1 6 Book of Engineering 



Many schemes had been started, but 

 somehow there were always objections, and 

 some of them were too well-founded. Bouch 

 had built a bridge across the Tay, and 

 encouraged by what he thought was a very 

 successful venture, he went on to prepare 

 plans for the Forth Bridge. Fortunately 

 they were never persisted in, or perhaps 

 the same fate would have awaited the 

 greater bridge. It will be remembered that 

 the Tay Bridge collapsed during a gale and 

 took a train and seventy people with it to 

 the river below. Actually the Forth Bridge 

 had been begun, when the collapse of that 

 over the Tay brought everything to a stand- 

 still, and caused people to shake their heads 

 and say that the task was beyond the 

 engineer. 



The original Forth Bridge was being 

 undertaken by the North British Railway 

 Co. who wanted to shorten their route to 

 the north, but when the new venture was 

 considered it became apparent that several 

 railways would benefit, and therefore they 

 should take their share in making the scheme 



