Firth of Forth Bridge
Introduction
The Forth Bridge (from English: Forth Bridge) is a multi-span cantilever railway bridge that spans the Firth of Forth, in eastern Scotland (United Kingdom), 14 km from the center of Edinburgh. In recent years it has frequently been referred to as the Forth Rail Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge. The Forth Bridge, opened in 1890, connects Edinburgh with Fife and serves as a communication artery between the northeast and southeast of the country. The bridge and its associated infrastructure is owned by Network Rail. It has been described as one of the most recognizable monuments in Scotland.[1] On July 5, 2015, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site:[2][3].
Construction and features
The Firth of Forth occupies a strategic place as a connection between the northeast and southeast of Scotland. Crossing it, however, was dangerous: storms were frequent, ferries unreliable and even until the century there was the possibility of encountering pirates. Therefore, Parliament decided to build a railway bridge across the bay. The first project for the Forth Bridge was awarded to Sir Thomas Bouch in 1873, but the collapse in 1879 of one of his previous works, the Tay Bridge, caused work to stop when the foundations had only begun to be laid. On Bouch's death, the project was transferred to Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker "Benjamin Baker (engineer)"), who designed a structure that was built by Sir William Arrol's company between 1883 and 1890. Baker was considered "one of the United Kingdom's leading engineers", and along with his colleague Allan Stewart") received most of the credit for designing and supervising the construction works.
The bridge is considered, even today, an engineering masterpiece. It is 2.5 km long, and its double railway track rises 46 m above the maximum water level. It consists of two main sections of 520 m, two lateral sections of 200 m, 15 approach sections of 51 m and five of 7.6 m.[5] Each main section contains two central corbels 104 m high, which rest on pillars 21 m in diameter. The foundations of the south end of the bridge were built using caissons under compressed air, at a depth of 27 m.
At the busiest time, approximately 4,600 people were working on the bridge's construction. Initially 57 deaths were recognized during the works, but recent historical research raises this number to 98. Eight other men had to be rescued by lifeboats placed for this purpose under the bridge during construction, and hundreds of workers were disabled or maimed after serious accidents, in a long history of more than 26,000 mishaps. In 2005, the Queensferry History Group began a project to establish a memorial dedicated to those who died during the construction of the bridge. In North Queensferry, it was also decided to install benches in memory of the deceased.