Tay Rail Bridge - Citizendia

Tay Rail Bridge
Tay Bridge at Dundee, Scotland from the Dundee Law
Carries	Rail traffic
Crosses	Firth of Tay
Locale	Dundee to Wormit
Total length	3,264 metres (10,710 ft)
Beginning date of construction	July 22, 1871 (1^st) July 6, 1883 (2^nd)
Completion date	early 1878 (1^st) 1887 (2^nd)
Opening date	June 1, 1878 (1^st) July 13, 1887 (2^nd)
Destruction date	December 28, 1879 (1^st)
Coordinates	56.43872° N 2.988486° W

A view of the Tay Bridge from Dundee

Tay Bridge, central section

Original Tay Bridge from the north

Fallen Tay Bridge from the north

Tay Bridge after the disaster, from the south

Tay Bridge Disaster (1879)

The Tay Bridge (sometimes unofficially the Tay Rail Bridge) is a railway bridge approximately two and a quarter miles (three and a half kilometres) long^[1] that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife (grid reference NO391277). The Firth of Tay ( Scottish Gaelic: Linne Tatha) is a Firth in Scotland between the Council areas of Fife, Perth and Dundee (Dùn Dèagh is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council Wormit is a small town located on the banks of the Firth of Tay in north east Fife, Scotland. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1887 ( MDCCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Year 1887 ( MDCCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. "Railroad" and "Railway" both redirect here For other uses see Railroad (disambiguation. A bridge is a Structure built to span a Gorge, Valley, Road, railroad track, River, Body of water A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand The Firth of Tay ( Scottish Gaelic: Linne Tatha) is a Firth in Scotland between the Council areas of Fife, Perth and Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Dundee (Dùn Dèagh is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council Wormit is a small town located on the banks of the Firth of Tay in north east Fife, Scotland. Fife ( Gaelic: Fìobha) is a Council area of Scotland, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude

As with the Forth Bridge, the Tay Bridge has also been called the Tay Rail Bridge since the construction of a road bridge over the firth, the Tay Road Bridge. For the nearby road bridge see Forth Road Bridge. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever Railway Bridge over the The Tay Road Bridge is an important road Bridge in Scotland. It crosses the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to The rail bridge replaced an early train ferry. See also Merchant ship A train ferry is a Ship designed to carry railway vehicles

1 The first Tay Bridge
- 1.1 The Tay Bridge Disaster
  - 1.1.1 Official enquiry
  - 1.1.2 Works of literature about the disaster
2 A second bridge
3 See also

The first Tay Bridge

The original Tay Bridge was constructed in the 19th century. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar It was designed by noted railway engineer Thomas Bouch, who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion. An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. Sir Thomas Bouch (ˈbaʊtʃ ( 25 February 1822 - 30 October 1880) was a Railway Engineer in Victorian Britain It was a lattice-grid design, combining cast and wrought iron. Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but identifies a large group of Ferrous Alloys which solidify with a Eutectic. QtubIronPillarJPG|thumb|right| Iron pillar at Delhi India containing 98% wrought iron]] Wrought iron is commercially pure Iron. The design was well known, having been used first by Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858, following the innovative use of cast iron in The Crystal Palace. Crumlin (Crymlyn is a Town in Caerphilly County borough in south Wales, situated in the Ebbw River valley, five The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and Glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the However, the Crystal Palace was not as heavily loaded as a railway bridge, such as the Dee bridge which collapsed in 1847 due to poor use of cast-iron girders. The Dee bridge disaster was an English Rail accident that occurred on 24 May 1847 with five fatalities Later, Gustave Eiffel used a similar design to create several large viaducts in the Massif Central (1867). Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( December 15, 1832 &ndash December 27, 1923; in French efɛl in English usually ˈaɪfəl was a French The Massif Central ( Occitan: Massís Central / Massís Centrau) is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of Mountains and

Proposals for constructing a bridge across the River Tay date back to at least 1854. The North British Railway (Tay Bridge) Act received the Royal Assent on July 15, 1870 and the foundation stone was laid on July 22, 1871. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common As the bridge extended out into the river, it shortly became clear that the original survey of the estuary had not been competent. The bedrock, at a shallow depth near the banks, was found to descend deeper and deeper, until it was too deep to act as a foundation for the bridge piers. Bouch had to redesign the piers, and to set them very deep in the estuary bed to compensate for having no support underneath. He also reduced the number of piers by making the spans of the superstructure girders much longer than before. This made them greater than the maximum length without taking into account wind loadings.

