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But, in fact, it's got a lot more in common with the Forth Rail Bridge,
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or an agonising death
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from what they called 'caisson disease'
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and what we call, today, 'the bends'.
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One man named George Fowler did die from caisson disease
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but, incredibly, there were few other casualties.
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125 years later,
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similar building techniques are still being used,
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albeit with a little bit more health and safety.
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On the water behind me here, being built,
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is the new Queensferry Crossing,
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a £1.3 billion project that's due to be completed by the end of 2016.
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Now, at first glance, it may look a lot like
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the old grey road bridge just behind it, that it's due to replace.
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these briggers could still suffer permanent disability
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because they're both cantilever bridges.
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And that's not the only similarity with the rail bridge.
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In fact, they both used caissons
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to dig the foundation in the deep waters of the Forth.
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Where are we right now?
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Well, we're standing on the top of the south tower caisson,
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to the Forth replacement crossing.
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You've got a vast amount of concrete, there, before the tower.
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So, what actually goes down beyond what we can see?
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Below the tower, you can see the top of the foundation.
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That's an 11-metre-deep reinforced concrete foundation.
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OK.
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invented personally by their boss, William Arrol, to speed up the work.
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A team of surveyors spent months on a specially-built raft
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to determine the correct positions.
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Only then could they sink them to the bottom of the firth.
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Of course, when your caisson is 70 feet wide
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and weighs in excess of 400 tonnes,
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it's easier said than done.
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Once the caissons were in place, the really hard labour began.
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Working in an air chamber just over two metres high,
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they'd dig down through tonnes and tonnes of tough clay,
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hauling it up, one bucket at a time, through small air locks.
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These rare pictures show this hidden sub-sea world.
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The huge spades the men are holding is a new kind of jackhammer,
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And then below that, we've got the mass concrete
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But even with Arrol's new tools, this was dangerous work.
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As they dug down,
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the caisson would sink further into the riverbed,
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with the constant fear that the edge of the caisson
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would hit a soft patch of clay, sink too quickly,
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and crush the men inside,
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or that the compressed air pumps might fail,
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flooding the air chamber and drowning the men.
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Only when they reached the solid bedrock could they stop.
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They would then fill the caissons with rubble and concrete
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to create the solid foundations the towers needed.
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Even if all went well down there,
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At least 70 that we've uncovered with the research.
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the bridge remains balanced.
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Everything the briggers needed - scaffolding, tools, huge cranes,
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even a stove to heat their lunch and a canteen to eat it in -
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was hanging off the bridge itself.
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There were dozens of trades employed to build the bridge -
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labourers, draftsmen, boilermakers,
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carpenters and even cooks.
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But it didn't really matter what trade you were in,
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because when you're 360 feet in the air, it's a dangerous business.
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Jenny Meldrum is part of a group of local historians
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who campaigned to have a memorial built for the briggers who died.
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So, how many men do we think died, building the bridge?
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As long as you keep adding sections to both sides simultaneously,
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The ages, I can see on here, vary quite a bit.
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You've got Thomas Birrell, 59, labourer.
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This one sticks out - David Clark, 13.
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Yes, he was actually the youngest casualty of the bridge.
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Do we know what happened to David Clark?
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David Clark, I think, fell from a height on the bridge.
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And falling off the bridge - I imagine, he wasn't the only one
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to have lost his life that way?
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No, no.
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Occasionally, people were picked up from the water
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but generally, it was a fatal fall, especially at height.
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Was that common, then, for kids to be labourers?
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to begin.
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that goes down to the bedrock.
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It's incredible that similar caisson technology
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that was used to build the Forth Rail Bridge
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is still being used today -
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the only difference being that in the 1880s,
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they had to climb into the caisson and dig on the riverbed,
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whilst nowadays, they dig from above, using barges and cranes.
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Digging from above is obviously a lot safer.
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But 125 years ago, on the Forth Bridge, that wasn't an option.
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By 1886, after almost three years of hazardous, dirty work,
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the bridge had a solid foundation,
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and it was time for the work on the superstructure above the Forth
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and the whole bridge could come tumbling down.
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And, once again, they used a method
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that the new road-bridge builders are still using today.
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It's a really clever construction technique -
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something called being self-supported.
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Starting from the main towers, the briggers would build outwards.
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Every day, they'd add a new section onto the bridge.
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They'd build that by standing on
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the section they'd built the day before,
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that, itself, they would have built
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standing on the section they'd built the day before that,
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and so on and so on.
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The bridge expanded outwards.
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What few people realise
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Not only would he take on and build these giant projects,
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but he'd create machines and tools to speed up the process,
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allowing him to cut labour costs and increase productivity.
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Arrol's stroke of brilliance
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was to turn north and south Queensferry into giant factories.
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There were sheds and drill roads for fabricating parts,
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offices and studios
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for the engineers to prepare plans,
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and yards to marshal the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material
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that flowed through the area.
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With such a massive project,
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there's no room for mistakes,
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and Arrol had a trick up his sleeve to make sure there weren't any.
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It was this mastery of metal that gave Arrol the edge over his peers.
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is that the Forth Rail Bridge was actually built twice.
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Every part was fabricated on dry land
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and then bolted together to make sure it would fit.
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Only then was it dismantled
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and taken out onto the Forth itself.
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Above all, there were men, or 'briggers', as they became known -
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over 4,000 of them in total,
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working 24 hours a day, in all weathers.
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Some say the whole endeavour
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was similar to putting a man on the Moon in the 1960s,
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and it's a pretty good analogy -
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a seemingly impossible task
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But how do you turn this...
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and down through the legs of the chair.
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And on the bridge, that's the weight being transferred
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down through the towers and into the masonry piers.
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And that is my full weight being sat there.
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It works!
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Cracking the design challenges was one thing,
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but realising this dream
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would not only push the boundaries of technology,
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but take a gruelling eight years
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and cost many lives.
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Now, imagine you're an engineer in 1883.
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You've got a brilliant plan to cross this huge span of water.
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overcome by engineering brilliance, sheer hard work
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..into this?
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It was an undertaking unlike anything ever attempted.
