Disaster by Design: The Tay Bridge Collapse
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- Опубліковано 19 вер 2021
- The Tay Bridge Disaster on the Firth of Tay near Dundee, Scotland from December of 1879. Winds were partly to blame but the chain of failures was long, and completely preventable at many points along the way.
Locomotive Nicknamed "Diver": • A Locomotive Named "Di...
The History of The Forth Bridge: • Built From Deadly Less...
The Quebec Bridge Collapse: • Ego in Engineering: Th...
The UK's Railway Safety Turning Point: • Tragic Turning Point: ...
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Locomotive Nicknamed "Diver": ua-cam.com/video/phvXVzBCrl8/v-deo.html
The History of The Forth Bridge: ua-cam.com/video/0tEEVNHbUWQ/v-deo.html
The Quebec Bridge Collapse: ua-cam.com/video/e4DTMe0huXM/v-deo.html
The UK's Railway Safety Turning Point: ua-cam.com/video/dyo56rwtY2Q/v-deo.html
Ya done good Sam, quit apologising already! ;)
Your channel is about to explode, be ready
@@ugiswrong I can't believe this channel has less than 250k subs.
Good video, but will you please stop with the overly long fade outs. It's downright annoying and unnecessarily excessive. It feels like I'm watching the endings of Return of the King, only 10 times worse than normal.
@@DachshundDogStarluck19 Hey thanks for watching Dachshund. If my videos don't work for you though, feel free to skip 'em.
The same thing could have happened to the South Esk bridge, which was also designed by Thomas Bouch. After the Tay bridge disaster they tested that bridge over a period of 36 hours and it turned out to be so weak and unstable that it had to be put out of service immediately. It was dismantled and a new bridge was built, it's still in use today. The Redheugh bridge in Newcastle (another design by Bouch) suffered a similar fate. Makes you think about Thomas Bouch's actual skills, doesn't it?
You make a good point, but you also need to remember that Bouch designed the Belah viaduct in Cumberland which lasted until the 1960s when it was dismantled due to the railway being closed; Bouch also created many thousands of other bridges which have stood the test of time, albeit a lot more minor, and several of his lines remained in service until the 1960s when they were closed due to economic changes. Whilst his largest failure is the key point of his career, and rightly should be called out as a poor design, he did a lot right, and for a man who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, learnt a lot on the job, and had a strong legacy of delivering projects to tight budgets and often on time, you can see how this would have caused his early demise. Perhaps it's unfair to judge his skills solely on a spectacular failure, when there's more to his life than just the disaster he is most associated with.
@@theenigmaticst7572
Seems as though his short cuts were based off his previous successful short cuts to the point it became reckless.
I love it! Y'alls post and comments just add to why this channel is my fave. A bounty of background info, topped by even more background post reply info. Thanks!
@@larrybe2900 In some ways a story that gets repeated again and again, sadly - but agreed - it's the whole "cut until something breaks" method.
When multiple bridges designed by the same person are that badly done, one has to consider whether or not they want to let this person anywhere near a project.
As a Dundonian, there's something eerie about crossing the 'new' bridge. You can see the old brick infrastructure to the side of the new. There's always a collective sigh of relief when you cross the Tay Bridge
I feel the same about the skyway bridge here in Florida
@@geekyzebra91 exactly- i'm talking the old bridges
@tommurphy4307 Yeah, I drove across an old Civil War bridge when I lived in Indiana, that was pretty sketchy
I live near Dundee so am familiar with this disaster, and see the "tombstone" stumps of the collapsed bridge every day. But I didn't know the half of how and why it happened. Great video.
there are several great books on it- maybe you should read one. i recommend the one written by david steinman.
I imagine it was Strongly "Suggested" to the Locomotive's Crew to cross the bridge quickly so that more trains an hour could cross the single tracked bridge....
It would be interesting to know if any of the train crews or the signalmen gave evidence on this.
Safe working rules on railways developed in response to decades of crashes and near misses (tombstone self regulation). It would be shocking that a breach of a declared speed limit was encouraged or accepted but that’s what appears to have happened.
@@tjejojyj During the Victorian Era, in a lot of cases, you listened to your boss .vs. "safety" rules since you didn't want to get fired, both in Great Britain and in the US!
