![]() ![]() Matthew William Thompson, the chairman of the Midland Railway. Spanning the Forth appeared to be in danger of becoming numbered among the apparently impossible things when the idea was revived by Mr. The Board of Trade subsequently decreed that if such a bridge were undertaken it would have to be designed to withstand a wind pressure of fifty- six pounds per square foot on the surface of the side elevation of the bridge. He had allowed for a wind pressure of but ten pounds per square foot, an inadequate provision for such a structure as he proposed. The Tay Bridge disaster, however, was not without its value, for had the Bouch Forth Bridge been built it would have come down with the first heavy north- easterly gale that blew along the Firth of Forth. The extent of this catastrophe and the details which were revealed as a result of the subsequent inquiry made public opinion antagonistic to Sir Thomas Bouch’s proposal for bridging the Forth. The mighty arm of a cantilever, stretching into mid- air, is to be joined to another cantilever by a central girder 350 ft in length and 30 ft broad at the rail level. Of the seventy- two people on the train not one escaped.ĬLOSING THE GAP. ![]() During the stormy night of Sunday December 28, 1879, the central part of Bouch’s other great work, the Tay Bridge, fell into the Tay while a passenger train was crossing from shore to shore. At the time these delays were exasperating, but it but it was providential that they occurred. The contract was secured by a well- known engineering firm but, unfortunately, several delays arose, which postponed the start of the work until 1879. To carry out the work the Forth Bridge Company was formed, with a capital of £1,666,666. The engineer succeeded in satisfying his supporters of the possibility of such a bridge, and the requisite parliamentary sanction was obtained in 1873. His design contemplated a suspension bridge somewhat similar to the Clifton, Brooklyn, and other bridges of this type, with two spans, each of 1,600 ft in length. This engineer, who carried out the first Tay Bridge, evolved a startling proposal. Bouch preferred this point because the Firth here is narrowed to one and a half miles, while in the middle of the estuary is the rocky islet of Inchgarvie. ![]() In 1872, however, Sir Thomas Bouch advanced a proposal to bridge the Forth at the old Queen’s Ferry, which is familiar to readers of Sir Walter Scott’s novels. The urgency of some short cut across the waterway had been appreciated years previously, and both tunnelling and bridging schemes were outlined, discussed, and abandoned as impracticable. The matter became imperative, owing to the acute competition of the West Coast Route. This put the East Coast Route at such a great disadvantage that the North British Railway Company, which was the system most vitally affected, set out to obtain direct railway communication across the estuary. Travellers to Dundee, therefore, favoured the West Coast Route via Carlisle, because this way afforded direct communication.Īn all- rail route did exist on the east coast, but it meant a detour of seventy miles via Stirling to reach Burntisland from Edinburgh, although the two points on opposite sides of the Forth are only about eight miles apart. Before the bridging of the Forth a train- ferry plied across the estuary from Granton, Leith, to Burntisland, but this was inconvenient, slow, and uncomfortable. This way to the North runs via Newcastle and Edinburgh to Perth, Dundee, and points beyond. When railways began to grow and reached farther out until at last they offered the possibility of an east coast route between London and the northern centres of Scotland, this wide estuary offered a great obstacle to continuous communication. There are some things, however, which stand supreme, and among them is the Forth Bridge, which spans the storm- swept indentation on the East Scottish coast known as the Firth of Forth. Improvements and inventions follow in quick succession. MANY railway wonders cease to be wonders with the passing years. A glance at the ground level, and at the surrounding country, gives a vivid impression of the height of the cantilever. ![]() Three cantilevers were built - one at the Queensferry shore of the Firth of Forth another at the Fife shore and a third on Inchgarvie Island. ONE OF THE GIANT CANTILEVERS of the Forth bridge during the early stages of its construction. Spanning the Firth of Forth at a Cost of £3,000,000 ![]()
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