Discovering
Edinburgh...
By Bob McCulloch ©
Forth Rail Bridge confidence in Bouch had been shattered and 4,200 tons, paint oils 35, 527 gallons, paint 250
the fact that trains still operated on over 300 tons. Total cost was £3.2 million.
Scotland’s largest listed building and recognised miles of railway he had constructed counted for
all over the world as a symbol of strength, the nothing. The Tay Bridge had fallen. Bouch would
On a hot day the bridge is one meter longer
Forth Bridge has an iconic status. The oldest be held responsible. Due to the disaster there
than in winter due to heat expansion. For many
and second largest cantilever bridge in the world entered into the language a saying: “To make a
years it was believed that the grim cost of the
it is a tribute to the Victorian engineers who had Bouch of it”, meaning to make a mess of things.
bridge was 57 lives and was regarded as very
the foresight and workforce to make it possible. Bouch retreated to his house in Moffat where he
good for the times but due to research by local
With the expansion of the Railways and the hid for 4 months after the report on the disaster
historians this total has been upwardly revised
competition between the rival companies to which destroyed him, was published. He died
to 98 and a much overdue memorial to the
open up the routes to Dundee and Aberdeen on 1
st
November 1890 and is buried in the Dean
dead is intended to be erected at the Hawes
the need for a crossing over the Forth and Tay cemetery.
Pier. An accident and sickness logbook has
been discovered which records 26,000 entries,
which suggests that health and safety was not
of paramount importance. As workers in the
caissons were working 90ft below sea level
under compressed air, conditions they were
susceptible to crippling pains and even death.
This became known as caissons disease but
later would be recognised as the bends suffered
when divers surface too quickly allowing
nitrogen in the bloodstream to form bubbles
and lodge in the joints. Most of the accidents
involved falling tools or materials. It is also
recorded that 8 men were rescued by safety
boats positioned below the working areas; a
casualty station was opened in the garden of
the Hawes Inn to treat injured workers, a bit
ironical when you consider William Arrol stated
that many of the accidents were due “to the
hospitality and whisky at the Hawes Inn”. To
gain a perspective of the work involved, stand
on Waverley Bridge and look towards the Castle
and imagine trying to span the distance with a
structure weighing 150,000 tons with no central
supports. The rail level would be as high as the
Esplanade, and the highest point would be the
same height as the Scott Monument.
The Marquess of Tweedale drove the first train
Rivers became imperative. The North British
across the completed bridge on January 21
st

Railway Company recruited an engineer called
However, it would take more than a disaster to
1890. Two trains were taken onto the bridge their
Thomas Bouch who convinced the directors that
stop the growth of the railways and before 1880 gross weight of 1,800 tons was made up of 100
the two rivers could be bridged. The foundation
was out the railway companies were looking at coal wagons and 6 locos weighing 73 tons apiece;
stone for the Tay Bridge was laid in July 1871
other designs. Almost three years to the day board of trade inspectors took readings along the
and the Forth Bridge in 1873.
after the Tay Bridge disaster the contract for a bridge and were satisfied that the structure was

new bridge over the River Forth was awarded rigid and safe. On Tuesday 4
th
March 1890, the
The Tay Bridge took seven years to build and
to Tancred Arrol and Company. The designers bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales who
had been opened only 19 months when on
were Fowler and Baker. The statistics are that drove home the last of the rivets, a gold plated one
December 28
th
1879, Bouch at the zenith of
5,000 men laboured day and night for seven that was removed after the ceremony. When the
his powers was at home in Edinburgh when
years, the bridge has a length of over one mile, bridge was completed one of the engineers was
he received the following telegram: “Terrible
has two spans of 1710ft. and two spans of asked how long it would last and he replied, “For
690ft. The highest point above sea level at high ever if you look after it”.
accident on Bridge, one or more of the high
tide is 361ft. The height of the rails above sea
girders blown down am not sure of the safety of
level at high tide is 158ft. The depth below sea In 1907, 30,000 trains with a combined weight
last Edinburgh train”. Daylight revealed that the
level is 91ft. During construction the following of 14.5 million tons crossed the bridge in
bridge had collapsed into the Tay estuary taking
quantities were used: Concrete 64,300 cubic contrast to the year 2000 when 60,000 trains
with it the Edinburgh train and an estimated 75
yards, steel 54,160 tons, cement 21,000 tons, with a combined weight of 10.5 million made
passengers to their deaths. An Act of Parliament
granite 740,000 cubic ft, ordinary stone 48,400 the crossing. The anomaly is explained by the
stopped work on the Forth Bridge. Public
cubic yards, rivets. 6,500,000, which equals fact that modern trains are lighter and with the
28 29
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