@@timengineman2nd714 see, there’s an expectation that grew from that where you’re expected to tell your boss to pound sand if they want you to do something dangerous, precisely due to the fact that transport safety regulations are written in blood
@@timengineman2nd714 There were other lessons that had to be learned the hard way. For example a signal box was operated by two signalmen each doing 12 hour shifts. They changed shifts weekly so one of the two had to work a 24 hour shift! Also there was no interlocking between the various levers to stop the signalman accidentally setting up conflicting 'routes'. Disaster waiting to happen - and it did!
@@johnjephcote7636 Thank you! I had not realized the cause of the sparks until reading your comment. That cause disturbs me. Then again we are talking about it because the bridge went down so it makes sense.
I'm from Dundee and found this a very informative video. As long as I can remember, those stumps in the water have given me the heebies. My dad's granddad worked on the original bridge so it was an often told story when I was young.
That’s quite a connection! If I had a National History Day student (academic competition here in the US) with that kind of connection, I’d tell them that they had a shoe-in for advancement to the state and possibly national levels with that as their project.
Competition judges: “What led you to choose this as your project topic?”
You: “My great-granddad was one of the workers on the original bridge. The accounts I grew up hearing came from him.”
Competition judges: “Well that’s a primary source if ever I’ve heard of or seen one!”
Greetings from Germany! We learned about this disaster in school, in 9th grade. There is a famous German poem - "Die Brück' am Tay" ("The Tay Bridge") by Theodor Fontane - that deals with the Tay Bridge collapse. However, I did not fully comprehend at the time that the poem was about a real event, thinking it was either fictional, or something that took place in Germany.
Wow! I'm gonna look for the German Poem. There's a poem about it by William McGonagle (widely regarded as Scotland's worst poet). Greetings from Dundee!
@@kkrwazie Thanks! I'll check out McGonagle, too.
I spelled his name wrong - it's McGonagall. Enjoy! 😉. Just read Fontane's version, much better!
"Tand, Tand von Menschenhand..." That´s what came to my mind immediately 😊
Of all of the elements that you have in your videos here, the part that I see most impressive and the one that makes me much more inclined to watch your videos more is the section that you do in each and every video listing the victims and either reading the names off or giving a time of silence as they roll. Every safety rule ever to exist exists because of someone being injured or killed. Very often these are forgotten as people discuss what happened and how things can be done differently. I very much appreciate that while you do talk about everything else, you still give us that time to consider who bled and who died to make the changes happen. Thank you
It was shocking to me that everyone was so very young.
Beautifully stated!
I crossed that bridge many times going on leave to Arbroath from the army and returning, and always looked at the old bridge stumps. It always made me think about what must have happened. It's a great bridge to cross, quite spectacular, and the curve let's you see the front of the train.
@David Fraser thanks for your service.
Glad you’re okay
@@DBoone123 The bridge collapsed in 1879. To be part of this disaster you'd have to be at least 144 years old!
@@JamesWillmus lmao
@@JamesWillmus Think he means on the second rail bridge which runs parallel with the collapsed bridge.. the "new" bridge was complete in 1887 and is operational to this day.. Its positioned circa 60ft from the collapsed bridge..
Appreciate the re-upload with the correction in conversion. We seen how an really expensive failure on the Mars Climate Orbiter was caused by an incorrect imperial-metric conversion and having a correct version of this video up UA-cam is best.
The wall of names silently passing accompanied only by the wind made me flinch. Especially seeing a few children in the list. Eighteen is damned young to go, but seeing victims at 9 to 11 years old is heart-breaking even 142 years later.
Indeed
What a terrifying way to die as an adult let alone a child's nightmare
@@sproutsisters5398 It would have all been over in seconds - they'd have been killed instantaneously by the shock of the fall.
The crazy over-engineering of the forth bridge was a direct response to this, it really is quite something to see up close and personal, only a country recovering from a disaster like the Tay Bridge one could then go so completely overboard on the next big project
Your video said the forth Bridge still stands today, i'd happily take any bet on it still standing in another 100 years! Its a monster.....
PS: for anyone really into bridges, I *think* the forth valley is the only place you can snap a picture of a working 19th,20th and 21st century bridge all in one picture. They look glorious when all lit up just after dusk.
It's also kinda ironic that the 19th century rail bridge is wearing far better than the 20th century road bridge next to it 🤣
@@mor4y Well..that happens if you overengineer something :D...Just look at all the stuff I.K. Brunel constructed...Either it was scrapped,did not work out..or is still in service
In another context, Henry Ford commented that there is always time to do a job twice, but never time to do it properly the first time. The Forth bridge appears to be an exception.
@@euanthomas3423I’ve only ever heard that saying reversed. Somthing like “it saves time to do the job once properly, not twice”
@@mor4y gee- how about new york??
