Firth of Forth Railway Bridge

"The majestic Forth Bridge ... symbolises the tremendous achievements of Victorian engineers and the immense strides made in the technique of bridge design and construction since the dawn of the Railway Age..."
- Derrick Bennett, Bridges: Great Buildings of the World

Throughout the 19th century, several proposals were made to reduce travel time from Edinburgh and southeastern England to the northern cities of Scotland by building a railroad bridge across the expansive mouth of the Forth River. The first attempt, by Thomas Bouch, was abandoned when his previous project, the Tay Bridge, collapsed in 1879. The unique double-cantilever design eventually used was proposed by Benjamin Baker, who had designed the first underground railways in England and later would become the youngest president in history of the Institute of Civil Engineers, the British counterpart to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

More than a mile-and-a-half long, the Forth Bridge was the longest bridge in the world when it was built, easily surpassing the Brooklyn Bridge. The Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII, presided at the bridge's opening ceremony, driving home the last of eight million rivets, specially cast in gold and inscribed to record the event.

Facts
1. Construction on the Forth Bridge, which began in 1883, required the labor of 5,000 men working day and night, consumed more than 50,000 tons of steel, and cost more than #3 million, or $15 million.
2. The total length of the bridge exceeds 1 1/2 miles, with each of the two main spans measuring 1,700 feet. The bridge's columns rise 330 feet and allow a shipping clearance of 150 feet.
3. Painting the bridge's 45 acres of steel surfaces began immediately after it was erected and has continued in an uninterrupted cycle to the present day, using paint produced by a single manufacturer.
4. The Forth Railway Bridge remains in regular use today, carrying two tracks of the North British Railway between South Queensferry and North Queensferry. It has been joined by the Forth Road Bridge, opened in 1964, which carries automobile traffic.

Caledonian Canal

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:40:03 +0000

Caledonian Canal

(not verified) Wed, 07/25/2012 - 03:40

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

57.112478, -4.738541

City

Inverness

Country

Scotland

Website

http://www.asce.org/Project/Caledonian-Canal/

Creator

Telford, Thomas

Jessop, William

Traversing the Great Glen of the Scottish Highlands for 60 miles the Caledonian Canal connects the North Sea by Beauly and Moray Firth on the east coast with the Irish Sea by Lochs Linnhe and Eil on the west. Thirty eight miles of the canal pass through freshwater lochs Douchfour, Ness, Oich and Lochy with the remaining 22 miles formed by earth cutting. Initially 28 locks, and later 29, were required to reach the summit elevation of 106 feet at Loch Oich.

The canal was first proposed by James Watt in 1773 and 20 years later by John Rennie. However, no immediate action resulted. It would be 1803, two years following the issue of Thomas Telford's Highland Report recommending construction of a broad network of roads, canals and harbor improvements throughout the Scottish Highlands, that an Act of Parliament would form the Caledonian Canal Commission, initiating serious work. The main purposes of the canal were to provide an alternate to the hazardous and lengthy sail around the north of Scotland via the Pentland Firth, to provide badly needed employment and to encourage development of the Highlands.

The Caledonian Canal was a massive project for its time. Telford's plan called for a canal 20 feet deep, 50 feet wide at the bottom and 110 feet wide at the top. The locks were 180 feet long by 40 feet wide by 20 feet deep, the largest ever to be constructed until surpassed by the Panama Canal in 1916.

Telford designed the canal with the assistance of his consulting engineer, William Jessop. He then assembled an expert team of earth movers, stone masons, and iron workers who, beginning with an inexperienced labor force, battled difficult access, harsh weather and bad ground conditions for 18 years. Typical of the significant construction engineering problems encountered were the extremely porous gravel soils at the Fort Augustus locks that required extensive dewatering and the soft and deep soils at the Clachnaharry sea-lock that were treated by pre-consolidated fill.

Although it did not live up to the commercial success that was expected, the Caledonian Canal did serve as an important military supply route during World War I. Today, after considerable restoration by British Waterways, it is an important tourist and leisure attraction in the Scottish Highlands. The sheer magnitude of the project and the severe conditions under which it was performed contributed greatly to the advancement of civil engineering knowledge in Britain and beyond.

Resources:  
1. Institution of Civil Engineers, International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Nomination, Caledonian Canal, London 2006  
2. Roland Paxton and Jim Shipway, Civil Engineering Heritage, Scotland Highlands and Islands, Thomas Telford 2007, ISBN 978-0-7277-3488-4  
3. L.T.C. Rolt, Thomas Telford, Scientific Book Club 1958  
4. Photo Image of Caledonian Canal-Laggan from the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland