THE TAY BRIDGE.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3446, 10 January 1880, Page 2

THE TAY BRIDGE.

A Southern contemporary gires the following respecting the Tay Bridge, the scene of the late terrible accident :—•" The Tay Bridge, one of the greatest triumphs of modern engineering, was opened on the 21st May, 1878, six years having been taken in its construction. - After a long series of efforts to obtain an Act of Parliament to authorise its construction, the Imperial sanction wasgiven in 1870, and Messrs Charles De Bergue and Co., of London, Cardiff, and Manchester, were accepted as the contractors. The time specified for the completion of the bridge was three years, at a cost of £217,000, but, as before stated, the time | which elapsed from its commencement until it was open for traffic was double the period stipulated, and the cost was increased $o £35j0,Q0Q. Great difficulties had tp be, and were, successfully surmounted before the plan fiually adopted was agreed upon, the honor being due to Mr Thomas Bouch, the resident engineer of the N.B. Railway Company. The new Tay Bridge Railway is carried orer the rirer on the bridge to Magdalen Point, at the west end of Dundee. The bridge crossed the rirer almost due north and south, and carried a single line of railway. It is 3450 yards in length, and consists of eighty-fire spatss with lattice girders, the central spans allowing a clear. wster-way for the passage of ycßsels fo and from JSTewburgh ao4 Perth- The piers are of varied construction, but'in most cases tha fcuadations are formed Qf iron cylinders, filled in with brick and concrete. In form the bridge is slightly arched, the greatest height from the 1 rails to high water level being 88 feefc at the centre of $>c Iwgfl

spans. The foundation stone was laid on the 2nd of July, 1871, and after the formal inauguration the work was proceeded with. As an instance of the energy displayed by the contractors, which, on the death of Mr De Bergue, was assigned to Messrs Hopkins and Gilkes, of Middleborough, it may be mentioned that in the winter months of 1876, the work vas carried on by. two electric lights, eocb. having an illuminating power of 1000 candles. The first train crossed over on Saturday, December 27, 1877. In the beginning of 1878 the work was tested by the Government Inspector, the bridge bearing the weight of six locomotive engines, and tenders weighing 438 tons. Since the opening of the bridge, it has had many illustrious visitors, amongst them being Prince Leopold, the Emperor of Brazil, and General Grant. The recent terrible accident has demonstrated the fact that, notwithstanding the crucial test to which the bridge was submitted, there must have been a weak.point, which thorough and scientific investigation, will doubtless bring to light."