I’m new here and I must say how professional and intelligent this video is. It got me at the end when you list the names of victims along side of a train disappearing as the names scrolled. Very touching tribute to them!
Reading the list of victims names was sad. It looked like many brothers died. And a lot of families were lost. It struck me how young almost all the passengers were. I can only imagine the pain felt by families when they realized their loved ones died in such a horrible way.
Yeah, a lot of young men in their 20s for some reason. I wonder if that would have been proportionate to the population at the time or what.
Also sort of emphasizes how un-survivable the bridge collapse was. Not even fit young 20 somethings were able to escape. I hope they didn't drown actually. I kind of hope they were knocked unconscious or died from head trauma as they hit the water.
@@charlotteinnocent8752They literally had no chance whatsoever
I think in those days it would have been more common for men to be out and about on business and working outside the home. Women would leave the home for social calls and shopping. Maybe that explains the difference in death rate. Horrible how many family members there were. :(
were you hoping it was a 'singles' train??
Your level of research and attention to detail is exceptional. I vaguely remember the Tay Bridge from when I went to Scotland as a child, but wow, this disaster is one for the books. I’m surprised that Queen Victoria didn’t strip Bouch of his knighthood.
She was probably aware that Bouch was not wholly to blame. In any disaster look for the bean counters and the owners. In an air crash the pilot is always to blame right?
Different times. Back then this hardly ever happened.
It arguably would have made Victoria look bad. And damage the status of knighthood itself.
Even in our times, it's mostly paedophilic sex-offenders and people like Mugabe and Ceauşescu (honorary) that have their knighthood taken from them.
I mean, the man invented the modern ferry, and this was far from his only civil engineering project. The Tay Bridge may have been a catastrophic miscalculation on his part, but he was awarded knighthood for his role in the progress of Britain's transportation network, and the collapse of the bridge doesn't change that. It's like saying Oliver Cromwell isn't an important figure to British history because of the atrocities committed during his campaign in Ireland.
Stripping of a knighthood or degradation is usually reserved for stuff like treason. Although recently two bankers got their Sir canceled over the 2008 financial crisis.
@@TomFynn I, too, would equate many bankers' actions as treasonous.
Very informative; thanks. I crossed the new bridge many thousands of times as a Driver for British Rail between 1980 and 1992 (getting stuck on it one night for a short time during a gale).
Omg thank you for the special call out!
When i first saw how long that bridge was gonna be, i was like ohhh mannnnn, this one needs to be perfect and not rushed AT ALL. And yet....here we are.
Thanks for the support Jenny!
Thank you for caring about the quality of videos. I'm glad that there are still people out there that care about making sure everything is factually accurate.
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
'Twas about seven o'clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem'd to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem'd to say-
"I'll blow down the Bridge of Tay."
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."
But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers' hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.
So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o'er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill'd all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav'd to tell the tale
How the disaster happen'd on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
William Topaz McGonagall (The world's worst poet).
According to that excellent textbook “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the worst poet in the entire universe was Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings, from Essex :)
LOL someone had to McGonagall us!
@@CountScarlioni Billy Connolly reads it best
The "disaster" isn't quite complete without mention of the prequel and sequel. McGonagall was a chronicler with doggerel as his medium and muse.
McGonagall's near contemporary in the US was Julia A. Moore, the Sweet Singer of Michigan. Both are represented in 'The Stuffed Owl," a compendium of infamously bad poetry.
Thank you for this upload! Excellent analysis! The Tay Bridge disaster has fascinated me for decades. I grew up in Germany. Sometime during the Middle School years we read and analyzed a very well written ballad poem by German poet Theodore Fontane “Die Brück’ am Tay” (Translates as The Bridge across the River Tay”). Online translations of this beautiful poem as a rule are pretty horrible. But it seems Mr Fontane, who had been traveling in Scotland, was quite affected by this terrible disaster. A lot of Germans are aware of this bridge collapse because of Fontaine’s poem. Thanks again!
If you think the translations of Theodore Fontane are bad, you should see William Topaz McGonnagall's own poem about the disaster!
Kam mir schon die ganze Zeit bekannt vor, jetzt erinnere ich mich auch dran!
"Wann treffen wir drei wieder zusamm'?"
"Um die siebente Stund', am Brückendamm."
"Am Mittelpfeiler."
"Ich lösch die Flamm'."
"Ich mit."
"Ich komme vom Norden her."
"Und ich vom Süden."
"Und ich vom Meer."
