A bridge of engineering genius
The Forth Bridge, opened on 4 March 1890, is one of the greatest engineering achievements in history. Spanning the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, it was the longest cantilever bridge in the world when completed, and it remains one of the most iconic structures in Scotland.
The bridge was built to carry the railway across the Forth, replacing a ferry service that was unreliable and dangerous — particularly after the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, when a rail bridge collapsed in a storm, killing 75 people. The designers of the Forth Bridge — Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker — were determined that their structure would be indestructible. They succeeded.
Construction took eight years and employed 4,600 workers. The conditions were dangerous: 73 men died during construction, and many more were seriously injured. The bridge consumed 54,000 tonnes of steel, 6.5 million rivets, and 740,000 cubic feet of granite. When the Prince of Wales drove the final rivet (a gold-plated ceremonial one), he declared the bridge open.
The Forth Bridge was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, recognising it as "a milestone in the history of bridge design and construction." It carries around 200 trains a day across the Forth. The phrase "painting the Forth Bridge" — meaning a task that is never finished — became a British idiom, though in reality the bridge was fully repainted between 2002 and 2011 with a coating expected to last 25 years. The view of the bridge from South Queensferry, especially at sunset, is one of the great sights of Scotland.