Both the previous locations that the bridge was located whilst in preservation were Local Authority run sites and certainly the latter at Snibston was the victim of cutbacks made in Local Government spending, though there was an awful lot of controversy about this particular closure at the time, particularly given the amount of money that had been spent to establish the Museum at a former colliery in the first place!
Most of the exhibits from that site are still in storage and not on public view, though a few of them have made it to Mountsorrel for display there.
Hopefully the latest location for the bridge will not have to close as the site it is on is a former granite quarry which is leased from the quarry owners but is basically useless for any other redevelopment. The Heritage Centre is structured as a not-for-profit and is well supported by volunteers and locals alike. The fact that is linked to the preserved Great Central Railway operation by a short branch line which is now an integral part of their train operations (think its running on 26 dates this year - up from less than 6 last year) will hopefully mean that the site continues to develop further.

A couple of photos that I took yesterday with the lifting chains now in-situ, albeit with only one of them actually attached to the bridge deck so far......


This is a view of the "viewing" side of the operating mechanism/display bulding that has a number of large windows to enable visitors to see inside to view the hand operated lifting gear and various models and other displays relating to the bridge....

There is still a lot to do, but they are hoping to get the project completed by the Fall of this year with an official completion event following either later this year, or, more likely, next Spring (In better weather...)

Was sent this image yesterday of the bridge as it was last week....

Basically all the mechanisms, balance weights, etc, are now in place and it's only the actual manual lifting mechanism that needs connecting up to the structure to make it work.
Hopefully I should be able to see it for myself in a months time, by which time everything should be connected up!

The bridge had its first public experimental lift today.......
Before

After

There is still a lot of adjusting - mainly by trial and error - to get the balance weights right so that it lifts horizontally without tilting at one end or the other as there are no guide rails to hold the thing in place or level. That explains the concrete blocks dangling from the original metal weights and new weights will be cast accordingly once the required loads have been determined.
The bridge was actually only designed to lift by about 4'8" which was sufficient to clear any canal barges passing underneath.

Is the lift Armstrong powered? Or is there a motor of some kind?

It has been restored as a manually operated lifting mechanism - a winding handle connected to a horizontal drive shaft by means of a chain - though I believe it may have been driven by an electric motor during the latter stages of its life when at its original location.
The whole thing can be lifted by one person turning the handle with very little effort - hence the reason for the balance counterweights which are set to the approximate weight of the lifting structure itself.
One of the problems is getting an optimum weight set up for the counterbalances as the bridge deck weight will vary depending on whether the wood is dry or wet!

This is a screenshot from a short video on the sites FB page....

For the film clip itself, have a look at...
https://www.facebook.com/p/Mountsorrel- ... cale=en_GB
..and scroll down a few posts.