"Hei, das gibt ein Ringelreihn,
und die Brücke muß in den Grund hinein."
"Und der Zug, der in die Brücke tritt
um die siebente Stund'?"
"Ei, der muß mit."
"Muß mit."
"Tand, Tand
ist das Gebild von Menschenhand."
Auf der Norderseite, das Brückenhaus -
alle Fenster sehen nach Süden aus,
und die Brücknersleut', ohne Rast und Ruh
und in Bangen sehen nach Süden zu,
sehen und warten, ob nicht ein Licht
übers Wasser hin "ich komme" spricht,
"ich komme, trotz Nacht und Sturmesflug,
ich, der Edinburger Zug."
Und der Brückner jetzt: "Ich seh einen Schein
am andern Ufer. Das muß er sein.
Nun, Mutter, weg mit dem bangen Traum,
unser Johnie kommt und will seinen Baum,
und was noch am Baume von Lichtern ist,
zünd alles an wie zum heiligen Christ,
der will heuer zweimal mit uns sein, -
und in elf Minuten ist er herein."
Und es war der Zug. Am Süderturm
keucht er vorbei jetzt gegen den Sturm,
und Johnie spricht: "Die Brücke noch!
Aber was tut es, wir zwingen es doch.
Ein fester Kessel, ein doppelter Dampf,
die bleiben Sieger in solchem Kampf,
und wie's auch rast und ringt und rennt,
wir kriegen es unter: das Element.
Und unser Stolz ist unsre Brück';
ich lache, denk ich an früher zurück,
an all den Jammer und all die Not
mit dem elend alten Schifferboot;
wie manche liebe Christfestnacht
hab ich im Fährhaus zugebracht
und sah unsrer Fenster lichten Schein
und zählte und konnte nicht drüben sein."
Auf der Norderseite, das Brückenhaus -
alle Fenster sehen nach Süden aus,
und die Brücknersleut' ohne Rast und Ruh
und in Bangen sehen nach Süden zu;
denn wütender wurde der Winde Spiel,
und jetzt, als ob Feuer vom Himmel fiel,
erglüht es in niederschießender Pracht
überm Wasser unten... Und wieder ist Nacht.
"Wann treffen wir drei wieder zusamm'?"
"Um Mitternacht, am Bergeskamm."
"Auf dem hohen Moor, am Erlenstamm."
"Ich komme."
"Ich mit."
"Ich nenn euch die Zahl."
"Und ich die Namen."
"Und ich die Qual."
"Hei!
Wie Splitter brach das Gebälk entzwei."
"Tand, Tand
ist das Gebilde von Menschenhand"
Thanks for posting that poem! I notice that Fontane wrote it thinking the bridge was brought down by wind alone (he wrote ten days after the disaster, when that was still the story). It makes a memorable addition to the ranks of poems about humankind's helplessness against nature. The train driver boasts, "Wir kriegen es unter, das Element -- We'll dominate the elements," but the last image of him is nothing but a light shooting down to the water to disappear in night...
I commend your dedication to getting every detail correct
Quite a bit of information packed into a very watchable video, thank you. (much) Longer articles reveal that the cast iron castings were of astonishingly poor quality, full of defects and outright holes, which were often just filled with crap to conceal. Although the wind load is generally cited as the cause of the collapse, it is quite possible that one of the light wooden carriages was derailed in the wind, striking a supporting member, and bringing down the structure. Of course, as the video points out, the bridge was so poorly designed that a side impact by a seagull might have done the trick.
As someone who passes from one area of Scotland to Dundee via the modern railway, it's always felt so strange, seeing the remains of the original Tay Bridge, and even moreso when you read its history and what happened. I'd like to thank you for the respect for the history of this accident, even if it was over a hundred years ago now, as it's an important part of Dundee and Tayside's history now.
If I was going to rewatch a Brick Immortar vid, it's hands down this one. I find bridges so interesting. Catch me just as entertained this time around :)
I do too. Growing up, there's two bridges that are now lost to time I loved. One is just west of my hometown over the Ninnescah River in KS, an old, narrow pony truss bridge that was damaged substantially by erosion and flooding replaced in 2000, and a bridge over the Arkansas River by Mulvane, KS that was derelict and closed to motorized traffic when I was just out of high school and was torn down for safety reasons not too long after [around the same time, we had some crazy flood years that led to bridge upgrades]. Check out Bridgehunter dot com if you don't already use it. There's some cool stuff out there and a dedicated community that loves the old bridges.
