Talk:Bridge plate (mechanism)

Question

When were bridge plates invented, where, and by whom? When did they first come into use in various places? When did they become ubiquitous in various placs? Is there a patent on them?

Isn't this far too narrow a scope?

This article describes a bridgeplate as a "wheelchair ramp" for rail wheelchair access. But isn't a bridgeplate any kind of ramp that spans the gap between a rail vehicle and a platform, for wheelchairs or for people?

I'm used to the 14+ -foot long bridgeplates used to allow temporary access to an interior railroad track from a high platform, passing over the the track that is adjacent to the platform, like shown in the picture here: https://twitter.com/MetroNorth/status/1150027228392185856 (see top). These get used when the platform-accessible track is out of service so trains that stop at the station stop at a track that normally has no platform access. I suppose there could be another article for these, but they seem like they are the same thing, only this article describes a very narrow aspect of them. (If I had to guess, I would have thought the larger, longer, temporary kind was more prevalent, although I could imagine that might have changed in recent years as there are more [light] rail vehicles with built in wheelchair ramps?) jhawkinson (talk) 14:47, 14 July 2019 (UTC)