Publication Account

Date 2013

Event ID 967183

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/967183

The engineers for the new Tay Rail Bridge, W H and Crawford Barlow, and the principal contractor, Sir William Arrol and Co. Ltd., transferred 118 old girders upstream to new arched wrought-iron plate piers, twice the width of the old bridge. Completed in 1887, the total length of the new bridge is 10,711 feet (3,265m). The bridge slopes down from a signal box at Fife to Dundee, threading its twin tracks through 13 hog-back trussed navigation spans, and then curves gently to give a prospect of the city, crossing Riverside Drive on arches, passes the closed Esplanade Station, then descends on fish-bellied trusses and brick arches into a cutting.

In 2000-2003 local strengthening was achieved by mechanically fixing 16mm thick plate to parts of each girder and shock absorbers to the curve (Lewis, 2004).

M Watson, 2013