The first engine crossed the bridge on September 22, 1877, and upon its completion in early 1878 the Tay Bridge was among the longest in the world. Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The bridge was opened on June 1, 1878. Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common ^[2]

While visiting the city, Ulysses S. Grant commented that it was "a big bridge for a small city". Ulysses S Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27 1822 &ndash July 23 1885 was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States

The Tay Bridge Disaster

During a violent storm on the evening of 28 December 1879, the centre section of the bridge, known as the "High Girders", collapsed, taking with it a train that was running on its single track. A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic storm that tracks across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe in the winter months Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common 75 lives were lost, including that of Sir Thomas's son-in-law. The total number was only established by a meticulous examination of ticket sales, some from as far away as King's Cross. King's Cross station is a major railway terminus opened in 1852 ^[3]^[4] Forty-six of the sixty known victims were found, with two bodies not being recovered until February 1880. ^[5]A common 19th century urban myth in Dundee was that Karl Marx would have been a passenger on the fatal train of 1879 had illness not prevented him from travelling. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them

Investigators quickly determined many faults in design, materials, and processes that had contributed to the failure. No allowance for wind load had been made by Bouch^[6]: he had been advised that this was unnecessary for girders shorter than 200ft, and had not followed this up for his new design with longer girders. The section in the middle of the bridge, where the rail ran inside high girders (through trusses), rather than on top of lower ones (deck trusses), to allow a sea lane below high enough for the masts of ships, was potentially top heavy and very vulnerable to high winds. Neither Bouch nor the contractor appeared to have regularly visited the on-site foundry where iron from the previous half-built bridge was recycled. The cylindrical cast iron columns supporting the 13 longest spans of the bridge, each 245 ft (75 m) long, were of poor quality. Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but identifies a large group of Ferrous Alloys which solidify with a Eutectic. Span is a section between two intermediate supports eg of a beam or a Bridge. Many had been cast horizontally, with the result that the walls were not of even thickness, and there was some evidence that imperfect castings were disguised from the (very inadequate) quality control inspections. In particular, many of the lugs used as attachment points for the wrought iron bracing bars had been "burnt on" rather than cast with the columns. QtubIronPillarJPG|thumb|right| Iron pillar at Delhi India containing 98% wrought iron]] Wrought iron is commercially pure Iron. The lugs were tested for the Inquiry by David Kirkaldy and proved to break at only 20 tons rather than the expected load of 60 tons. David Kirkaldy (1820 – 1897 was a Scottish engineer who pioneered the testing of materials as a service to engineers during the Victorian period It is believed that, during the storm, these lugs failed and destabilised the entire centre part of the bridge.

Official enquiry

The official enquiry was chaired by Henry Cadogan Rothery, Commissioner of Wrecks, supported by Colonel Yolland (Inspector of Railways) and civil engineer William Henry Barlow. Henry Cadogan Rothery (1817 – 2 August, 1888) was an English Lawyer and Wreck commissioner, especially remembered for chairing the William Yolland (born 17 March 1810 in Plympton St Mary, Devon – died 5 September 1885 in Atherstone, William Henry Barlow (1812-1902 was an English Civil engineer of the 19th century particularly associated with Railway engineering projects They concluded that the bridge was "badly designed, badly built and badly maintained, and that its downfall was due to inherent defects in the structure, which must sooner or later have brought it down". ^[7]

There was clear evidence that the central structure had been deteriorating for months before the final accident. The maintenance inspector, Henry Noble, had heard the joints of the wrought-iron tie-bars "chattering" a few months after the bridge opened in June 1878, a sound indicating that the joints had loosened. This made many of the tie-bars useless for bracing the cast-iron piers. Noble did not attempt to re-tighten the joints, but hammered shims of iron between them in an attempt to stop the rattling. ^[3]

The problem continued until the collapse of the High Girders. It indicated that the centre section was unstable to lateral movement, something observed by painters working on the bridge in the summer of 1879. Passengers on north-bound trains complained about the strange motion of the carriages, but this was, apparently, ignored by the bridge's owners, the North British Railway. The North British Railway was a Scottish railway company that was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923 The Lord Provost of Dundee had reportedly timed trains on the bridge, and found they were travelling at about 40 mph, well in excess of the official limit of 25 mph.

The enquiry destroyed Bouch's professional reputation: "For these defects both in the design, the construction and the maintenance, Sir Thomas Bouch is, in our opinion, mainly to blame. For the faults of design he is entirely responsible". The Board of Trade, concerned about Bouch's design for the planned Forth Rail Bridge on the same railway line, imposed a specification of 56 pounds force per square foot (2. For the nearby road bridge see Forth Road Bridge. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever Railway Bridge over the 7 kPa). The contract for the new Forth Bridge was awarded to William Arrol & Co. using designs by Benjamin Baker and John Fowler. Sir William Arrol & Co was a leading Scottish Civil engineering business based in Glasgow. Sir Benjamin Baker, KCB, KCMG, FRS ( 31 March 1840 - 19 May 1907) was an eminent British Sir John Fowler 1st Baronet KCMG ( 15 July 1817 &ndash 10 November 1898) was a Railway Engineer in Bouch died within a year of the disaster.

