Saskia de Werk
Time for another #history post. Last time I posted about the Horse in the Viaduct story. Today it will be about the Tay Bridge disaster. The Tay Bridge (near Dundee, Scotland) - designed by Sir Thomas Bouch - was opened for passenger services on 1 June 1878. Bouch was knighted in June 1879 soon after Queen Victoria had used the bridge. On 28 December 1879, a gale estimated at Beaufort force 10/11 was blowing down the Tay estuary at right angles to the bridge. As there was an inadequate allowance for wind loading, it led to the collapse of the bridge and the death of all the men, women and children on board. Despite the fall, the NBR 224 locomotive was relatively undamaged, being protected by the bridge girders which formed a cage around the train as they fell together. In 1880 it was recovered, and stood on the bank of the Tay until it was sent to Cowlairs on its own wheels for repairs, after which it was returned to traffic with the nickname 'The Diver' as a result of its accident and difficult recovery. A mere 6 months later, they were already discussing building a new bridge in the same area. In 1882 they started the build, 18 meters (59 ft) from the original bridge, which is still in use today. The Diver has only ever crossed the bridge once, 29 years after the disaster. On the 28th December 2013 memorials were unveiled to honor the 59 known victims on both sides of the river. Sir Thomas Bouch still enjoys his title (he was never degraded), but the Tay Bridge Disaster will be remembered forever.. Sources: Visiting Wormit ourselves in 2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster http://taybridgedisaster.co.uk/index/memorial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBR_224_and_420_Classes #TayBridge #NBR224 #history #steam
