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The Tay Bridge Disaster: New Light on the 1879 Tragedy
The Tay Bridge Disaster occurred nearly a century ago, yet no other railway accident has made so deep or so lasting an impression on the public mind.
On the evening of 28 December 1879, in a great storm, a train plunged into the Firth of Tay when the bridge collapsed. All the 75 passengers and crew were killed, and only a few bodies were later recovered - yet the locomotive was salvaged in surprisingly good repair, and worked another 39 years.
The Tay Bridge, built only nineteen months before the accident, and the longest bridge in the world at the time, had brought a knighthood to its designer, Thomas Bouch. Its collapse ruined him. The Court of Inquiry sat for twenty-five days.
John Thomas in this new study of a famous disaster, uses newly discovered material to take the reader beyond the public benches of the Westminster courtroom of 1880 into the Edingurgh drawing office of Sir Thomas Bouch, into the offices of solicitors and contractors, and into the boardroom of the owner of the bridge - the North British Railway Company. He describes the building of the bridge, the accident itself, its dramatic aftermath and its long-term consequences. Old myths are dispelled, and unsuspected intrigues revealed, in a highly readable account of the most famous of bridge disasters.
On the evening of 28 December 1879, in a great storm, a train plunged into the Firth of Tay when the bridge collapsed. All the 75 passengers and crew were killed, and only a few bodies were later recovered - yet the locomotive was salvaged in surprisingly good repair, and worked another 39 years.
The Tay Bridge, built only nineteen months before the accident, and the longest bridge in the world at the time, had brought a knighthood to its designer, Thomas Bouch. Its collapse ruined him. The Court of Inquiry sat for twenty-five days.
John Thomas in this new study of a famous disaster, uses newly discovered material to take the reader beyond the public benches of the Westminster courtroom of 1880 into the Edingurgh drawing office of Sir Thomas Bouch, into the offices of solicitors and contractors, and into the boardroom of the owner of the bridge - the North British Railway Company. He describes the building of the bridge, the accident itself, its dramatic aftermath and its long-term consequences. Old myths are dispelled, and unsuspected intrigues revealed, in a highly readable account of the most famous of bridge disasters.
148 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
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August 20, 2020
At 5.20 precisely on 28 December 1879 David Mitchell, a train driver with the North British Railway Company, took express locomotive 224 out of Burntisland station, near Edinburgh, on what was to be his last journey.
He was a punctilious driver and he had checked the time on his silver watch, which weeks later was recovered from the depths of the Tay. His body, with those of 28 others of the 75 people on board the ill-fated train, was never found.
The train had fallen off the collapsed Tay Bridge in one of the most talked about railway disasters of all time. Designer Thomas Bouch, who was later knighted for his work, took the brunt of the blame and this book examines in detail, with the aid of new information, what exactly happened and why.
In a most readable account of the building of what was then the world's longest bridge, the accident and its aftermath, John Thomas recounts the whole tale in the manner of one of the best written thrillers.
He was a punctilious driver and he had checked the time on his silver watch, which weeks later was recovered from the depths of the Tay. His body, with those of 28 others of the 75 people on board the ill-fated train, was never found.
The train had fallen off the collapsed Tay Bridge in one of the most talked about railway disasters of all time. Designer Thomas Bouch, who was later knighted for his work, took the brunt of the blame and this book examines in detail, with the aid of new information, what exactly happened and why.
In a most readable account of the building of what was then the world's longest bridge, the accident and its aftermath, John Thomas recounts the whole tale in the manner of one of the best written thrillers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review