The Tay Bridge Disaster - 1879
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- čas přidán 24. 03. 2022
- In this video, we take a look at the Tay Bridge Disaster
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The original bridge's foundations still remain to this day
Good to know at least some of it worked hey...
@@noahs.4694 They were not used. You can see the stumps from the old bridge at low tide to this day. I think that's what they meant.
The end have a good night's rest kid's
The end have a good night's rest kid's
As Fascinating Horror proves.
"The history of safety is written in blood"
Thing is, there was actually nothing wrong with the design of the original Tay Bridge; the new bridge that stands next to it was built to a modified version of the same design. The story that "The wind was too strong and the bridge too weak" has long been disproven.
The actual cause was poor manufacturing. The bridge's designer, Thomas Bouch, had specified that the holes where the iron sections were to be bolted together should be drilled in after casting, thus making a nice straight hole that would hold the bolt securely. But the ironworkers on site thought that would take too long and so cast the holes while pouring the iron instead. To do this however, they had to use conical wooden dowels in the mold, which led to the holes being cone-shaped and allowing the bolts to rattle around in the joints. Train drivers, including those on a train that crossed the bridge just half an hour before the collapse, reported hearing the bridge rattling and popping beneath them, especially if they were going at excessive speed. Photographs of the wreckage that was dredged from the Tay show not bent and twisted iron as you'd expect if the bridge was just blown over; in fact many parts of the support towers remained standing at least partially. And the parts that were broken? All around the bolt holes. Over time the rattling of the loose bolts in their cone-shaped holes led to fatigue cracks that eventually split or sheered open under the strain of that night's storm. It was just a matter of time.
Damn, this guy knows his facts
Wish more people knew that at the time.
@@markhenry5294 Unfortunately regulations were nearly non existing so the people who knew the bridge was going to faulter would've been the foundry who made the bridge, the designer and the railway company
The bridge was built for 10 PSI.
I’m pretty sure the wind may have had something to do with it…
God damn budget cuts, wonder how many lives have been claimed by them (titanic etc)
0:13 “weren’t as finely crafted as others?” That’s the Gundagai bridge, longest wooden trestle in Australia, still intact (albeit abandoned) just shy 130 years since it was built. If that ain’t finely crafted I don’t know what is ;)
Intact? It's demolished.
@@Ganliard nah it ain't, that's the old road bridge next to it
The centre section of the Bridge, the section that carried away. Was known as "The High Girders" and had been arranged like that on account of Royal Navy Admialty standing orders, that allowed British sail powered Warships passage under the bridge. As for the metalwork of the bridge that wasn't carried away in the storm, much was moved sideways and re-used in the new double track replacement bridge, built with extra metalwork to allow for the second track. It too had a high section in the centre section AS PER THE ORIGINAL. but of a different design also allowing sailing ships to pass under it.
John Prebble's book, "The High Girders" explains that Bouch had been misled by the Met Office, who'd underestimated the potential wind strengths. It's been a long time - over fifty years since I read the book, but I recall that he'd been given wrong information on which he based his calculations. The bridge was badly built and maintained, and it seems the combined wind resistance of the train within the 'High Girders' and the girders themselves proved the final straw. To a great degree Bouch was the scapegoat, for a great many other peoples' failures. Ironically, No 224, an express engine wouldn't have been on the train that night, but the regular engine, a small tank, had broken down. Apparently she was rather reluctant to leave the river, breaking free of her lifting chains twice! Most artist's recreations of the disaster get it wrong, showing the train falling into a gap in the girders, when in fact the carriages were still within the High Girders when they were recovered.
I derive some entertainment from the pictures in Victorian papers of various scenes, all drawn rather than photographed, and sometimes distinctly melodramatic. One thing is pretty certain, they didn't accurately represent the scene; I do wonder if the artists ever visited the scene in question.
What a very sad tale about how mother nature can be very cruel. Excellent informative review as always, it's just a shame that this one had to be especially sad.
No human engineering can beat mother nature. If mother nature says: "welp, that's it, y'all gonna die", we're all gonna die
2 points:
1. The disastrous collapse of the Tay Bridge ended the otherwise successful career of its architect Sir Thomas Bouch.
2: The construction of the Forth Bridge had just started (to a similar design) and was stopped as a result. It was completely redesigned & massively over-engineered to prevent any repetition of the Tay Bridge tragedy. The resulting magnificent structure still stands today, carrying modern trains over the Forth estuary. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It also led to a wind gauge being place on Staithes viaduct. If the wind strength was above 28lb per square foot all trains had to be stopped short of the viaduct until it had been inspected.
