A railway bridge over the Firth of Tay or just a bridge across the Tay ( English Tay Bridge ) - a railway bridge across the Firth of Tay in Scotland , connects the city of Dundee with the Fife region . After construction at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the railway ferry . A 2.25 km long modern automobile bridge is thrown across the estuary .
| Bridge over the Firth of Tay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Official name | Tay rail bridge |
| Application area | railway |
| Crosses | Firth of Tay |
| Location | Dundee |
| Design | |
| Type of construction | cross-bridge |
| Material | |
| total length | 3264 m |
| Exploitation | |
| Opening | June 1, 1878 (first) July 13, 1887 (second) |
| Closing | December 28, 1879 (first) |
Content
First Bridge
The first bridge over the Firth of Tay was designed by renowned engineer Thomas Bauch , who was knighted for it. [1] The bridge had a lattice structure and was made of ordinary and malleable cast iron . [2] It was not possible to realize the initial design of the bridge due to the insufficiently good inspection of the bottom of the estuary, therefore, after the start of construction, Bauch had to change the plan, reducing the number of supports and making each span longer. The first locomotive crossed the bridge on September 22, 1877, and after completion at the beginning of 1878, the bridge over the Thay became the longest in the world. For regular traffic, the bridge was opened on June 1, 1878. [3]
On the evening of December 28, 1879 at 19:15, presumably due to two or three water tornadoes, the collapse of the central spans of the bridge occurred [4] . The train passing on it at that moment, on which 75 people were traveling, ended up in the icy water of the Tey River. All passengers died, including son-in-law of Thomas Bauch himself. The catastrophe caused the widest resonance throughout the country and in the community of engineers of the Victorian era . Subsequent proceedings revealed that the bridge structure could not withstand strong winds, and the quality of the material from which the bridge structures were made was also very low. The bridge could not stand the double load: the hurricane wind and the train passing through it, fatigue destruction occurred. The steam locomotive of the drowned train was lifted, repaired and returned to operation, but on a different line. Bauch did not survive the incident and after the investigation died on October 30, 1880 from a heart attack. [one]
New Bridge
The new double-track bridge was built of steel from 1882 to 1887 by William Henry Barlow 18 meters upstream parallel to the old bridge. [5] The first stone was laid on July 6, 1883. Construction required 25 thousand tons of iron and steel, 70 thousand tons of concrete, 10 million bricks weighing 37.5 thousand tons and 3 million rivets. During the construction process, 14 people died, mainly due to drowning. The bridge was opened on July 13, 1887. In 2003, a bridge worth £ 20.85 million was restored.
The Bridge over Thei in Art
- The collapse of the first bridge is dedicated to the episode of the novel by Archibald Cronin " Brody Castle ". Among the dead passengers was Denis Foyle - one of the main characters of the work.
- The disaster of 1879 is dedicated to the most famous poem of the "worst poet of the world" by William McGonagall .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Sir Thomas Bouch (1822-1880 ) . Structurae. Date of treatment January 10, 2010.
- ↑ Firth of Tay Bridge (1877 ) . Structurae. Date of treatment January 10, 2010.
- ↑ Thomas, John. The North British Railway, vol. 1.- Newton Abbot: David & Charles , 1969 .-- ISBN 0-7153-4697-0 .
- ↑ TORRO - British & European Tornado Extremes . www.torro.org.uk. Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Firth of Tay Bridge (1887 ) . Structurae. Date of treatment January 10, 2010.
See also
- Railway bridge over the Firth of Forth
- Train wreck list
Links
- Tay Bridge - railscot.co.uk
- N. Bernstein The collapse of the Thayan bridge "Science and Life", February 1966