to span, file off bottom flat on 2 boiats and a search for a flat bed wagon and I might be set.

The bridge of boats at Nijmegen as shown on the plate by 42flanker wasn't a miltary made shipbridge but a civilian one, used for "normal" traffic accros the Waal river.

I sure do miss the Drum's pontoon models!

>>Pretty sure Minifigs have/had a wagon with a choice of loads, among them a single pontoon (i.e. the shallow-draft boat), but I may be "misremembering..

Yes, they have a long limber and pontoon but nothing more than French pontonniers (at least in 25mm wearing corse-huts). you use normal limber horses for train.
Hinchliffe had several special bridges and extensions for them. Still do!
D