Only the locomotive (NBR 224) survived the disaster, being salvaged from the river and repaired at Cowlairs. A 4-4-0 is a type of Steam locomotive. In the Whyte notation, 4-4-0 signifies that it has a two-axle Bogie ( Am Cowlairs is a District in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde. It remained in service until 1919, acquiring the nickname of "The Diver"; many superstitious drivers were reluctant to take it over the newly rebuilt bridge.

Works of literature about the disaster

The Victorian poet William Topaz McGonagall commemorated this event in his poem The Tay Bridge Disaster. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" William Topaz McGonagall (1825 &ndash 29 September, 1902) was a Scottish weaver, Actor and Poet. The Tay Bridge Disaster is an internationally-known Poem by the Scottish Poet William McGonagall, who has been widely acclaimed as Likewise, German poet Theodor Fontane, shocked by the news, wrote his poem Die Brück' am Tay (with obvious allusions to William Shakespeare and Friedrich von Schiller). The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Theodor Fontane (ˈtʰeodoɐ̯ fɔnˈtaːnə December 30, 1819 – September 20, 1898) was a German Novelist and William Shakespeare ( baptised Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller krɪstɔf friːtʁɪç fɔn ʃɪləʁ/ʃɪlɐ (10 November 1759 9 May 1805 was a German Poet, Philosopher It was published only ten days after the tragedy happened. Hatter's Castle, the 1931 novel of Scottish author A. J. Cronin, includes a scene involving the Tay Bridge Disaster, and the 1942 filmed version of the book dramatically recreates the bridge's catastrophic collapse. Hatter's Castle ( 1931) is the first novel of author AJ Cronin. The Scots people ( Scots Gaelic: Albannaich) are a Nation and an Ethnic group indigenous to Scotland. Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896–6 January 1981 was Hatter's Castle is a 1941 British film adaptation of the 1931 novel by A The bridge collapse figures prominently in Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell's) 2002 novel "The Blood Doctor". Ruth Barbara Rendell Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, (born 17 February 1930) who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an The Blood Doctor is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine Scottish author Sorche nic Leodhas (collector/reteller of Scottish fairy tales and ghost stories) wrote a story "The Tay Bridge Train" (told as a true story before she wrote it down) (many people told stories to her father), about a man who survives because he is warned (by the ghost of his best friend) not to take the Tay Bridge train.

A second bridge

A closeup of the central section of the second Tay Bridge

A new double-track bridge was designed by William Henry Barlow and built by William Arrol & Co. 60 ft (18 m) slightly upstream of, and parallel to, the original bridge. William Henry Barlow (1812-1902 was an English Civil engineer of the 19th century particularly associated with Railway engineering projects Sir William Arrol & Co was a leading Scottish Civil engineering business based in Glasgow. The bridge proposal was formally incorporated in July 1881 and the foundation stone laid on July 6, 1883. Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Construction involved 25,000 tons of iron and steel, 70,000 tons of concrete, ten million bricks (weighing 37,500 tons) and three million rivets. Concrete is a construction material composed of Cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as Fly ash and Slag A brick is a block of Ceramic material used in Masonry construction laid using mortar. A rivet is a mechanical Fastener. Before it is installed it consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end Fourteen men lost their lives during its construction, mostly due to drowning.

The second bridge opened on 13 July 1887 and remains in use. Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Year 1887 ( MDCCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common In 2003, a £20. 85 million strengthening and refurbishment project on the bridge won the British Construction Industry Civil Engineering Award, in consideration of the staggering scale and logistics involved. The British Construction Industry Awards were launched by the New Civil Engineer magazine and Thomas Telford Ltd - both owned by the Institution of Civil Engineers More than 1,000 tonnes of bird droppings were scraped off the ironwork lattice of the bridge using hand tools, and bagged into 25 kg sacks. Hundreds of thousands of rivets were removed and replaced, all work being done in very exposed conditions, high over a firth with fast-running tides. A rivet is a mechanical Fastener. Before it is installed it consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end Firth is the Lowland Scots word used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland.

The stumps of the original bridge piers are still visible above the surface of the Tay even at high tide.

The full length of the second Tay Bridge.

"Tay Bridge" was also the codename for the funeral plans for Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite 4 August 1900 &ndash 30 March 2002 was the Queen Consort of King George

Contents

The first Tay Bridge

The Tay Bridge Disaster

Official enquiry

Works of literature about the disaster

A second bridge

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links