Sir Thomas Bouch also designed Belah and Deepdale viaducts on the Stainmore line. They had weaknesses, including speed limits, and only lightweight locos were ever allowed. Nevertheless, they survived until closure of the line in 1962.
Brick Immortar did an interesting documentary type video on the Tay Bridge disaster a few months ago. For those that want to learn more detail about it.
The last picture from the introduction looks like the bridge in Nueva Imperial, Chile over the Cholchol river. It's know because it colapse in during the inaugural crossing, with authorities and band in it. You should check it!
That was the 5 of august 1902, later they build another one but nowadays it's unfortunately abandoned.
I liked this episode. Railway infrastructure is fascinating to me and I enjoy hearing about tragedies like the Tay Railway Disaster because there's an opportunity afforded to learn from and appreciate the sacrifices and losses which advanced the industry over time. Thanks for posting! You should make more content about large Railway infrastructure!
This disaster has always interested me more than any other. Possibly because it was the ONLY disaster where absolutely NO ONE survived.
You could easily be right; you certainly are so far as Great Britain is concerned. The death roll was calculated by the number of tickets collected before the train crossed the bridge, plus the train crew. Some of the bodies were never found, because the Tay was tidal, so some of the bodies were probably swept away. Remember it was December, when there would been less than seven hours daylight.
Some say the ghost of the engine can still be seen across the bridge
Any chance you could do the 1914 Attica, Indiana bridge disaster? I grew up seeing photos of it in the McDonald's, but I've literally never seen anyone cover it beyond that. I believe it involved a derailed freight train on the bridge, a shoddy inspection declaring it safe to cross, then a major passenger train disaster as the bridge fell into the Wabash River while it was crossing.
It was kind of a childhood staple in me learning about trains and I'd love others to learn about it, and possibly learn more myself.
The worst part of the disaster was of course the resulting poem by William McGonagall:
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
‘Twas about seven o’clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-
“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers’ hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
“I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay.”
But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers’ hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov’d most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.
So the train mov’d slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o’er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill’d all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav’d to tell the tale
How the disaster happen’d on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
Thank you for reproducing that in all its horrific splendour. One can see why the Great McGonagall is justly famous. 'Scansion' and 'metre' were obviously unknown concepts to him, 'rhyme scheme' was pretty hazy, but bathos was his constant friend (though I doubt he knew what it was).
I'll print it out and it can go on my bookshelf, along with my DVD of 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' and my copy of 'Naked Came the Stranger', my model of a Ford Edsel and my Portsmouth Sinfonia LP.
I never knew the loco was called The Diver after this. That’s kinda hilarious and insensitive at the same time.
“The Diver”
Man I know some railway nicknames aren’t exactly flattering but that’s cruel, why’d they do the poor engine like that?
Well it did steam to want to be in the water it also fell off of the granton to burntisland ferry twice
When the locomotive was being salvaged, it twice broke free and plunged back into the Tay. That's why it was nicknamed "The Diver". Not because of the original disaster.
Hairsplit: 0:27 I don't think there was any steel used on the bridge (except possibly the rails). Wrought iron spans and cast iron columns on stone piers.
0:57 "The bridge only allowed one engine on at a time during such weather". It was single track, when would it have allowed more than one engine?
NBR no 224 was only ever nicknamed 'The Diver', never officially. And it was 29 years before any driver would take it across the new bridge.
To say the bridge was 'rebuilt' is euphemistic, an entirely new bridge was constructed parallel to the line of the old bridge, on Googlemaps Satellite View you can see the abandoned piers of the old bridge just east of the new bridge.
I'm assuming the only one engine at a time meant no double headers or helper locos.
@@Idaho-Cowboy I suspect that that's the correct answer - weight restrictions.
@@Idaho-Cowboy I'm sure you're right, it was just odd phrasing. Many bridges limited double-headers, or had quite complex rules about which specific classes of engine could be coupled together. I don't think a 'banker' (helper pushing) would have arisen, since any train heavy enough to need one would be long enough that the two locos were never on the same span. But I'm just idly speculating there.
