View of RCAHMS staff at Forth Bridge climbing the North cantilever of the Fife erection.

Description View of RCAHMS staff at Forth Bridge climbing the North cantilever of the Fife erection.

Date 31/8/1988

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 728293

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 3286 CN

Scope and Content North walkway in Fife cantilever, Forth Bridge, Edinburgh and Fife The Forth Bridge was built between 1883 and 1890 to designs by engineers Sir John Fowler (1817-98) and Sir Benjamin Baker (1840-1907) with Sir William Arrol (1839-1913) and Joseph Phillips as contractors. This massive steel railway viaduct features three double cantilevers connected by girders with a total span of 2.5 km. This shows one of the walkways within the girders and wind braces of the cantilever arms. These provide access for maintenance and painting of the bridge. Some of the 6.5 million rivets which secure the steel plates of the bridge can be seen forming neat rows along the structure. Working on the bridge was hazardous, combining the perils of working high above the cold waters of the River Forth, and below water level on the foundations. In total, 57 'Briggers' (the name given to the workmen of the bridge) lost their lives during construction with many hundreds more being injured. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/728293

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap