The start of the Rail Bridge over the Firth of Forth at North Queensferry in the Kingdom of Fife
The km. ( mile) Forth Railway Bridge, the world’s first major steel bridge, with its gigantic girder spans of 521 m. (1710 ft.) ranks as one of the great feats of civilization. It was begun in 1883 and formally completed on 4 March 1890 when HRH Edward Prince of Wales tapped into place a ‘golden’ rivet. Tancred–Arrol, constructed the bridge, robustly designed in the aftermath of the Tay Bridge disaster by civil engineers Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker. The balanced cantilever principle was adopted. The main crossing comprises tubular struts and lattice-girder ties in three double-cantilevers each connected by 105 m. (345 ft.) ‘suspended’ girder spans resting on the cantilever ends and secured by man-sized pins. The outside double-cantilever shoreward ends carry weights of about 1000 tonnes to counter-balance half the weight of the suspended span and live load. Each of the 110 m. (361 ft.) high double-cantilevers is supported on well-founded granite faced piers. The bridge’s construction involved the employment of 4,000 men at times, the use of 54,000 tonnes of steel and driving 6,500,000 rivets. Its total cost was £3,200,000 (~£235,000,000 today). During operations, rescue boats were stationed under each cantilever saving at least 8 lives, but still 57 men lost their lives. The continuous painting of its 18 ha. (45 acre) surface, for the first 100 years using paint supplied by Craig & Rose, is now being done using a state-of-the-art paint regime with at least a 20-year life. In 1996 Railtrack (now Network Rail), at the request of the Health & Safety executive, began a structural and maintenance assessment of the structure. The result of this was the £40m refurbishment package which began in 1998; this comprised steelwork repairs, surface coating, access improvements and an upgrade of the floodlighting. Today, the bridge, Scotland’s biggest ‘listed’ building carries 180 - 200 train movements per day.
Size: 5380px × 3572px
Location: Forth Rail Bridge North Queensferry in the Kingdom of Fife Scotland UK
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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