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55,000 tonnes of steel, 3.5 million cubic feet of masonry,
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and more than 6.5 million rivets.
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As everyone knows, if you've got a massive building project,
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you need a brilliant builder,
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and that's exactly what civil engineers John Fowler and Benjamin Baker needed in 1883.
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And they found one in William Arrol.
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Arrol's skills as a metalworker were obvious from an early age.
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Having started as a blacksmith apprentice at 13,
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he rose quickly in the trade,
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and by the age of 30, he'd opened his own ironworks.
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Steel...hook, there.
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and the bottom of the tub here
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is the riverbed.
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So, what they'd do,
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they would lower the caisson
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down into the water.
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Now, because that bottom chamber is full of air,
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it would float.
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There it is, floating.
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And that would enable them to float it
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into the position they'd need it,
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where, using rubble and water,
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they would fill the top compartment.
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is representing the Forth,
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There we go. That is well weighted down now.
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Now, here comes the clever bit - using compressed air,
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they would pump air down into the bottom compartment.
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You can see the water level slowly going down
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as I pump in the compressed air.
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And there we have it.
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A fully airtight air pocket
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at the bottom of the riverbed,
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for the men to work in.
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Before they could sink the caissons,
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they needed to position each one with pinpoint accuracy.
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Just a few feet out of line
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on dry land at low tide, underwater at high tide.
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and a vast sum of money.
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In 1890, the bridge cost £3 million to build,
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an eye-watering sum of money in those days.
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Today, its price tag would be billions.
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The briggers' first job
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was to build firm foundations for the massive towers,
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but there was a huge obstacle they'd have to overcome -
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the Forth itself.
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Over here, on the north side,
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building the piers was relatively straightforward.
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Two of them are here on dry land so, no problem.
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And the other two are out here, between the tide lines -
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The riveters tended to work in teams of four,
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A bit more tricky.
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But on the south side, the piers are right out here,
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in the middle of the firth.
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Now, the riverbed is 70 foot beneath me at this point.
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And that presents a serious challenge.
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So, how did they do it?
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The answer is that they used
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an underwater building chamber -
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a caisson.
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A caisson is essentially an incredibly large tin can
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that's sunk to the bottom of the river.
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Now, this tub of water
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But if there's one thing that presents
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REPORTER: Britain knows how to respect the courage of these enemy airmen
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who fell in the execution of their duties.
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(SOLDIERS FIRE GUNS) (BAGPIPES PLAY)
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Towards such there can no more be hostility or hatred.
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It was the first time Spitfires were in action.
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They were scrambled after the attack was already under way,
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but they still shot down three of the 12 Ju 88 bombers.
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It proved the RAF's new fighter plane
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could successfully fend off the Luftwaffe.
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(CHILDREN SHOUT PLAYFULLY)
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The bridge survived its encounter with the Luftwaffe.
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It's survived numerous collisions with ships over the years.
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It's survived 200 trains a day rumbling back and forth.
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Their coffins were draped in swastikas.
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a greater threat than anything else,
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it's the Scottish weather.
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Now, there's only really one way
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to protect a steel structure like this from the elements,
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and that's by painting the Forth Bridge -
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a process which started
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in the final months of construction, back in 1890,
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and hasn't really stopped ever since.
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And it's not really surprising we've all heard the phrase,
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"It's like painting the Forth Bridge",
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as there's over 2.5 million square feet to cover.
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The painting was so relentless,
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They were British bullets.
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OK.
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And here is the Spitfire, but you can't see the Spitfire,
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and I'm down there...
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Down there. OK. ..with my little brother.
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And the Spitfire is firing all its guns...
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Brrrrrrrr!
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(GUNFIRE) ..at the bomber.
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They were so close, within inches,
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it was no effort at all
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for me to bend down and pick up the bullets, still warm.
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(GUNFIRE)
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These bullets were not German bullets!
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the owners of the Forth Bridge have maintained a full-time paint crew
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So, I would've been killed by what is called now 'friendly fire'.
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And did you see what happened to that German bomber...
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Yes. ..that was on its way down?
255
00:38:20,930 --> 00:38:23,650
I saw it go like that and then I could see the Spitfire behind it,
256
00:38:23,810 --> 00:38:25,170
still firing at it,
257
00:38:25,330 --> 00:38:28,050
and smoke coming from the engine.
258
00:38:28,210 --> 00:38:29,770
I knew it was going to crash. Mm.
259
00:38:29,930 --> 00:38:32,690
And it, uh, crashed, killing the two young men.
260
00:38:33,930 --> 00:38:36,970
The German airmen were given a full military funeral,
261
00:38:37,130 --> 00:38:41,530
their coffins carried by the British pilots that shot them down.
262
00:38:41,690 --> 00:38:44,250
Movietone News reported the fact
263
00:38:44,410 --> 00:38:50,210
that these young airmen had fought bravely for their country.
264
00:42:10,810 --> 00:42:15,290
when UNESCO, the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization,
265
00:41:25,370 --> 00:41:27,330
without actually being in it.
266
00:41:29,090 --> 00:41:31,570
And it's not just the paint that was improved.
267
00:41:31,730 --> 00:41:34,850
The system for applying it has been modernised as well.
268
00:41:35,010 --> 00:41:38,010
The whole bridge is now spray-painted.
269
00:41:38,170 --> 00:41:41,570
Working in sections, the old paint was sandblasted off,
270
00:41:41,730 --> 00:41:44,970
and the new coating was then sprayed onto the raw steel.
271
00:41:46,170 --> 00:41:49,730
But there's a key component that's refused to be modernised -
272
00:41:49,890 --> 00:41:51,530
the rivets.
273
00:41:52,610 --> 00:41:56,450
To get the perfect seal, these still need to be hand-painted,
274
00:41:56,610 --> 00:41:59,370
all 6.5 million of them.
275
00:41:59,530 --> 00:42:03,050
Sometimes, you just can't beat the old methods.
276
00:42:06,450 --> 00:42:10,650
In 2015, the bridge's future was made even more secure
277
00:41:23,250 --> 00:41:25,210
is about as close as you can get to the North Sea
278
00:42:15,450 --> 00:42:19,370
declared the Forth Bridge a World Heritage site.