@@kdawson020279 My favorite bridge story: When I was a child, back in 1955, a large truck skidded (bald tires and rain) and struck the steel truss Fombell, PA bridge at a sharp angle, dislodging it from its old stone piers and into the Connoquenessing Creek. Splash. The interesting part was that when the County Commissioners approved funds for removal of the wreckage and construction of a new bridge, the company hired found no trace of the old steel structure. Turns out that a company that did not get the contract showed up a few weeks early and removed the bridge themselves. The owner of the company went to jail for grand theft (I guess scrap was pretty valuable then) and one of the commissioners went to jail for tipping him off about the date the bridge was to be removed.
Same here, bridges have always captivated me especially ones with artistic architecture like the Natchez Trace Parkway one and Sunshine Skyway just down the road from me.
The iron tubes cast on-site by the second firm in the bridge construction were often faulty and employees were told to fill the holes with 'Beaumont's Egg', a mixture of resin and iron filings. To be fair, not a lot of knowledge existed about wind pressure then and it was a hit and miss affair which was very miss with the Tay Bridge. Finally, the new design of Firth of Forth rail bridge was so over-engineered that modern, much longer and heavier trains, can speed across it at speeds never dreamt of when it was built.
IIRC there are fairly low speed restrictions on the Fourth Bridge.
So there are TWO of us who know about Beaumont (no possessive) Egg!
I thought about the Beaumont egg as well a substitute for filling up holes in the botched casing in the girders
Glad you made an episode on "The Diver".
This story just isn't complete without that addendum.
I read a book simply titled "Bridges" when I was a child in elementary school,( grades 1 through 5 for those overseas). I was always obsessed with this and the Ashtabula horror as those were the two that really stood out to me along with the Tacoma narrows bridge collapse... Really am glad you covered the diver!
I think it's learning about the Tay Bridge disaster as a child gave me the fear of bridges I had for a long time. For years I would hide under a blanket or would hide my eyes when going over the Forth Road Bridge or Forth Rail Bridge because I was scared they would collapse too (I was a child at the time). The remains of The Tay Bridge still give me anxiety if I'm on the train.
Thank you for doing a video on this, it's so good to learn a bit more about it.
Thank you for also pronouncing Edinburgh correctly, it may be minor, it's one of my pet peeves when it's pronounced wrong.
This channel is the most underrated channel on UA-cam
Yup!
Legend had it, if you go to the bridge on the anniversary of it’s collapse, you can see a ghost train cross the Tay where the bridge used to be and fall in to the water…
Spooky
@@ayindestevens6152 Sounds like something from the ghost train episode of thomas the tank engine :D
Red Dead ghost train
Funny, never have I heard that either as a legend or as a story...
It's true,my friend seen it on the anniversary at exact time it crossed😢
Have I seen this video before? Yes!
Will I watch it again to give this video the maximum amount of watch time so that this wonderful channel will get recommend to more people? Definitely!
I have lived in Dundee all my life and have to say this is the best documentary I have ever seen regarding this tragedy.
I read in a 1933 publication several decades ago that one of the problems with some of the iron girders and brackets was that they emerged from the foundry already cracked. Apparently those cracks were filled with beeswax!. I must dig it out and re-read that account. Very interesting review done well. Thank you
Beaumont Egg it was called
Apparently, the recovered locomotive was given the name ‘The Diver.’ I don’t know if that’s insensitive or hilarious, but them’s the facts, it seems.
I'm from Perth, close to Dundee, and saw the stumps often driving by on my way to university. I recently found your channel and was delighted to find this video and see there are other that cover Scotland. Thank you so much.
The importance of bringing historical facts to teach and inform the present is invaluable. Please keep up this great passion.
A tangential story: My Maternal Grandfather, William Stewart was born in 1879 in Dundee. His father worked for the North British Railway as a Clerk. Late in the year he was transferred/promoted to a new job in Glasgow. The train taking him and his family to the 'Second City of the Empire' crossed the first Tay Bridge (north to south) in the last days of its existence. Six degrees of separation???
Many congratulations on an excellent video, please keep up the Good Work.
This is the most in depth analysis of the disaster I've seen yet.
Here is a fun fact (almost related). Your outro footage of Seaworld reminded me that there is a Seaworld in North Queensferry, Fife. It is located almost directly below the iconic Forth Rail Bridge that was referenced a couple of times in the video.
The outro actually made me think of St. Andrews Sea Life Centre for some reason, likely it's proximity to the Tay bridge.