The bridge that goes across my train yard sure wasn't crafted too well 🤣 never fails to get multiple rim breaking potholes in it every year
Underrated channel tbh. It's short but interesting, informative and has humour
Great vid ToT, thanks for the great vid.
I didn't expect a topic on the tay bridge disaster, but you made it happen, so good job on covering the disaster for up, thank you
Well, some of those accidents with no survivors...
The disaster also ruined the reputation of the bridge designer, Sir Thomas Bouch, who died 18 months after the disaster.
Excellent video, albeit short. Something like this could be a half hour documentary examing the catastrophe in detail.
Check out the well there's your problem episode about this 👍
"And every year, on the date of the accident, it runs again, as a warning to others. Plunging into the gap! Shrieking like a lost soul!"
Seriously though imagine how cool it would be if the 'ghost train' on TV that Percy's driver saw was a horror film about the engine involved in the disaster, and how was recovered and went back into service, likely in universe having a face before the accident and was found without one, with its spirit haunting the bridge.
Leans into the superstitious aspect that was present with the real engine and is based on something that actually happened instead of being connected to a crappy Thomas recolor.
Finally someone other than me who agrees that Timothy the Ghost Engine sucks!
Also, interesting idea of a Thomas episode being based on this disaster.
@@BreakingNuyt Just like the Will Hay film somebody has to say "That`ll last for a hundred years"and that`s the last time they see it .
The piers surviving in the photo, immediately before the break do not have cross-bracing immediately under the trussing of the Low Girders. This would also have existed under the now missing High Girders. Painters on the bridge noticed an up and down movement and a snaking of the High Girders as a train, (over) speeding up to compensate for the initial climb, entered them. The enquiry was as detailed as it would be today, with Valentine's photographs and (some measure) of strain testing. The instability of the supports for the High Girders was noted. Add the gale, the poor construction, poor maintenance and weakening caused by excessive train speeds, plus broken lugs and the fall was inevitable.
Great video. Please do one on the Severn Railway Bridge next!
If I may make a suggestion, consider talking about the Kinzua Viaduct in McKean, PA. It was the 4th-tallest railway bridge in the world until a tornado collapsed it in 2003. You can still visit the site and walk on the remaining sections.
Awesome 😎 I love these bridge’s
Storms are everyone’s worst enemy
And to add insult to injury the disaster was immortalised by one William McGonagall, a Scottish poet who won notoriety as an extremely bad poet. As if the dead had not suffered enough.
It's also been immortalised by the German poet Theodor Fontane, one of the most well-known poets of the 19th century. Though Fontane wrote his ballad "The bridge at Tay" only shortly after the collapse, even before he knew the number of victims - hence why the last verses say "I'll tell you the count".
Maybe that's a bit of a soothing influence on those who died when the bridge fell.
In Richmond, Virginia, we had a railway bridge that burned down twice and had four iterations.
I've been in Dudnee, I saw HMS Unicorn, I even saw the bay and the standing bridge, but I didn't even notice the ruins of the old one.
The piers are very close to the replacement bridge, but perhaps you could not see them because the water level was high.
@@andrewtaylor5984 I was a couple of hundreds of metres east, it didn't occur to me to inspect the bridge. It was very windy that day...I was more interested in Jimmy Chung's "All you can eat" than infrastructure. Pity.
That what would be a stupid way to go out. Falling off of a bridge and just sinking, knowing your doom was coming
The first verses of three poems by William McGonagall, about the Tay Bridge.
1: The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay:
"Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay!
With your numerous arches and pillars in so grand array,
And your central girders, which seem to the eye
To be almost towering to the sky"
2: "The Tay Bridge Disaster"
"Beautiful railway bridge of the silv'ry Tay
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last sabbath day of 1879
Which will be remember'd for a very long time."
3: An Address to the New Tay Bridge
"BEAUTIFUL new railway bridge of the Silvery Tay,
With your strong brick piers and buttresses in so grand array,
And your thirteen central girders, which seem to my eye
Strong enough all windy storms to defy."
Yeah, he was not the best of poets.
I think my favourite poetic horror from McGonagal comes from one of his odes to Queen Victoria -
'For she has been a good Queen
And not a bad,
Which, if she had, it would have been sad'.
Unbelievable. They salvaged and restored the engine and even gave it a callous new name!
Thank you
A movie about this incident on theatre screens is what we need now, and who to direct except for Francis Ford Coppola?