279
00:42:19,530 --> 00:42:22,490
As long as there are people here to cross this waterway,
280
00:42:22,650 --> 00:42:25,290
this groundbreaking, historic bridge
281
00:42:25,450 --> 00:42:29,410
will now be protected and preserved indefinitely.
282
00:42:30,850 --> 00:42:33,050
The United Nations itself agrees,
283
00:42:33,210 --> 00:42:36,690
the Forth Bridge is an important and unique structure,
284
00:42:36,850 --> 00:42:40,450
not just to the history of Scotland, not to the UK,
285
00:42:40,610 --> 00:42:42,330
but to the entire world.
286
00:42:42,490 --> 00:42:44,290
They declared the Forth Bridge
287
00:42:44,450 --> 00:42:47,330
as a masterpiece of human creative genius.
288
00:42:47,490 --> 00:42:50,330
And you know what? I couldn't have put it better myself.
289
00:42:55,210 --> 00:43:22,580
Captions by Ericsson Access Services (c) SBS Australia 2017
290
00:40:46,010 --> 00:40:48,170
would actually rain down on their cars.
291
00:40:15,250 --> 00:40:17,570
since it opened in 1890,
292
00:40:17,730 --> 00:40:21,890
topping up the famous red paint of the Forth wherever it was needed,
293
00:40:22,050 --> 00:40:23,490
whatever the weather.
294
00:40:23,650 --> 00:40:26,090
And to be fair, they must have got something right
295
00:40:26,250 --> 00:40:28,210
because the bridge is still here.
296
00:40:29,770 --> 00:40:31,730
By the start of the 21st century,
297
00:40:31,890 --> 00:40:34,530
110 years worth of wind and rain,
298
00:40:34,690 --> 00:40:37,290
pollution from steam and then diesel engines,
299
00:40:37,450 --> 00:40:39,610
combined with layer upon layer of paint,
300
00:40:39,770 --> 00:40:41,450
started to take its toll.
301
00:40:41,610 --> 00:40:43,050
People on both sides of the river
302
00:40:43,210 --> 00:40:45,850
complained that occasionally, pieces of bridge
303
00:37:38,850 --> 00:37:41,210
So, try to imagine, that's the bomber, right?
304
00:40:48,330 --> 00:40:50,450
The sheer cost of maintaining it
305
00:40:50,610 --> 00:40:53,530
threatened to overwhelm the bridge's owners, Network Rail,
306
00:40:53,690 --> 00:40:56,650
and people began to think the unthinkable -
307
00:40:56,810 --> 00:41:00,650
was it time for the grand old lady to retire?
308
00:41:01,690 --> 00:41:04,770
In 2001, Network Rail took the decision
309
00:41:04,930 --> 00:41:06,450
to try and save the bridge
310
00:41:06,610 --> 00:41:09,610
by, you guessed it, painting it.
311
00:41:09,770 --> 00:41:11,730
But not just with any old paint.
312
00:41:11,890 --> 00:41:15,890
This time they decided to use a new epoxy glass coating,
313
00:41:16,050 --> 00:41:19,130
which should last for 25 to 35 years.
314
00:41:19,290 --> 00:41:21,530
It was developed for the North Sea rigs,
315
00:41:21,690 --> 00:41:23,090
and I suppose the Forth Bridge
316
00:34:18,730 --> 00:34:21,410
as the nervous designers looked on.
317
00:33:40,170 --> 00:33:42,850
to try and change people's attitude towards the bridge
318
00:33:43,010 --> 00:33:45,570
by staging the ultimate PR stunt.
319
00:33:46,690 --> 00:33:49,250
On the 21st of January, 1890,
320
00:33:49,410 --> 00:33:53,810
two steam trains stood side by side, on the tracks just above my head.
321
00:33:53,970 --> 00:33:57,850
It was the first major test of the new Forth Bridge.
322
00:33:58,010 --> 00:33:59,530
The trains were arranged to see
323
00:33:59,690 --> 00:34:02,490
just how much strain the bridge could take.
324
00:34:02,650 --> 00:34:07,370
Each one had two locomotives, followed by 50 wagons,
325
00:34:07,530 --> 00:34:11,050
each containing 13 tonnes of gravel,
326
00:34:11,210 --> 00:34:13,850
and they had an extra, third locomotive at the back,
327
00:34:14,010 --> 00:34:15,250
just for good measure.
328
00:34:15,410 --> 00:34:18,570
Inch by inch, they crept out across the water,
329
00:33:37,330 --> 00:33:40,010
So, the rail companies decided
330
00:34:23,570 --> 00:34:25,410
The bridge did its job.
331
00:34:25,570 --> 00:34:29,170
Not only did it take the strain of the massive load,
332
00:34:29,330 --> 00:34:31,130
but it convinced a sceptical public
333
00:34:31,290 --> 00:34:33,610
that the bridge was fit for purpose.
334
00:34:33,770 --> 00:34:37,450
For the first time, a passenger could board a train in London
335
00:34:37,610 --> 00:34:41,530
and arrive, in comfort, at Aberdeen, eight hours later,
336
00:34:41,690 --> 00:34:44,690
cutting an incredible five hours off the journey.
337
00:34:44,850 --> 00:34:48,770
But even though they'd proven it was safe and slashed travel times,
338
00:34:48,930 --> 00:34:51,970
there was one controversy that wouldn't go away.
339
00:34:52,130 --> 00:34:54,170
Many leading lights of Victorian society
340
00:34:54,330 --> 00:34:57,050
thought it was just plain ugly.
341
00:34:57,210 --> 00:34:59,290
One New York newspaper said it was
342
00:33:01,050 --> 00:33:04,090
It used pneumatic pressure to squeeze the rivets together,
343
00:32:23,970 --> 00:32:27,050
so very often, it was, if you like, a family affair.
344
00:32:27,210 --> 00:32:29,930
You would have a family unit working,
345
00:32:30,090 --> 00:32:31,890
doing the riveting on the bridge.
