Edinburgh – National Museum of Scotland (Girder from Tay Bridge)

These photos are of a pretty dreadful quality unfortunately, I took them in December 2015 when I visited Edinburgh. A combination of an older phone and Google’s compression of the photos has rather limited any graphic impact which they might have once had.

This is part of a wrought iron girder from the first Tay Bridge which was later discovered built into a residential property in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee in Scotland. This is the bridge which collapsed during a storm in December 1879, unfortunately carrying a train over it when it fell. Around 75 people were killed in the disaster, destroying the reputation of its designer Sir Thomas Bouch.

Bouch had to make quick repairs to his other projects, including some changes at South Esk Viaduct. After he had finished making these amendments it was re-examined and it was decided that the whole thing should be knocked down and replaced. The girder on display at the museum still shows the damage caused to it when the structure collapsed on the night of the storm.