The idea of a transporter bridge is basically that goods, vehicles, passengers etc. are raised to a suitable height and then carried across the obstacle (normally a river) in a 'cage' or 'gondola'. They are mainly used in places where it's impractical to build the long approach ramps that would be required to reach a high span, and where ferries are not easily able to cross.
Because they can carry only a limited load, the idea was little used after the coming of the motor car.
The idea of the transporter bridge was conceived in 1873 by Charles Smith, the manager of an engine works in Hartlepool. He called it a "bridge ferry" and unsuccessfully presented his ideas to councils in Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, and Glasgow.
Wikipedia tells us that "fewer than two dozen" transporter bridges were ever built, and that the first of them is one of twelve around the world that are still in use today. Built in 1893 and known as the Vizcaya Bridge, it spans the mouth of the Nervion River, in Spain's Biscay province, linking the towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas.
There are currently four transporter bridges in the UK. The most famous of them is the one in Middlesbrough, which was featured in the 2002 series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, when it was dismantled and re–erected in Arizona.
Wikipedia mentions three transporter bridges that crossed the River Mersey, although only one of them stands today and it's no longer in use. This is the Warrington Transporter Bridge, which was built between 1913 and 1915 to carry goods between the two parts of a chemical works. It fell into disuse in about 1964, but is still a designated Grade II listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Because of its poor condition it is on the Heritage at Risk Register.
The first transporter bridge across the Mersey also crossed the Manchester Ship Canal. Erected in 1905, it was Britain's first transporter bridge and the largest that was ever built anywhere in the world. It continued in use until 1961, when it was replaced by a through arch bridge, now known as the Silver Jubilee Bridge. The transporter bridge was then demolished.
Wikipedia mentions a second transporter bridge over the Mersey, which was built in 1905, slightly to the north of where the Warrington Transporter Bridge was built some eight to ten years later. It doesn't mention the fate of this bridge however, and I can't find any information about it anywhere else on the Internet.
The Newport Transporter Bridge is the only one still operational in the UK, apart from the one in Middlesbrough. It was built in 1906 to span the River Usk.
The modern Royal Victoria Dock Bridge, though designed with the potential to be used as a transporter bridge, has so far only been used as a high–level footbridge.
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