346
00:32:33,970 --> 00:32:36,530
Now, this is a steel rivet head.
347
00:32:36,690 --> 00:32:39,370
It used to be somewhere up there,
348
00:32:39,530 --> 00:32:42,330
but it was replaced a few years ago, during renovation work.
349
00:32:42,490 --> 00:32:46,010
They're kind of a glue that hold the whole bridge together.
350
00:32:46,170 --> 00:32:50,370
And up there, there are at least 6 million of them.
351
00:32:51,410 --> 00:32:52,890
With so many rivets,
352
00:32:53,050 --> 00:32:55,650
William Arrol came up with a time-saving invention
353
00:32:55,810 --> 00:32:57,650
to speed up the process.
354
00:32:57,810 --> 00:33:00,890
He created this machine to drive the rivets home.
355
00:34:59,450 --> 00:35:01,650
simply the ugliest thing in the world
356
00:33:04,250 --> 00:33:06,690
saving time and money on the bridge.
357
00:33:06,850 --> 00:33:11,490
By March 1890, the bridge was all but complete.
358
00:33:11,650 --> 00:33:14,850
The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII,
359
00:33:15,010 --> 00:33:17,690
used a specially adapted Arrol riveting machine
360
00:33:17,850 --> 00:33:20,090
to force the last rivet home,
361
00:33:20,250 --> 00:33:22,770
assisted by William Arrol himself.
362
00:33:22,930 --> 00:33:26,170
Despite the enormous achievement this structure represents,
363
00:33:26,330 --> 00:33:28,170
some people weren't sure about it at all.
364
00:33:28,330 --> 00:33:29,810
They weren't sure they liked the look of
365
00:33:29,970 --> 00:33:31,850
this great hulking piece of red steel
366
00:33:32,010 --> 00:33:34,290
stretching out across the landscape.
367
00:33:34,450 --> 00:33:37,170
But more importantly, they weren't sure it was safe.
368
00:36:56,770 --> 00:36:58,250
for their bombing runs.
369
00:36:22,890 --> 00:36:27,810
But the truth is we're incredibly lucky it's still here at all.
370
00:36:27,970 --> 00:36:30,810
On the 6th of October, 1939,
371
00:36:30,970 --> 00:36:33,210
Britain had been at war for just six weeks
372
00:36:33,370 --> 00:36:36,810
and, at that stage, it was an affair taking place far from these shores.
373
00:36:36,970 --> 00:36:39,530
But on that morning, something appeared
374
00:36:39,690 --> 00:36:41,490
out of the skies from the east.
375
00:36:41,650 --> 00:36:43,690
(AIRCRAFT ENGINE ROARS)
376
00:36:45,370 --> 00:36:47,650
It was the first bombing raid on British soil,
377
00:36:47,810 --> 00:36:50,490
the primary target being the Royal Navy fleet
378
00:36:50,650 --> 00:36:52,170
anchored out in the Forth.
379
00:36:52,330 --> 00:36:54,330
But the bridge was a secondary target,
380
00:36:54,490 --> 00:36:56,610
and the Luftwaffe used it as a navigational marker
381
00:36:20,050 --> 00:36:22,730
has carried millions of passengers across the Forth.
382
00:36:58,410 --> 00:37:01,610
Richard Demarco was just nine years old back then.
383
00:37:01,770 --> 00:37:05,050
He was playing on the beach a few miles downstream from the bridge,
384
00:37:05,210 --> 00:37:07,410
where he witnessed one of the first bombing raids
385
00:37:07,570 --> 00:37:08,890
of the Second World War.
386
00:37:09,050 --> 00:37:10,690
DEMARCO: It was October,
387
00:37:10,850 --> 00:37:14,890
a beautiful day, cloudless sky,
388
00:37:15,050 --> 00:37:19,290
and then, suddenly, I noticed little white clouds appearing,
389
00:37:19,450 --> 00:37:22,210
that were accompanied by a dull thud.
390
00:37:22,370 --> 00:37:27,210
That was the sound of the shell exploding.
391
00:37:27,370 --> 00:37:31,010
Anyway, I wasn't worried, but I thought how beautiful they were.
392
00:37:31,170 --> 00:37:33,970
But I was slightly more worried
393
00:37:34,130 --> 00:37:38,690
with the sound of the Spitfire, that I couldn't see, on the tail.
394
00:35:37,250 --> 00:35:39,090
The bridge wasn't going anywhere.
395
00:35:01,810 --> 00:35:03,450
and the only way to improve it
396
00:35:03,610 --> 00:35:07,530
was to hang the designers from the highest girder and dynamite it.
397
00:35:07,690 --> 00:35:11,330
But the designers knew it wasn't beautiful. It wasn't meant to be.
398
00:35:11,490 --> 00:35:13,890
It was meant to be solid and it was meant to be strong.
399
00:35:14,050 --> 00:35:15,930
They didn't care what it looked like.
400
00:35:18,570 --> 00:35:22,250
In fact, despite the criticism over the bridge's looks,
401
00:35:22,410 --> 00:35:24,770
it became an instant tourist attraction.
402
00:35:24,930 --> 00:35:27,850
Baker, Fowler and Arrol had done it.
403
00:35:28,010 --> 00:35:30,330
They had bridged the unbridgeable Forth,
404
00:35:30,490 --> 00:35:32,570
convinced a sceptical public that it was safe,
405
00:35:32,730 --> 00:35:35,210
and had opened up the north of Scotland
406
00:35:35,370 --> 00:35:37,090
for trade and passengers alike.
407
00:21:31,690 --> 00:21:34,330
all of my weight is being transferred between those members
408
00:35:39,250 --> 00:35:42,730
Its iconic structure quickly became a symbol of Scotland
409
00:35:42,890 --> 00:35:46,930
and as the years went by, it became a much-loved neighbour and friend.
410
00:35:47,090 --> 00:35:48,570
(TRAIN HORN BLARES)
411
00:35:51,530 --> 00:35:53,610
But fame has a downside.
412
00:35:53,770 --> 00:35:55,850
When the Second World War broke out,
413
00:35:56,010 --> 00:35:58,450
the Forth Bridge became something new -
414
00:35:58,610 --> 00:36:00,850
it became a target.