What a great video! I grew up in Wormit and when the tide is out you can climb up onto one of the “stumps” of the original bridge. Did it often as a teenager!
Your videos are always amazing! And I appreciate you finding as much information as possible. Especially the information certain groups would rather stay forgotten.
And thank you to all of the patreons of this channel! I hope to someday become one, until then, thank you for helping make these videos a reality! :3
Worth a re-watch
I certainly did not expect you to make a video about my hometown. This channel is very underrated, good work :)
This disaster was a major inspiration to one of the most infamously bad poets in Scottish history, William McGonagall, who immortalized it in his "The Tay Bridge Disaster":
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
‘Twas about seven o’clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-
“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers’ hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
“I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay.”
But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers’ hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov’d most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.
So the train mov’d slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o’er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill’d all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav’d to tell the tale
How the disaster happen’d on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
You didn't mention his other poem, which celebrated the bridge's construction. It's arguably worse.
@@Dav1Gv True enough, though since the video was about the disaster, I stuck with that.
I knew a fair bit about the bridge and its collapse, but what really struck me about your video was the list of names and ages at the end. I hadn't realised just how young many people on that train were.
I've been into history for as long as I can remember but I've never been able to find a god video on the Tay bridge until now.
Hey Brick, thanks for this great content. Don't remember how I found your channel but I'm glad I did. I've seen some of your topics covered elsewhere on other channels but your channel is more engaging I feel. More imformative. Thank you. You're doing great work here.
When I worked in Perth, I saw the power of the Tay, and I remembered reading about the collapse in a children's magazine Look And Learn. It was a powerful story to me, even as a child.
I'm always awed by the sheer scale of large bridges and I've had the pleasure of walking the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Quebec Bridge - a particularly spooky, colossal structure when looming out of the darkness in the middle of the night in a heavy fog on a train (all the more so given it's tragic history).
I read that at the time of the construction of the Tay River bridge there was a widely held public skepticism that these new-fangled, heavy trains could safely cross rivers - especially one as wide as this on such a tall bridge and in the minds of many people the collapse of the Tay bridge confirmed that view. It was said that it was to cultivate public confidence in the safety of all railway bridges that the massive Firth of Forth bridge was so heavily over-built. If that's true, I think it proved its point.
Great video thanks.
I thought I knew about this. I didn't know the half of it. Well done!
Honestly that's pretty much every video from this channel. I've heard about the sampoong and i-35-w bridge collapse but he really gives us more details and new insights!!
Never stop using the low-key whispered “brickimmortar” intro. I giggle every time, and that’s a healthy act right before I hear some tragic tale of construction fails.
This video is so good. From the storytelling, to the pacing, to the cuts, to your buttery smooth voice. Impeccable quality overall.
Great video. Thoroughly enjoyed the complete break down of what happened...very well produced. Thank you for sharing!
I was wondering what happened earlier. I was right in the middle of this when you took it down. Glad it's back up now!
Great vid.
My grandmother told me that she remembers her grandfather (a Farmer on the southern side of the river) telling her about finding bodies after the disaster
Those wanting to know more about the event should check out two books: ‘The High Girders’ by John Prebble and ‘Battle for the North’ by Charles McKean
I love how well researched these videos are as well as how you present them. Most videos like these are little more than an individual reciting a Wikipedia article with some basic imagery. I actually feel like I learned something.
You do an awesome job!
Sometimes I research to obtain more information. Finding it difficult bc you have been so thorough!
My new favorite binge-watching channel. Your level of detail and clarity are exceptional.
Amazing work. Always a pleasure to see a new doc in my feed from you.
Another incredibly detailed and respectful video. Keep up the good work
Best in-depth coverage of the Tay Bridge collapse I've ever heard. Thank you.
I was quite surprised to hear that the locomotive was put back into service. A modern diesel-electric would be totaled by much less.
I understand that crews nicknamed it “The Diver”.
A few things when comparing the salvage and return to service of ‘the Diver’ and Modern equipment. Modern vehicles tend to have built in crumple zones that make them look worse when they crash but make it safer for the occupants inside.
Since most locomotives and rolling stock in the 1800’s were custom made and. hand fitted, it made them very expensive. As such, if they could be re-built, they would be. This was common in the US too, Southern engine 1102 (famously as the engine from the song, “wreck of the old ‘97”) and even Illinois Central engine 382 (the one Casey Jones drove) was put back into service.
