Forth Rail Bridge

[low_delta]

Our first full day in Scotland, we started off with a drive over to see the Forth Bridge. We weren't quite sure where to get off the motorway, and ended up going over the Forth Road Bridge, but we eventually found our way to the little town of Queensferry.




There's a picturesque little town, along the seafront. Or firthfront, as it were.



But there's an enormous bridge nearby.




















In the first picture, you can see a pier. I assume this is where the ferry docked, before the bridges were built. At the top of the pier stands this lighthouse. It's no longer functioning, of course, and there are now buildings on either side of it.

Comments

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

filth picture down reminds me of the massive bridge over the Mississippi. without the "pretty" rock pillions of course.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Which bridge, what city?

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Mississippi river bridge from Memphis TN to West Memphis AR.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

They were built around the same time. And had a massive amount of steel.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! I did not realize that bridges had "global" standards!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

We went over that long railroad bridge over the Firth of Forth on our way to Aberdeen. Great views from up there! And I think the bridge itself is very beautiful.

So the best views are from the pretty village of Queensferry?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Well, pretty much the only views are from Queensferry. At least on the south side of the firth.

That would be cool to ride the bridge. You know, for a bridge geek like me.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I love the looks of that town!

I think the bridges are quite interesting looking.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yes, on both counts.

[lonewolf2.livejournal.com]

Your first photo is indeed the jetty used by the ferries before the Forth Road Bridge was opened to traffic in September 1964. I had the priviledge of riding on those ferries several times in April 1964 during a school vacation spent with my uncle who stationed at the Royal Naval Dockyard at Rosyth at the time.

Your last photo is of the Navigation Pilot Light at the south end of the jetty. It was one of two Navigation Pilot Lights for the jetty. The second was situated at the north end of the jetty. The function of the lights was to enable the ferry captains to line their vessels up with the axis of the jetty at night by lining up the two pilot light beams one above the other when viewed from the river.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Good info. Thanks! We call those "range lights" when they're used to line up the course.

Speaking of navy dockyards, I looked west from the road bridge, but could see an aircraft carrier. That's as close as we got.

Forth Bridge

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I can see rolling my eyes at it if I lived in that town, but I kind of appreciate the fact that the designers of the bridge kind of went, "Y'know? Our bridge is big. Really big. Let's just get that out of the way and make it a point in the design. Big. Bridge."

I like the gate that you had a photo of.

And kitty! Ok, it is a nice photo showing the bridge with a little park by the water, and a cat, but I'm cat-deprived at the moment.

Re: Forth Bridge

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's probably bigger than it needed to be. That sort of engineering was still somewhat new. The engineer had to convince people that his design would hold.

And it's not really a park. Just someone's back yard. :-)

Re: Forth Bridge

[lonewolf2.livejournal.com]

The prime reason why it is so big is that its design and construction were heavily influenced by collapse of the Tay Bridge in December 1879 in a winter storm while a train was crossing it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Rail_Bridge

The main reason for the collapse was found to be inadequate allowance for wind loads in the design.

Extensive testing was done during design of the Forth Bridge to establish the wind load factors needed to ensure that there would be no repeat of the tragedy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Bridge

Re: Forth Bridge

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Ah. Thanks. Yes, I seem to recall hearing that.