The Tay Bridge and other facts
The first Tay Bridge opened 1878. It was a low cost lightweight lattice design with a single track. On 28 December 1879, the bridge suddenly collapsed in high winds while a train was crossing, killing everybody on board. The incident is one of the worst bridge-related engineering disasters in history. An enquiry determined that the bridge was insufficiently engineered to cope with high winds. It was replaced by a second bridge, opened in 1887, constructed of iron and steel, with 86 spans and a double-track railway, parallel to the remains of the first bridge. Portions of the old bridge still exist, and can be a hazard to shipping. The channel above the bridge is buoyed. There is a road bridge downstream of the rail bridge.
A tributary, the River Earn, joins the Tay about 5 miles (8km) downstream of Perth Harbour, and is navigable for about 6 miles by light craft, as far as Bridge of Earn.
Perth and Kinross Council, the harbour authority for the port of Perth, has found itself unable to attract sufficient traffic to keep the port viable and is threatening to shut it down. Read the full article.
[Left Photo: The Creator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons ]