415
00:36:03,290 --> 00:36:06,130
The Forth Bridge took eight years to build
416
00:36:06,290 --> 00:36:09,130
and cost the equivalent of billions today.
417
00:36:09,290 --> 00:36:13,970
But in 1890, the largest cantilever bridge in the world was finished
418
00:36:14,130 --> 00:36:18,410
and over 125 years later, it's still standing.
419
00:36:18,570 --> 00:36:19,890
This amazing bridge
420
00:07:48,540 --> 00:07:50,180
became clear for all to see.
421
00:06:55,180 --> 00:06:59,740
It was supposed to support a giant tower for a huge suspension bridge,
422
00:06:59,900 --> 00:07:02,380
but they never got past that point
423
00:07:02,540 --> 00:07:06,140
because a month after construction started, disaster struck.
424
00:07:06,300 --> 00:07:08,180
(WIND HOWLS)
425
00:07:10,420 --> 00:07:13,980
On the night of the 28th of December, 1879,
426
00:07:14,140 --> 00:07:17,100
a fierce storm raged over the Firth of Tay.
427
00:07:19,340 --> 00:07:22,020
At approximately 7:15 that evening,
428
00:07:22,180 --> 00:07:25,220
a train set out along Bouch's new Tay Bridge,
429
00:07:25,380 --> 00:07:27,220
heading north, to Dundee.
430
00:07:29,980 --> 00:07:33,380
The bridge collapsed, and the train, along with all its passengers,
431
00:07:33,540 --> 00:07:37,020
was sent plummeting into the dark icy waters beneath.
432
00:07:44,540 --> 00:07:46,580
It wasn't until daylight the next morning
433
00:07:46,740 --> 00:07:48,380
that the true extent of the disaster
434
00:06:51,300 --> 00:06:55,020
sits on one of the foundations built to hold Bouch's bridge.
435
00:07:51,380 --> 00:07:54,740
Part of the bridge had literally disappeared.
436
00:07:54,900 --> 00:07:57,780
The Tay Bridge disaster shocked the world
437
00:07:57,940 --> 00:08:00,780
and its ramifications can still be felt today.
438
00:08:02,060 --> 00:08:04,180
In the McManus Galleries, in Dundee,
439
00:08:04,340 --> 00:08:07,900
they have a chilling reminder of that fateful moment.
440
00:08:09,500 --> 00:08:12,340
I'm very fortunate - I've been granted access, here,
441
00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:13,980
into the archives of the museum,
442
00:08:14,140 --> 00:08:16,980
to see some items related to the bridge disaster
443
00:08:17,140 --> 00:08:19,260
that aren't normally on display.
444
00:08:19,420 --> 00:08:22,740
And a lot of these here were found on the beaches of the Tay -
445
00:08:22,900 --> 00:08:25,820
items that were washed up after the disaster -
446
00:08:25,980 --> 00:08:27,940
and one, in particular, of note.
447
00:06:19,540 --> 00:06:21,060
It was such a success,
448
00:05:42,460 --> 00:05:45,540
the locals assumed it would be the answer they'd been waiting for.
449
00:05:45,700 --> 00:05:49,580
Little did they realise it would soon turn into a nightmare.
450
00:05:51,620 --> 00:05:54,180
In 1871, Thomas Bouch,
451
00:05:54,340 --> 00:05:57,420
one of the most successful and renowned engineers of the time,
452
00:05:57,580 --> 00:05:59,300
started construction on a bridge
453
00:05:59,460 --> 00:06:02,500
across the first of the great firths, the Tay.
454
00:06:04,140 --> 00:06:05,780
It took seven years,
455
00:06:05,940 --> 00:06:09,580
but by 1878, the bridge was complete.
456
00:06:09,740 --> 00:06:13,020
It was a slim, elegant, largely cast-iron bridge,
457
00:06:13,180 --> 00:06:14,740
almost two miles long,
458
00:06:14,900 --> 00:06:17,180
towering 88 feet above the water
459
00:06:17,340 --> 00:06:19,380
and carrying a single railway track.
460
00:08:28,100 --> 00:08:31,180
It's at the back here, it's a pocket watch
461
00:06:21,220 --> 00:06:23,700
Queen Victoria made the journey up from London
462
00:06:23,860 --> 00:06:25,900
to witness the bridge for herself.
463
00:06:26,060 --> 00:06:27,980
And she must have been impressed
464
00:06:28,140 --> 00:06:31,380
because Bouch was awarded a knighthood for his efforts.
465
00:06:31,540 --> 00:06:33,380
But more importantly,
466
00:06:33,540 --> 00:06:37,300
he was given the chance to take on an even bigger challenge -
467
00:06:37,460 --> 00:06:39,340
to cross the Firth of Forth.
468
00:06:39,500 --> 00:06:43,620
If he succeeded, it would be the pinnacle of his career.
469
00:06:43,780 --> 00:06:45,220
Plans were drawn up
470
00:06:45,380 --> 00:06:47,340
and a year after the Tay Bridge opened,
471
00:06:47,500 --> 00:06:49,460
construction started right here.
472
00:06:49,620 --> 00:06:51,140
In fact, this wee lighthouse
473
00:10:40,490 --> 00:10:42,090
the Forth Bridge.
474
00:09:56,540 --> 00:09:59,420
Because of his perceived failure, here on the Tay Bridge,
475
00:09:59,580 --> 00:10:01,500
Thomas Bouch was sacked by the railway,
476
00:10:01,660 --> 00:10:03,980
work on his Forth bridge was abandoned
477
00:10:04,140 --> 00:10:07,740
and less than a year later, he died, a broken man.
478
00:10:08,740 --> 00:10:10,060
It looked like rail passengers
479
00:10:10,220 --> 00:10:13,420
were going to be stuck with the dreaded old ferry from now on.
480
00:10:13,580 --> 00:10:16,300
But back in London, two engineers had come up with
481
00:10:16,460 --> 00:10:19,740
a new and daring plan to cross the Firth of Forth -
482
00:10:19,900 --> 00:10:23,140
a design so radical and at a scale so large,
483
00:10:23,300 --> 00:10:26,380
it had never been tried anywhere in the world.
