4 March 2009: The Forth Railway Bridge

Built between 1882 and 1890, the Forth Railway Bridge is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering.

The bridge was constructed by Sir William Arrol to a design by civil engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker.  Its 54,000 tons of steel, painted a distinctive shade of red, cast an imposing shadow over the waters of the Forth estuary.  When it was first built, it was widely regarded as the eighth wonder of the world.

The bridge is made up of three separate double cantilevers linked together by 350 foot girder spans joined to the main structure by huge pins. 1000 ton counterweights on the outer cantilevers are used to provide balance. The overall length of the bridge is 8,295 feet, 9.5 inches (2.582km). Its towers reach a height of 361 feet and trains cross the river at a height of 158 feet. The total cost of construction came to £3.2m – the equivalent of an investment of over £3bn today.

On March 4 1890, Edward Prince of Wales drove home the last of the structure’s 6.5 million rivets to mark the official opening of the bridge.