Great Bridges Codexery

The Forth Bridge

Cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth.

Last updated

Where it is

Street map of the area around The Forth Bridge; the red dot marks 56°00′00″N 3°23′20″W
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Coordinates: 56°00′00″N 3°23′20″W (56.0000, -3.3890) · Open in OpenStreetMap

Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Forth Bridge (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.

It was completed in 1890 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1][2] The bridge is the world's longest multi-span cantilever bridge.[3]

Geography and history

The bridge spans the Forth between South Queensferry and North Queensferry, with a total length of 2467 meters.[4] Before the bridge, ferries were used to cross the Firth, and in 1850 Thomas Bouch designed the world's first train ferry between Granton and Burntisland.[5][6] Bouch proposed a suspension bridge in 1871, and construction began in 1878.[7][6] Bouch's design was formally abandoned on 13 January 1881.[8]

Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker designed the new cantilever bridge.[1][6] The contract was let to Sir William Arrol & Co. in 1882, and work started in 1883.[9][6] The bridge was completed in December 1889 and opened on 4 March 1890 by the Duke of Rothesay.[10][11] Construction on Bouch's design ceased after the Tay Bridge's 1879 collapse eroded trust in his abilities.[5]

During the busiest period of construction, the workforce numbered around 4,600 individuals.[9] Network Rail holds ownership of the bridge and its connected railway infrastructure.[12][13]

What the cited sources add

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre describes the bridge as having the world's longest spans when it opened in 1890.[2] The Gazetteer for Scotland notes the bridge held the record for the longest span in the world for seventeen years.[3] The Network Rail history states the bridge was the first major construction in Britain to be made from steel.[6] The Gazetteer for Scotland records that at least 73 lives were lost during construction.[3]

The BFI Screenonline entry notes that the propaganda film "Squadron 992" recreated the Forth Bridge raid using eyewitness accounts.[14] The Gazetteer for Scotland mentions that an image of the bridge appeared on £20 banknotes issued by the Bank of Scotland in 2007.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Forth Bridge", UNESCO World Heritage Centre; "The bridge builders The Forth Bridges", www.theforthbridges.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. "The Forth Bridge", UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2015. facts only, no text reused. whc.unesco.org
  3. "Overview of Forth Bridge", The Gazetteer for Scotland. facts only, no text reused. scottish-places.info
  4. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Forth Bridge", NetworkRail (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; .; . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "The history of the Forth Bridge, Fife", Network Rail. facts only, no text reused. networkrail.co.uk
  7. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; "History of the Forth Bridge", forth-bridges.co.uk, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: .; .; .; . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Description and History of the Bridge", The Times, 4 March 1890, p. 13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Overview of Forth Bridge", The Gazetteer for Scotland (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The history of the Forth Bridge, Fife", Network Rail (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Forth Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Scotland – Network Rail", www.networkrail.co.uk, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. "BFI Screenonline: Squadron 992 (1940)", Screen Online. facts only, no text reused. screenonline.org.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Forth Bridge (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

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Ranked in

Longest bridges

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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