484
00:10:26,540 --> 00:10:31,180
If it worked, it would change the way we build bridges forever.
485
00:10:35,290 --> 00:10:40,330
This is one of the truly great engineering wonders of the world,
486
00:09:51,340 --> 00:09:55,220
are a few foundations in the shadow of the bridge built to replace it.
487
00:10:45,250 --> 00:10:48,130
It's actually quite intimidating, being stood under here.
488
00:10:48,290 --> 00:10:50,650
I'm so close, under all these thousands of tonnes
489
00:10:50,810 --> 00:10:53,810
of steel girders and truss work and all the rivets.
490
00:10:53,970 --> 00:10:58,050
And looking along, it's just a real mishmash of steel everywhere.
491
00:10:59,330 --> 00:11:00,770
I'm about to go through this gate,
492
00:11:00,930 --> 00:11:02,330
and I'm very privileged to be doing so
493
00:11:02,490 --> 00:11:04,050
because normally, this area is restricted
494
00:11:04,210 --> 00:11:05,770
to maintenance crews only.
495
00:11:07,810 --> 00:11:12,530
Standing here, you get the feeling that this is a bridge like no other -
496
00:11:12,690 --> 00:11:17,570
a bridge that flaunts its strength in a thousand beams and girders.
497
00:11:17,730 --> 00:11:20,210
It's actually hard to make sense of it all.
498
00:11:23,970 --> 00:11:27,850
So, why does this bridge have such an incredibly complicated structure?
499
00:09:13,140 --> 00:09:15,300
saying he hadn't designed the bridge sufficiently
500
00:08:31,340 --> 00:08:35,300
from one of the firemen in the locomotive on the train,
501
00:08:35,460 --> 00:08:41,540
and it's stopped at the time of 7:31 and 37 seconds,
502
00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:44,820
a few moments after the bridge went down.
503
00:08:44,980 --> 00:08:48,980
It's a real marker for a moment in time.
504
00:08:50,020 --> 00:08:53,060
At least 74 people died that night,
505
00:08:53,220 --> 00:08:55,020
but as there was no accurate record
506
00:08:55,180 --> 00:08:57,460
of the number of passengers on the train,
507
00:08:57,620 --> 00:09:00,380
the true number will never be known.
508
00:09:03,220 --> 00:09:05,540
Designer Thomas Bouch blamed the train,
509
00:09:05,700 --> 00:09:07,180
saying it must have derailed
510
00:09:07,340 --> 00:09:10,060
and as it veered off the side, it pulled the bridge down with it.
511
00:09:10,220 --> 00:09:12,980
The official inquiry into the disaster blamed Bouch,
512
00:05:40,500 --> 00:05:42,300
it was time to bridge the firths,
513
00:09:15,460 --> 00:09:17,940
to withstand those gale-force winds that blew that night.
514
00:09:18,100 --> 00:09:20,820
Unfortunately, we'll never know the exact cause,
515
00:09:20,980 --> 00:09:23,700
but everyone agrees one thing made it worse -
516
00:09:23,860 --> 00:09:25,340
this.
517
00:09:27,180 --> 00:09:28,660
Cast iron.
518
00:09:30,340 --> 00:09:32,100
Bouch's Tay Bridge was designed
519
00:09:32,260 --> 00:09:36,140
so the entire structure rested on a series of slender pillars,
520
00:09:36,300 --> 00:09:38,540
each one made of cast iron -
521
00:09:38,700 --> 00:09:42,580
a material he was going to use on his Forth rail bridge too.
522
00:09:42,740 --> 00:09:45,860
Nobody suspected that the very metal itself
523
00:09:46,020 --> 00:09:48,100
would prove to be the bridge's downfall.
524
00:09:48,260 --> 00:09:51,180
Today, all that remains of the original Tay Bridge
525
00:02:20,820 --> 00:02:23,180
When it opened in 1890,
526
00:01:35,900 --> 00:01:37,460
(TRAIN HORN BLARES)
527
00:01:39,260 --> 00:01:41,060
(CHUCKLES) Here we go.
528
00:01:42,660 --> 00:01:44,140
Look at that!
529
00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:47,340
You look down the middle from here,
530
00:01:47,500 --> 00:01:52,220
it's this endless crisscross of steel all of the way along.
531
00:01:52,380 --> 00:01:55,020
This is amazing.
532
00:01:55,180 --> 00:01:57,740
Oh, yes!
533
00:01:57,900 --> 00:02:00,180
The amount of bracing's incredible.
534
00:02:07,780 --> 00:02:10,100
That was absolutely brilliant.
535
00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:12,420
For over 1,000 years,
536
00:02:12,580 --> 00:02:16,020
bridging this body of water was considered an impossible dream,
537
00:02:16,180 --> 00:02:20,660
until a team of Victorian visionaries came up with an audacious plan.
538
00:01:31,100 --> 00:01:35,740
but there's one view that very few people ever get the chance to see.
539
00:02:23,340 --> 00:02:25,420
it was one of the longest bridges in the world.
540
00:02:25,580 --> 00:02:27,500
It pushed the boundaries of technology
541
00:02:27,660 --> 00:02:30,860
and changed the way we build bridges forever.
542
00:02:31,020 --> 00:02:33,380
But it almost didn't happen.
543
00:02:34,540 --> 00:02:37,740
(PLAYS LIVELY TUNE)
544
00:02:39,780 --> 00:02:41,140
The journey from the centre of Edinburgh, here,
545
00:02:41,300 --> 00:02:45,820
across to Fife, on the far side, the north side, of the river,
546
00:02:45,980 --> 00:02:47,580
takes about half an hour these days,
547
00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:49,420
thanks to the Forth Rail Bridge.
548
00:02:49,580 --> 00:02:52,500
But if I'd have been attempting that journey back in the 1870s,
549
00:02:52,660 --> 00:02:54,900
it would have been a very different story.
