The Fall of the Tay Bridge

Front Cover
Birlinn Ltd, Oct 20, 2016 - History - 187 pages

It took 600 men six years to build, and was one of the longest bridges in the world. On its completion in 1878, famous visitors, including the Emperor of Brazil, Prince Leopold of the Belgians and Queen Victoria herself, came to pay homage to this marvel of Victorian engineering. Then, on the night of 28 December 1879, the unthinkable happened. Battered by an apocalyptic storm, the thirteen 'high girders' of the rail bridge over the Tay estuary fell headlong into the river below, carrying with them a train with all its passengers and crew. There were no survivors. What caused the fall of the Tay Bridge, and who was really to blame?

Returning to the subject since the first edition of The Fall of the Tay Bridge in 1994, David Swinfen has meticulously analysed new evidence and now presents a solution to the riddle which has perplexed historians and engineers for generations: what really brought the bridge down?

 

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The Fall of the Tay Bridge
David Swinfen
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Common terms and phrases

Albert Grothe Barlow Belah Viaduct blame Board of Trade bolts bracing Broughty Ferry Burntisland caissons Caledonian Caledonian Railway carriage carried cast cast-iron columns Civil Engineers collapse Committee of Inquiry Court of Inquiry cylinders David December Dugald Drummond Dundee Advertiser Dundee City Dundee City Library Edinburgh feet Fife floating railway gale Gilkes high girders History and Construction Ibid inspection Institution of Civil James Johnstone lbs per square Leng Leuchars Minutes of Evidence Newport North British Railway old bridge passengers Perth Perth and Dundee piers plans pontoons Prebble Provost ref1 ref2 ref3 ref4 ref5 ref6 ref7 ref8 ref9 refl river bed Robertson Rothery Scotland Scottish shore side Sir Thomas Bouch spans square foot St Andrews St Fort stationmaster structure Tay Bridge Disaster Tay Rail Bridge Tay Railway Bridge Tay Viaduct Taybridge Station Tayport Thornton tickets tons train victims William wind pressure Wormit Wormit Foundry Yolland

About the author (2016)

David Swinfen was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and has lived in Scotland most of his life. He has written many books and articles on Commonwealth, American and Scottish history. Currently chairman of the Tay Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, he lives in Broughty Ferry with his wife Ann, the historical novelist.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Fall of the Tay Bridge
AuthorDavid Swinfen
Editionillustrated
PublisherBirlinn Ltd, 2016
ISBN0857903411, 9780857903419
Length187 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Europe / Western
History / General
  
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