的对th Bridge is a celebrated Scottish landmark, and a milestone in the development of railway civil engineering.
It was the first major structure in Britain to be made of steel and its construction resulted in a continuous East Coast railway route from London to Aberdeen.
- 1850: the ‘train ferry’ was introduced between Granton and Burntisland. This service continued until the Forth Bridge was opened.
- 1873: 5 August, the North British Railway obtains initial authority to build a suspension bridge across the Firth of Forth.
- 1878年: William Arrol begins construction of Thomas Bouch’s suspension bridge design.
- 1879年：12月，托马斯Bouch的Tay桥在风暴中的崩溃立即停止了桥梁建设。
- 1881年：1月，托马斯Bouch横向前悬架桥的设计被遗弃。
- 1881年：6月11日，第四桥铁路公司由北英国铁路，米德兰铁路，东北铁路和大北铁路在约克的会议上共同建立。
- 1881年: September, the cantilevered design for the Forth Bridge is accepted by Board of Trade.
- 1882年：7月3日，第四根铁路桥通过议会法案批准。
- 1882年: 21 December, the contract to build the bridge is awarded to Messers Arrol & Co. of Glasgow.
- 1883年: bridge construction begins.
- 1884年: 26 May, the first caisson launched.
- 1885年：5月29日，最后一个沉箱推出。
- 1886年: the foundations for the bridge are finished.
- 1889年：11月，悬臂塔完成。桥梁的测试开始。
- 1890年: 4 March, the Forth Bridge is officially opened by the Prince of Wales. Benjamin Baker is knighted.
- 1913-1921: the bridge is strengthened.
- 1923: 1 January, ‘grouping’ of Britain’s main line railways into four companies takes place, although the Forth Bridge Railway technically remains independent until 1948.
- 1939: 16 October, the Forth Bridge is attacked by the German Air Force early in World War 2.
- 2001: a major refurbishment of the Forth Bridge is announced.
- 2004：第四座桥上纪念1英镑的硬币。
- 2007: the Forth Bridge is commemorated on the Bank of Scotland £20 note.
- 2011：完成10年1英镑的1300万英镑，达到桥梁的预订完成。超过20年的桥梁不需要重新粉刷。
第一次交叉开始
铁路的第一次过渡到1850年，当时爱丁堡，利斯和授予的铁路启动了世界上第一个“火车渡轮” - 一艘专门由托马斯冲沟设计的渡船，乘坐铁路教练 - 在特隆尔和伯恩特兰地区之间。
In August 1873 the North British Railway obtained authority to build a railway bridge across the Firth of Forth and construction of a suspension bridge, also designed by Thomas Bouch, began in 1878. However when Bouch’s original Tay Bridge collapsed during a storm in December 1879, work on his bridge across the Forth stopped immediately pending a full inquiry.
Bouch’s suspension bridge plans were abandoned in 1881 and designs for a new bridge were invited by the newly formed Forth Bridge Railway Company which had been established jointly by those railway companies who had most to gain from a railway crossing the Forth: the North British Railway, the Midland Railway and the North Eastern and Great Northern railways.
制作新计划
The bridge was to cross the Forth between South Queensferry, now part of Edinburgh and North Queensferry in Fife, making use of the island of Inch Garvie a little way from the north shore. Its design had to conform to specifications from both the admiralty who stipulated that the Forth remained a navigable channel, and the Board of Trade, concerned by the recent Tay Bridge disaster, who stipulated that the bridge must be rigid and stiff and capable of carrying the heaviest freight trains.
John Fowler and his partner Benjamin Baker were engaged by the Forth Bridge Company to develop their cantilevered design for the bridge which took into account these restrictions. The contract for its construction was let to Messers Arrol & Co of Glasgow in 1882 and work on the bridge started in 1883.
桥梁建筑巨大
的对th Bridge has three double cantilevers with two 1700ft suspended spans between them, at the time the longest bridge spans in the world. As required by the Admiralty, the rail level is 150ft (46m) above high water. Each of the towers has four steel tubes 12ft (3.7m) in diameter and reach to a height of 361ft (110m) above high water. Their foundations extend 89ft below this into the river bed, making the total height from foundations to the top of the towers 137 metres. The total length of the bridge, including its approach viaducts is 2,467 metres. The main structure itself measures 1,630 metres portal to portal.
Baker and Fowler’s bridge was the first major construction in Britain to be made from steel; the bridge incorporates 53,000 tonnes of the material.
桥梁的设计非常仔细平衡，允许在5350英尺（1630米）的钢结构结构上为16½英寸（420mm）的最大热膨胀。它加入了650万铆钉，单独汇总了4,200吨重量。它旨在承受每平方英尺56磅的风力。
基础和钢铁
建立巨大的塔楼的基础，始于巨大的沉船，在现场建造，使用压缩空气沉没。第一个沉船于1884年5月26日漂浮到职位。
到1886年，所有基础都准备好了钢结构。由于威廉·萨罗尔的组织和创造力，这座桥梁于1889年11月完成，工作开始后6年（虽然在天气特别冷的时候，在巨大的结构足够扩大之前，arrol在天气条件下等待较温和的天气条件要插入的最终铆钉）。
Overall the bridge cost £3m to build and employed a workforce of 4,600 men at the height of construction.
After all testing and inspections of the bridge were completed, it was formally opened by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), who drove home a final gold plated rivet, on 4 March 1890. At the same ceremony, he also knighted Benjamin Baker.
绘制第四桥
In 2001 a major refurbishment project on the Forth Bridge was announced. Over the following 10 years, sections of the bridge were covered with significant scaffold access systems with specially prepared screening to prevent debris from the sandblasting and paint affecting or contaminating the environment.
After removing the old paint back to the metal, any steelwork that required maintenance was repaired before the new paint was applied.
After thorough cleaning of the steel structure, paint was then applied in three protective layers, both by airless spray and by hand in areas particularly difficult to access, over an area of 230,000 square metres.
The techniques and paint used during the refurbishment means that the bridge will not require a full paint for at least 20 years, finally putting an end to the myth that ‘painting the Forth Bridge’ is a never-ending task.
Did you know?
All that was built of Thomas Bouch’s suspension bridge was a single pier on Inch Garvie. Today it has a small lighthouse; dwarfed by the vast scale of the Bridge itself.