Early Winter Tay Railway Bridge Over Firth Of Tay On History Visit To Dundee Tayside Scotland

Tour Scotland early Winter 4K travel video of a diesel passenger train crossing the Tay Railway Bridge over the Firth of Tay on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Dundee, Tayside. The present bridge is the second one this site. From about 1854, there had been plans for a Tay crossing, to replace an early train ferry. The first bridge, opened in 1878, was a single track lattice design, notable for lightness and low cost. Its sudden collapse in a high wind on 28 December 1879 was one of the great engineering disasters of history. Seventy five passengers and crew died. The second bridge is a double track construction of iron and steel, opened in 1887 and still in service. The Tay Bridge carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. The original Tay Bridge was constructed in the 19th century by noted railway engineer Thomas Bouch, who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion. It was a lattice-grid design, combining cast and wrought 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. However, the structure was not as heavily loaded as a railway bridge, such as the Dee bridge which fell in 1847 due to poor use of cast iron girders. Later, Gustave Eiffel would use the same design to create several large viaducts in the Massif Central in 1867. Several proposals for constructing a bridge across River Tay date back to at least 1854. The North British Railway, Tay Bridge Act, was incorporated on July 15, 1870 and the foundation stone was laid on July 22 of the following year. The first engine to cross the bridge was on September 22, 1877 and upon its completion in early 1878, the Tay bridge was among the longest in the world. The bridge was officially opened by Queen Victoria on June 1, 1878. While visiting the city, the 18th President of the United States , Ulysses S. Grant commented that it was a big bridge for a small city. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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