Returning modern equipment to service is also a priority for the ever-frugal railroads and their quest for saving more money. Crashes happen fairly often for CSX and Norfolk Southern in the US and those companies tend to restore their engines and put them back on the mainline.
@@streetfightinmanrs same with modern cars! Intentionally crumple, but are much safer
@@SonicBoone56 Comparatively fewer cars put back into service due to the efficiency of mass automotive manufacture means fewer manhours are used to assemble a car from scratch than in a partial rebuild.
Not mentioned is the complexity of the modern locomotive. If you have water and diesel engines + electricity you will have to go through everything to be sure it will be working as intended; especially when it has been submerged for a long time. On a steam engine all you do is boiling water and make things move and thus many parts doesn't mind the water. Fairly easy to restore - in comparison.
I was watching one of your earlier videos and your narration is much better. You’ve slowed down which is a lot easier to listen to. Great site. Very informative.
commenting to support the re-upload and to say thanks for the informative and fascinating content 👍
Great video! I only knew of the Tay Bridge disaster because I listened to the Goon Show when I was young, which introduced me to the poet William McGonagall and his work that follows (oft considered one of the worst poems what was ever wrote):
"Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
‘Twas about seven o’clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-
“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers’ hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
“I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay.”
But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers’ hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov’d most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.
So the train mov’d slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o’er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill’d all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav’d to tell the tale
How the disaster happen’d on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed."
Thanks!
Thanks so much for your support Jade!
Great vid Brick Immortar, very insightful. I really appreciate you showing us how the bridge was built.
Duwd awesome video, and amazing quality video production. This is my first video I have seen on your channel so far and I can’t wait to look at more.
Keep up the amazing work!
Loud applause!
Quite the best documentary I have seen on the bridge. Much new information (to me anyway) and a presentation style devoid of 'padding'. Top quality work.
Subb'd.
I'm a new viewer of your videos and I want to say Great Job!!! I particularly appreciate your thoughtful and well delivered commentary. It would be very easy to sensationalize these tragedies and over-dramatize the human factors leading to the failure. Your measured approach adds tremendous weight to each video and emphasizes the clear respect to all involved that is present in your treatment. Power forward and I wish you every success!
Thank you for the reupload with the correction 🙏 shows a lot of professionalism.
Great video. If you are looking for video ideas, the Big 4 rail bridge in Terre Haute IN was the site of 3 train wrecks within a 10 year period from 1892 to 1902. At least one locomotive is still in the water below the bridge today. The bridge collapsed 2 times in that period once in 1892 and in 1900. It has fallen into folklore in the area because for decades after the event the old steam engine was still visible in the water during low water conditions. Love your videos, and your extensive research. If you are interested in making the video I would be glad to help. I have some pieces of the wreckage collected with magnets believed to be parts of the boiler jacket that exploded during the 1892 collision.
A good video (as ever) but I have one small quibble.
You mentioned the sparks coming from the train as it crossed the bridge but not why they were there.
I gather that they were from the flanges of the wheels on the downwind side of the train contacting the running rail. Normally, the flanges not touch the rails but the wind was blowing the carriages sideways. In time this would have produced heavy wear in both the wheels and the rail.
Damn man, your videos just keep getting better and better.
it gave rise to one of McGonagall worst works, "The Tay Bridge Disaster"
Also David Kirkaldy tested the material and found it severely understrength, at about 1/3 of Bouche's estimate
Awesomely bad poem. A monument to shoddy construction. Supremely inept.
He wrote 3 'poems', one on its opening, one on its collapse, and one on the opening of the new bridge. The poem about the collapse ends with a particularly dreadful verse...
" "Oh! Ill-fated bridge of the silv'ry Tay,
I now must conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.""
So the dictim "See something, say something" has always been needed?
Nice work. Thanks!
DOUGout
I first heard of this disaster through an edutainment comic story in the British comic book, "Lion." In the story, the main character, Adam Eterno, is immortal and invulnerable but also cursed to be an unwilling time-traveller. In the course of the story, he boards this train and is inside when the bridge collapses. Being unable to either drown or freeze to death, and being almost inhumanly strong, Adam escapes and completes his mission. The whole point of each story was to present an historical incident or historically accurate situation while also entertaining the reader.
(In case anyone is interested, Adam was supposed to deliver a key, supposedly to a treasure, to someone as their inheritance. The key unlocks a trap which Adam sets off. As Adam said afterward: "only hate was left to you in the will.")
Dude your videos are too good. I can't choose which one to watch next.
This was very well done. Your research is always on point but I think your presentation is improving with all the little effects for emphasis.
