Bridges

We came back from Budapest yesterday. The weather there was kinder than here (17 degrees yesterday and 19 today but 8 here in Edinburgh) but nonetheless it was mostly a pleasant day here weather-wise until the late afternoon.

A slightly more leisurely start than usual and then waiting in for the new carpet and carpet layer. J was in so I was free. Lunch with a group of old friends, one of whom introduced me to blipping. When we were all members of HM Inspectorate of Schools, we worked long hours and eventually set up a Gourmet Club for those of us not so keen to climb Munros or undertake other strenuous activities. We encouraged colleagues to leave their desks on the last Friday of the month and go out to lunch. It was a brilliant idea that encouraged a great deal of friendship. Well, we set it up again 12 years after it ended and four us, three retired, met today in the Kitchin , a very pleasant Edinburgh restaurant for lunch. It was extremely convivial and reminded me that I have not had a day's regrets about retiring several years ago! We meet on the last Friday of every second month, the choice of restaurant depending on who is arranging the event. It did however, meant that there was little time for blip hunting, so, another quick visit to the National Museum of Scotland was on the cards, since it was en route to the Kitchin.

When J and I were in Budapest we noticed many beautiful bridges. It brought to mind an exhibit I had seen in the National Museum of Scotland. This is a girder from the Tay Bridge which collapsed during a violent storm on 28 December 1879 when a train was passing over it from Wormit to Dundee, killing 75 people on board. The bridge was designed by Sir Thomas Bouch.

Bouch had sought expert advice on "wind loading" when designing a another rail bridge over the Firth of Forth he made no explicit allowance for wind loading in the design of the Tay Bridge. There were other flaws in detailed design, in maintenance, and in quality control of castings, all of which were, at least in part, Bouch's responsibility.

Bouch died within the year, with his reputation as an engineer ruined. Future British bridge designs had to allow for wind loadings of up to 56 pounds per square foot (2.7 kPa). Bouch's design for the Forth Rail Bridge was not used.

The disaster inspired several songs and poems, most famously William McGonagall's 'The Tay Bridge Disaster'.
The ballad 'In Memory of the Tay Bridge Disaster' was published as a broadside in May 1880. It describes the moment of the disaster as:

The train into the girders came
And loud the wind did roar
A flash is seen-the Bridge is broke
The train is heard no more.
"The Bridge is down, "the Bridge is down,"
in words of terror spread
The train is gone, its living freight
Are numbered with the dead.

As you will have gathered, McGonnagall is not a poet of the first rank!