A key structure in the Scottish railway route, the Tay Bridge brought increased travel and trade opportunities to the east coast of Scotland.
From the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879 a new structure emerged which set new standards for bridge building in Britain.
1862: the North British Railway Chairman backs the Company’s plans to bridge the Tay and the Forth.
1863:《泰桥的计划是在m的广泛支持eeting of business community leaders in Dundee.
1864-1870：强烈反对喀里多尼亚铁路，为议会施工两座建造的两项账单，但撤回了议会。1870年提交的第三张账单是批准的。
1871: the contract for construction of the bridge is awarded to Charles de Bergue & Co. Work starts on the bridge in July.
1873: a new contractor, Hopkins Gilkes & Co is appointed after de Bergue runs into financial difficulties.
1873：改变成本势力振动的情况和事项，以大大改变他的桥梁设计。
1877: 26 September, the first train crosses the completed Tay Bridge. Many famous people, Emperors, Princes and even a former President of the USA came to look at the bridge.
1878: 31 May, official public opening of the bridge. It was an immediate success for the North British Railway.
1879：女王维多利亚在前往巴尔摩尔的路上穿过桥梁。托马斯Bouch是奈特。12月28日：三十“高梁”形成了原始Tay铁路桥的中央部分在风暴中崩溃。
1880: a Court of Inquiry is set up to investigate the collapse of the Tay Bridge. Mr Rothery (Wreck Commissioner), Colonel Yolland (Chief Inspector of Railways) and W H Barlow (President of the ICE) make up the Court. Its report fundamentally blames the design of the bridge for the disaster.
1880: 30 October, Sir Thomas Bouch dies a broken man.
1881: 18 July, the North British Railway’s Bill for the construction of a new Tay Bridge, designed by W H Barlow is passed. October: William Arrol & Co appointed contractors for the new bridge.
1882: June, having been delayed by legal wrangles with the Board of Trade, construction of the New Tay Bridge begins.
1887：6月16日至18日，新桥由贸易委员会检查;桥梁被批准，并在6月20日没有仪式的情况下开放。
1989: the Tay Bridge is listed a Grade I structure.
2000-2006: Network Rail undertakes a 6 year, £38m project to strengthen and refurbish the bridge.
Railway rivalry
By the 1860s the battle between the Scottish North British and Caledonian railway companies had taken hold. Supremacy in controlling the major routes through Scotland would depend on which company would be first to bridge the River Tay at Dundee. The original Tay Bridge was built by the North British Railway Company and designed by Thomas Bouch, a civil engineer who had built many small branch lines in the north of England and the south east of Scotland.
Design disaster
泰铢的铁路桥梁具有广泛的支持，但从桥梁的设计开始围绕批评，其单曲线尤其如此，符合容量和稳定性。随着建设开始，Bouch被迫改变他对桥梁的计划。基础和基地被重新设计，原有的砖墩用支撑铸铁柱取代，减少了跨度的数量，这使得每个显着更广泛。尽管在其建设中存在持续困难，但该桥于1878年5月31日在庆典中开放了很多庆祝活动。在一年之内，它增加了北方英国铁路的财富以及整个狂热的邓迪和城镇的财富。Dundee和Fife之间的乘客人数加倍，铁路在货运中增加了40％。然而，在1879年12月28日和一个可怕的风暴的夜晚，这座十三座中央“高梁”落下。随后的询问法院从根本上归咎于崩溃的桥梁的设计，其判断在托马斯Bouch上休息。
From the ashes of the old
灾难发生后的英国铁路北and supporters of the Tay Bridge were determined that it should be rebuilt. The company quickly submitted a Bill to Parliament for the rebuilding of the old bridge, but as Thomas Bouch was associated with the rebuilding project, Parliament rejected the Bill. After dispensing of the services of Thomas Bouch, William Henry Barlow, who had sat on the Court of Inquiry, was invited to report on the best course of action. After thorough investigation of the options, his recommendation was to build a new double line bridge, completely independent of the old.
Barlow为新桥的设计深受旧桥梁的影响。为了满足贸易委员会所制作的规定，桥梁将与旧的旧桥梁完全平行，以便保持导航渠道开放，其高度从旧桥88英尺处减少到新的桥梁到77英尺。如在旧桥梁中，铁路线是在接近梁的顶部运行，通过高，较大的导航跨度的梁。Barlow建议，如果新桥的跨度保持相同，那么从高梁崩溃不受影响的旧桥梁的梁都能够在新的。新桥是在旧的上游建造的60英尺，让老桥成为男性和材料的“阶段”建造新的。在新桥梁的方法被改变;到南部，分支线路加入砖拱门靠近沃尔特的岸边，向北北曲线进入泰桥站（现在称为邓迪）被软化。还在新桥梁设计和建设中进行严格的重量和风装的测试。“新Tay Vianduct”的建议于1881年10月被议会接受，威廉·埃鲁尔·索利尔公司被任命为承包商。
The new Tay Bridge
The new bridge took just 5 years to build, thanks in most part to special pontoon equipment with hydraulic legs which were designed by William Arrol. Various arrangements of these hydraulic pontoons were used to sink and construct the brick and concrete foundation columns, to erect the wrought iron piers, to move the old girders into position for the new bridge, and to erect the new navigation spans. The completed bridge is 10711ft in length, 8396ft of which is in a straight line running virtually north / south across the Tay until it curves eastwards towards Dundee. There are 85 piers; 1-28 forming the south approach, 28-41 the ‘navigation spans’ and 41-85 the north approach. The new Tay Bridge was opened to traffic, without ceremony on 20 June 1887.
Did you know?
The New Tay Railway Bridge is 2miles 73 yards (3286m) long. It can vary in overall length by as much as 3ft 9in (1.14m) due to thermal expansion. Temperature extremes recorded in the Dundee district since 1980 have been +29C and -17C.