Excellent work as always, and kudos for being able to say the tongue twister "the Firth of Forth" several times! 😄
Wow! This was a great video. Glad I found the channel! I look forward to watching more of your stuff!
My dad was from Dundee, his dad worked on the railways (after this happened), just made this video all the more poignant to me. Thank you for making this.
I love your videos and your style. Hope your channel will grow cause you well damn deserve it.
Really interesting, thanks' for your efforts in making this video. :)
"The fourth bridge still stands proudly" sad story for all involved, hope we can all learn from this.
One of the worst things about this disaster is that carriage doors were locked from the outside back then. For those who survived the impact there was no way to escape, other than breaking the windows and swimming out, which would have been almost impossible.
Not to mention even if they somehow made it out after breaking those windrows they were in the middle of freezing rushing water on a pitch black December night. Truly a horrible way to go out
Very few people could swim back then, and even now I'd question how many would survive if they found themselves in that part of the Tay in those conditions. You have a mile swim to land from the middle of the bridge. It would take a strong swimmer close to an hour to reach that.
Great video, tragic story. Thanks for another detailed and insightful story
tx u for all ur videos..short and very informative..keep the good work...xx
Thank you, your videos are informative, factual and respectful.
This feels so eerie. I live nowhere near UK, but the story about the Tay Bridge made a deep impression on me when I was very little. Great video, love the amount of detail
I've walked that bridge many a time as it was quicker to walk to the signalbox than drive. I worked on the rail safety teams and, at the time, was amazed to find large holes my leg would've disappeared down. It has since had a major refurbishment so they should have disappeared by now. It was a nice walk across, watching the seals rest on the defunct piers of the original bridge. The bridge there now is built to the side of the original collapsed section and you could still see the broken bases of some columns.
There were stories that imperfect iron for the bridge, where holes appeared, were filled with sawdust and boot polish as that mimicked the appearance of the iron.
You can design anything you want but when you trust someone to build it for you then the perfection level disappears to make way for profit.
I love hx and have training in disaster preparedness. I can’t get enough of your videos!!!!!
Really enjoyed this one! Keep up the awesome content! -Bree
Thanks for that Bree!
Thank you for another great video Sam! I had never heard of this collapse somehow. Absolute nightmare fuel… imagine you’re driving then it all goes black, coming to at the bottom of a shipping channel inside of your quickly flooding truck. Life is scarier than fiction.
I have no idea why this comment appeared on the wrong video (was meant for the Latest video on the Florida bridge). But I’ve seen this one also and it’s also great/very well done ❤️
My family migrated from Dundee in the early 20th century, around 1919 to be exact. An amazing video as always.
Great video and research. Thank you for sharing.
Great voice for this mate.
The production quality of this video is nothing short of outstanding.
So glad I found this channel
When I heard you talked about cantilever bridges, I wanted to ask you to do a video about the Québec bridge (where I am from) only for you to say that it's already done! Can't wait to watch it. Love your content! Thanks for all the hard work 😊🙏
Theodor Fontane (1819-1898) wrote a poem/ballade "Die Brück' am Tay" (The Tay Bridge). 5 stanzas describing the accident. But the poem is most famous for its prologue and epilogue by the 3 witches of Shakespeare's Macbeth he wrote to frame the poem. The 1st stanza is one of the most widely-known poems in German.
1st stanza (the plan of the 3 witches) in German (English below):
"Wann treffen wir drei wieder zusamm'?"
"Um die siebente Stund', am Brückendamm."
"Am Mittelpfeiler."
"Ich lösch die Flamm'."
"Ich mit."
"Ich komme vom Norden her."
"Und ich vom Süden."
"Und ich vom Meer."
"Hei, das gibt ein Ringelreihn,
und die Brücke muß in den Grund hinein."
"Und der Zug, der in die Brücke tritt
um die siebente Stund'?"
"Ei, der muß mit."
"Muß mit."
"Tand, Tand
ist das Gebilde von Menschenhand."
1st stanza translated
„When shall the three of us meet again?“
„By the bank of the bridge at the seventh hour.”
„At the centre pile.“
„I'll put out the fire.“
„And me.“
„I'll come down from the northern side.“
„And I from the south.“
„And I from the sea.“
„Hey, that'll be a whirling round,
and the bridge must sink into the ground.“
„And what's with the train that enters the bridge
at the seventh hour?“
„Yee, that goes too.“
„Goes too.“
„Wish-wash,
Vain are the constructs of human hands.“