The Thornhill Star made her forty-fourth crossing of the day at half past nine on Saturday evening, carrying nineteen passengers across the Ashwater in thirteen minutes and twenty seconds. It was, by that point, routine.
The emergency ferry service’s second day of operation recorded 7,400 passenger crossings — a decline of roughly ten per cent from Friday’s 8,200, consistent with reduced weekend commuter traffic. Peak-hour queues at Thornhill Reach were shorter than Friday’s, at approximately ten to fifteen minutes. The backup vessel, Bramblegate Belle, was not deployed.
“Weekdays will be the test,” said Gwen Alderly of Ashwater River Services. “Monday morning, 7 AM, rain forecast. That’s when we’ll know what this service really looks like.”
Three hundred and ninety monthly passes have now been sold, up from 340 on Thursday.
The Tender
Monday at noon, the Municipal Works Office will formally open the repair tender for Fernwick Bridge — the 112-year-old iron suspension bridge whose closure on 21 February prompted the ferry service.
Chief Engineer Dorothea Kinnear’s specifications require complete replacement of all four suspension cables. Two potential manufacturers have been identified: a domestic firm that has not previously produced cables at Fernwick’s scale, and an established manufacturer in the Ashford Republic whose products would require importation.
The estimated cost remains 55 to 65 million florins, with a timeline of 8 to 12 months. Tenders will be accepted for twenty-eight days.
Beneath the Wharf
Separately, Kinnear has ordered a foundation assessment of the old commercial wharf at Bramblegate Steps, which now serves as the southern ferry terminal. The assessment follows last week’s discovery by surveyor Pella Strand that the buried conduit — the brick-lined waterway traced 780 metres beneath the Docklands — terminates in a stone-arched outfall directly beneath the wharf structure.
The outfall, dating to 1782, is partially silted but still carrying flowing water. Examination of the wharf’s pilings suggests the original builders placed them to avoid the conduit channel — they knew it was there.
“The wharf is stable,” Kinnear said. “But stable and assessed are different words, and I want the second one.”
The Bobington Historical Preservation Society has requested heritage listing for the conduit and its outfall. Strand’s full survey report is expected by the end of March.