550
00:02:56,940 --> 00:03:00,260
Back then, railway-mania was sweeping the country,
551
00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:46,340
I'll uncover the huge egos, flawed geniuses and jealous rivalries
552
00:00:03,940 --> 00:00:06,620
spanning our most dramatic landscapes,
553
00:00:06,780 --> 00:00:09,940
have not only linked our island, but made it great.
554
00:00:10,100 --> 00:00:13,340
These are the bridges that are known around the world,
555
00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:16,900
built by visionaries like Stevenson and Brunel,
556
00:00:17,060 --> 00:00:19,300
who are famous even today.
557
00:00:20,700 --> 00:00:21,980
Look at this!
558
00:00:22,140 --> 00:00:25,540
From the banks of the Tyne to the mighty Thames,
559
00:00:25,700 --> 00:00:28,540
from the Firth of Forth, to the Menai Strait...
560
00:00:30,380 --> 00:00:34,820
..I'm on a journey to discover how those great bridges were built.
561
00:00:34,980 --> 00:00:36,140
Here we go.
562
00:00:36,300 --> 00:00:40,180
..and the sweat and sacrifice that went into their construction.
563
00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:41,700
Stopping traffic.
564
00:03:00,420 --> 00:03:01,700
with lines spreading
565
00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:48,420
behind their creation.
566
00:00:48,580 --> 00:00:51,460
It's as if he'd been airbrushed from the whole story.
567
00:00:53,340 --> 00:00:56,740
These are Britain's Greatest Bridges.
568
00:01:02,700 --> 00:01:04,220
The Forth Bridge -
569
00:01:04,380 --> 00:01:08,100
a mile and a half long, 361 feet high
570
00:01:08,260 --> 00:01:10,980
and more than 125 years old.
571
00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:14,380
Weighing over 50,000 tonnes
572
00:01:14,540 --> 00:01:18,380
and sitting on 640,000 cubic feet of granite,
573
00:01:18,540 --> 00:01:20,540
it dominates the skyline,
574
00:01:20,700 --> 00:01:24,420
as it marches across one of the deepest estuaries in Scotland,
575
00:01:24,580 --> 00:01:26,460
the Firth of Forth.
576
00:01:26,620 --> 00:01:30,940
It is, without doubt, one of the most iconic bridges ever built,
577
00:05:01,980 --> 00:05:05,540
you can get very large, difficult waves.
578
00:04:25,660 --> 00:04:28,020
And it feels so close,
579
00:04:28,180 --> 00:04:32,260
but at the same time, very, very far away at the top.
580
00:04:33,420 --> 00:04:34,620
Wow!
581
00:04:34,780 --> 00:04:37,700
This is the only way to see this bridge!
582
00:04:39,020 --> 00:04:41,300
Len Saunders, a local engineer,
583
00:04:41,460 --> 00:04:44,420
has been rowing these waters for over 30 years.
584
00:04:44,580 --> 00:04:45,900
So, Len, we're doing well today
585
00:04:46,060 --> 00:04:48,580
because the weather gods are very much with us.
586
00:04:48,740 --> 00:04:52,380
But it's not always as plain sailing as this, is it?
587
00:04:52,540 --> 00:04:57,180
You have to remember the tides here are very strong.
588
00:04:57,340 --> 00:04:59,020
You get strong winds.
589
00:04:59,180 --> 00:05:01,820
If you get the wind against the tide,
590
00:04:20,100 --> 00:04:23,140
this experience I'm having with the bridge here, now.
591
00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:09,180
But...but people would still do it, would they, in all conditions?
592
00:05:09,340 --> 00:05:11,380
Well, it depends how desperate they were.
593
00:05:11,540 --> 00:05:12,420
Right.
594
00:05:12,580 --> 00:05:14,260
If you had to make a journey,
595
00:05:14,420 --> 00:05:17,780
could you afford to go by road, 60 miles round,
596
00:05:17,940 --> 00:05:21,020
or did you risk it on the ferry?
597
00:05:21,180 --> 00:05:23,580
And, of course, there was not only the weather to worry about.
598
00:05:23,740 --> 00:05:26,500
Yeah? But the actual ferrymen.
599
00:05:26,660 --> 00:05:29,340
They were a bunch of rogues,
600
00:05:29,500 --> 00:05:33,860
and they would threaten to land you on the Island of Inchgarvie,
601
00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:36,740
if you didn't cough up more money for the fare.
602
00:05:38,340 --> 00:05:40,340
So, when the train companies decided
603
00:03:35,460 --> 00:03:37,180
the Firth of Tay.
604
00:03:01,860 --> 00:03:03,500
the length and breadth of Britain.
605
00:03:03,660 --> 00:03:07,220
By 1850, there was a fast connection to Edinburgh from London,
606
00:03:07,380 --> 00:03:10,300
more than 350 miles to the south.
607
00:03:10,460 --> 00:03:13,340
But Edinburgh was where it stopped.
608
00:03:15,140 --> 00:03:18,220
Anyone wanting to go further north from here faced a problem.
609
00:03:18,380 --> 00:03:20,340
Well, two problems, actually.
610
00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:22,780
Firstly, the Firth of Forth out there -
611
00:03:22,940 --> 00:03:24,860
an enormous river estuary,
612
00:03:25,020 --> 00:03:27,500
over 60 metres deep in places.
613
00:03:27,660 --> 00:03:29,820
That's deeper than many parts of the North Sea.
614
00:03:29,980 --> 00:03:32,980
And then, about 50 kilometres further up the line,
615
00:03:33,140 --> 00:03:35,300
a second huge estuary,
616
00:11:28,010 --> 00:11:30,250
Well, to answer that, I need to get a different view -
617
00:03:37,340 --> 00:03:38,820
Both these firths
618
00:03:38,980 --> 00:03:42,340
have been stumbling blocks for travellers for centuries.
619
00:03:45,300 --> 00:03:50,300
For over 900 years, this is the only way people could cross the Firth -
620
00:03:50,460 --> 00:03:52,180
in a sailboat, if they could afford it,
621
00:03:52,340 --> 00:03:54,340
or a rowing boat, if they couldn't.
