The Tay Bridge Disaster Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1871

The longest reigning British monarch is, of course, the present incumbent, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II whose reign started in 1952. The second longest is Queen Victoria, who ascended the throne in 1837; the bridge was started in 1871. 1794 is 34 years after the start of the reign of the third longest, George III, and is before the railway age. 1867 is 34 years before Queen Victoria's death and is totally irrelevant.

Answer: Sir Thomas Bouch

Thomas Bouch was born near Carlisle and spent his working life in the north of England and Scotland. He was responsible for the world's first roll-on roll-off train ferry, across the River Forth. He was knighted after the opening of the Tay Bridge, and died within a year of its destruction. Robert Stephenson, the son of George Stephenson, was a railway engineer who designed and built many early locomotives.

He helped his father design the famous "Rocket", and latterly was responsible for many miles of track and bridges.

His most famous work is probably the Britannia tubular bridge across the Menai Straits. He is one of the very few railway engineers to be made an FRS. Arrol was a civil engineer who was responsible for the construction of the replacement Tay Bridge, the Forth Bridge and Tower Bridge in London. Mrs Sarah Guppy lived slightly earlier and, although not a qualified engineer (the professions were closed to women in that benighted era), offered technical advice concerning railways and nautical matters.

She also produced a number of inventions, the most delightful of which was a tea urn which would also cook eggs and had a gadget for keeping toast warm.

Answer: William McGonagall

William Topaz McGonagall, weaver by trade, amateur actor and self-styled "poet and tragedian", is famous for his bad verse. He produced over two hundred pieces of doggerel, of which "The Tay Bridge Disaster" is the best known. His cavalier approach to rhyme and contempt for scansion is illustrated in the final part of this epic, which I must quote, as it has been cited as being the worst poem by the worst poet in the English language:

"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 Silvery Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silvery 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."

Sound advice indeed.
Craig and Burgess were contemporary Scots poets. To mention Burns in this context as an insult to his "immortal memory", and any case, he was from Ayrshire and was long dead.

Answer: The High Girders

The bridge ran for a little over two miles from Wormit on the south bank to Dundee on the north. It consisted of lattice girders supported by cast iron columns resting on concrete-filled wrought iron caissons which extended up from the river bed. For most of its length the single railway line ran on top of the girders which extended below the pier tops ("deck trusses"), but in the middle section the girders, were raised above the tops of the piers with the railway running inside ("through trusses").

These were the "high girders" which provided headroom for sailing vessels proceeding up-river to the port of Perth. It was this section of the bridge which collapsed. The term "rainbow bridge" was used in a derogatory sense by Patrick Matthew, a contemporary local prophet of disaster. "Railway in the Sky" is an allusion to the "stream in the sky", a name given to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which towers to 127 feet above the Dee Valley in Wales.

The Bridge of Sighs is, of course, in Venice and there are similarly named structures in Oxford and Cambridge.

Answer: Wind pressure

The initial survey borings reported bedrock at no great depth across the river, but this turned out to be erroneous, mistaking compacted gravel for rock. Bouch quickly redrew his plans, adopted a different method of construction for the piers, and thus overcame the problem.

Although the river flow and tidal streams can be fast, they were not a major factor. Wind pressure is a different matter. By his own admission, Bouch had allowed for pressure of 10 pounds per square foot. On the night of the disaster, the wind speed was estimated at force 10 to 11 on the Beaufort scale, giving speeds of up to 70 miles per hour with gusts up to 80 m.p.h.

This would cause a pressure of over thirty p.s.f. with momentary values of up to twice that. The Court of Enquiry recommended that, in future, structures should be built to withstand a pressure of 56 p.s.f. with a safety factor of four.

Answer: Beaumont Egg

According to evidence given to the Court by a foundry worker: "(Beaumont Egg) is composed of beeswax, fiddler's rosin, the finest iron filings melted up and a little lamp black". "Rosin" is a resinous substance used, among other things, by players of bowed stringed instruments to provide a "grip" of the bow on the strings. Presumably the lamp black was for camouflage.

The mixture was melted and moulded into the hole as a filler, but had no structural strength. The foundry manger kept a box of it available, but Bouch denied any knowledge of its use.

The name may have come from the French "beau montage" - "beautiful assembly".

Answer: The speed of trains crossing the bridge

The maintenance, including painting, inspection and repairs were Bouch's direct responsibility, and he employed one Henry Noble as inspector. Noble's expertise, however, was in masonry rather than in ironwork. The supervision of engines and their drivers, however, would have fallen to Dugald Drummond, the locomotive superintendent of the N.B.R.. The bridge was inspected by the Board of Trade prior to its opening.

The inspector gave it a clean bill of health, but noted both minor vertical and lateral oscillations in the structure when a train was crossing, and recommended in his report that trains should not exceed 25 m.p.h. Somewhat ominously, he noted in his report: "...

When again visiting the spot I should wish, if possible, to have an opportunity of observing the effects of high wind when a train of carriages is running over the bridge ..." The speed restriction was routinely ignored by drivers.

Answer: The locomotive that pulled the train that fell into the Tay

The engine which pulled the train was a 4-4-0 express passenger locomotive with the N.B.R. number 224. It was built in 1871 at the N.B.R.'s Cowlairs locomotive works in Glasgow. In April 1880 it was salvaged from the riverbed at the third attempt and sent to Cowlairs for repairs, after which it was returned to service.

It was given the nickname "The Diver", and continued in service until about 1925. Superstitious drivers were reluctant to take it over the replacement bridge.

Answer: 59

Immediately following the disaster, the N.B.R. announced that up to 300 people had died, but soon realised their mistake. Determination of the exact number of victims was difficult because of the length of time before recovery (the last body was found on the 27th of April 1880), and the dispersal of the bodies (one was found in Caithness, about 199 miles distant), and the fact that some railway workers and young children may have travelled without tickets. For many years 75 was the accepted total, but it was then realised that the number of ticketless children had been overestimated. Only 46 bodies in all were recovered, and 13 people who were known to be travelling on the train were never found, which gives the total of 59.
The "Great McGonagall", as always, got things wrong. In his valedictory paroxysm to the bridge he proclaimed:

"Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery 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 remembered for a very long time."

Answer: Yes, inasmuch as it consists of deck and through trusses, but with major differences

The second bridge was designed by William Barlow and built by William Arrol and Company less than 20 metres from, and parallel to, the old one. Superficially it appears to be similar to its predecessor, but it is a much more massive structure incorporating iron and steel and carries twin railway tracks.

Some of the deck trusses from the old bridge were widened and re-used in its construction. The stumps of the piers of Bouch's bridge can still be seen beside it.