Almost sounds like that T&F episode ‘Duncan Gets Spooked’ with the twist that the engine was recovered
I love these
There is part of an iron girder from the Tay Bridge that is on display at The Museum Of Scotland in Edinburgh.
i actually went on the tay road bridge not long ago this was a great video
great video about an awful moment in history that prooves how important it is to do things properly in terms of safety
Can you please please pretty please do a video on the Midland Railway Paget locomotive and the Midland Railway Johnson 0-6-0 locomotives please.
Could you soon talk about Blowbacks?
Very interesting!
Can you do the Balvano Rail Disaster?
Big up the Stockport viaduct at 0:10, I marvel at its glory every time if drive under it.
And the 4 track Lorraineviadukt in Bern is there too, very nice
It's a bizarre accident that cost all the lives on-board the train. It shall be remembered for that matter.
what song is in th e background
The myth of Tay rail bridge is that every year on the anniversary of the crash, you can hear the hear the rumble of the train and the driver and the passenger’s cries.😰
I heard of this tale before.
I LOVE IT
I remember hearing this story from many creatores about spooky tails about railways or whatever there clickbait titles were now I may be missrmembering but in the modern day dont they have a tail about it?
(also here are a few more question I wanted to give)
Q1: What happened to 224
Q2: How is Tay Bridge doing currently
and Q3: Are there any pieces of the coaches still around in museums or anything similar?
liked video so sad to 👍😢
They should never have allowed the last train to go onto the bridge.
I always wonder where he gets this information
The troll living under the bridge: And no one suspected a thing...
Haha
I live in Dundee, nice
Ayee, deltarune music! Nice.
fun fact train of thought. my friend josh actually told me about this and the engine that fail off the bridge while moving he actually made it a oc, and he named it "Buck" so i kinda already known about this, sorry your gonna have to find something more interesting
what engine was it?
Maybe talk about the Snowdon Mountain Railway opening day crash with N.O 1 LADAS
They called the engine that fell in the river the diver. Funny stuff.
After this, it would be nice to see the fate of the Severn Railway Bridge as well!
Many people who go to school in a German speaking country know about this because the poem "Die Brück' am Tay" by Theodor Fontane is often read in German class.
One hopes it's better written than the notorious one by William McGonagall, whose theory of poetry was simply and solely that the last word in each line had to rhyme.
Beautiful railway bridge of the silv'ry Tay
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last sabbath day of 1879
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
@@cr10001 It certainly is. It has like seven verses and is told by the three witches from Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' who cause the storm. It ends with the witches planning their next meeting and to exchange details of the aftermath of the disaster which can be read as a reference to the fact that Fontane didn't know these details at the time of writing either.
@@jonistan9268 Interesting how the fame of the disaster spread. I think it was easily the most famous railway disaster in Britain for at least a century - doubtless the combination of the huge new bridge, the storm, and the train disappearing into the dark, made it particularly dramatic.
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954!
Sir Thomas Bouch ending shame.
I would like to see the bridges foundations ngl
The locomotive passed over the new bridge unscathed. Irony. It was the only survivor.
The locomotive was restored and ran over the new bridge many years later.
You can’t put a price on safety.
What happened to the Diver
@@therake8897 what a shame. Like the SR locomotive that took down that German Bomber in WWII, it would've been a great history piece.
@@therake8897 Yes, sad it was scrapped. Aside from falling off the bridge and being rescued, it was also the first British inside-cylinder 4-4-0, which is a pretty good distinction, since inside-cylinder 4-40's were the classic British passenger and express engine for many decades. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBR_224_and_420_Classes
Regin of Queen Victoria, 1837-1901.
They needed better material
😔👍
speaking bridge's
heres a
Overseas Railroad
A lot of those 18th century bridges were already there from the previous civilisation that was reset.... the Tay was not one of them.
the bave locomntive in real life
Also lead to some hilariously bad poetry.
Am I the second
"Oh its a good idea to past on a bridges while its storming" is it me or are the ppl stupid back then
My names cold tay morris I’m just on my mums account
bedrock but fell💀
why is this episode so soad
i feel so bad for the ones who died on the bridge
Edit: sad*
Im 2nd
But why?
@@TheMusicalElitist idk
Aha I'm actually first.
But how
@@a_smolroach I have no idea...
@@a_smolroach just go to comments and put sort by to newest first and then you will see whos first when you scroll down but it doesent really matter lol
So?
I’m 6th (again I think)
No you're not.