622
00:03:56,660 --> 00:03:59,660
Twice a week, a team of locals take to the water
623
00:03:59,820 --> 00:04:02,340
to carry on the traditions of the ferrymen.
624
00:04:03,940 --> 00:04:07,140
They've agreed to take me out for a little pleasure cruise -
625
00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:09,980
well, pleasurable for them, anyway.
626
00:04:12,260 --> 00:04:15,140
I mean, this is absolutely spectacular.
627
00:04:15,300 --> 00:04:17,420
And because I'm in a rowboat,
628
00:04:17,580 --> 00:04:19,940
it feels almost more intimate, more personal,
629
00:18:33,370 --> 00:18:34,730
of their design.
630
00:17:56,010 --> 00:17:57,410
So, it's perhaps ironic
631
00:17:57,570 --> 00:17:59,850
that the country's greatest engineering landmark
632
00:18:00,010 --> 00:18:01,810
was designed by two Englishmen -
633
00:18:01,970 --> 00:18:04,410
Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker.
634
00:18:06,690 --> 00:18:08,330
This is a portrait of Fowler,
635
00:18:08,490 --> 00:18:10,410
the youngest ever president of this place,
636
00:18:10,570 --> 00:18:12,730
the Institution of Civil Engineers.
637
00:18:14,410 --> 00:18:17,530
And Baker, the other half of the engineering partnership,
638
00:18:17,690 --> 00:18:20,330
can be found in the institution's main library,
639
00:18:20,490 --> 00:18:22,530
hanging just behind me.
640
00:18:22,690 --> 00:18:26,850
To bridge the seemingly unbridgeable gap across the Firth of Forth,
641
00:18:27,010 --> 00:18:30,090
Baker and Fowler came up with a radical new concept,
642
00:18:30,250 --> 00:18:33,210
and these are some of the original blueprints that were drawn up
643
00:17:51,650 --> 00:17:55,850
Thomas Telford, James Watt, John McAdam, to name but a few.
644
00:18:34,890 --> 00:18:38,530
Instead of a suspension bridge or a viaduct,
645
00:18:38,690 --> 00:18:41,170
they had decided to build a cantilever bridge.
646
00:18:41,330 --> 00:18:42,690
So, what is a cantilever?
647
00:18:42,850 --> 00:18:46,490
Very simply, it's a structure that's only attached at one end,
648
00:18:46,650 --> 00:18:49,170
while the other end extends out into space.
649
00:18:49,330 --> 00:18:51,690
Cantilevers are everywhere.
650
00:18:51,850 --> 00:18:54,570
Aeroplane wings, awnings, diving boards,
651
00:18:54,730 --> 00:18:57,130
even some chairs are cantilevers.
652
00:18:57,290 --> 00:19:00,610
To build a cantilever bridge, you actually need two cantilevers,
653
00:19:00,770 --> 00:19:02,210
often called arms.
654
00:19:02,370 --> 00:19:05,690
One on each side of the water, reaching out towards each other.
655
00:19:05,850 --> 00:19:08,490
And then, if necessary, any gap in the middle is closed
656
00:17:08,170 --> 00:17:11,690
So, what form should this new bridge take?
657
00:16:39,290 --> 00:16:41,210
whipped in from the North Sea.
658
00:16:42,410 --> 00:16:44,130
The normal Victorian solution
659
00:16:44,290 --> 00:16:46,450
of a viaduct running low across the water
660
00:16:46,610 --> 00:16:48,450
could solve all of these issues.
661
00:16:48,610 --> 00:16:50,410
But there was another problem.
662
00:16:50,570 --> 00:16:54,650
The Firth of Forth was, and is, a major shipping channel,
663
00:16:54,810 --> 00:16:56,730
so the bridge would have to be tall enough
664
00:16:56,890 --> 00:16:59,250
to allow ships to pass underneath.
665
00:16:59,410 --> 00:17:00,890
The Tay Bridge fell apart
666
00:17:01,050 --> 00:17:03,770
trying to overcome this exact problem.
667
00:17:03,930 --> 00:17:05,810
Each of its piers were too tall
668
00:17:05,970 --> 00:17:08,010
and the middle spans were too long.
669
00:19:08,650 --> 00:19:11,970
using a third section suspended between the other two.
670
00:17:11,850 --> 00:17:15,090
Thomas Bouch, designer of the Tay Bridge,
671
00:17:15,250 --> 00:17:19,170
had actually planned to build a huge cast-iron suspension bridge,
672
00:17:19,330 --> 00:17:22,330
a bit like the Forth Road Bridge just along the river.
673
00:17:22,490 --> 00:17:23,850
Technically, it was possible,
674
00:17:24,010 --> 00:17:25,370
but no-one had ever built
675
00:17:25,530 --> 00:17:27,090
a suspension bridge of that length before.
676
00:17:27,250 --> 00:17:30,570
And many people thought a design like that would just be too flimsy
677
00:17:30,730 --> 00:17:33,290
and, more importantly, it would LOOK too flimsy,
678
00:17:33,450 --> 00:17:35,770
so that idea was ruled out too.
679
00:17:37,250 --> 00:17:39,250
The solution for bridging the Forth
680
00:17:39,410 --> 00:17:43,290
was to be found at 350 miles away, in London.
681
00:17:48,450 --> 00:17:51,490
Scotland boasts a long line of famous engineers -
682
00:21:05,010 --> 00:21:07,250
the anchor, the ballast points.
683
00:20:28,770 --> 00:20:33,370
and in between them, their Japanese engineering student, Kaichi Watanabe.
684
00:20:33,530 --> 00:20:35,130
This famous picture
685
00:20:35,290 --> 00:20:38,010
convinced the railway company and the public
686
00:20:38,170 --> 00:20:41,610
that this bridge would stand the test of time.
687
00:20:41,770 --> 00:20:45,090
Now, there's no magical trickery involved in this demonstration.
688
00:20:45,250 --> 00:20:46,770
It's just simple physics.
689
00:20:46,930 --> 00:20:50,370
And I'll show you, by sitting on this platform, here.
690
00:20:50,530 --> 00:20:55,170
Now, if this goes well, this should take my weight.
691
00:20:55,330 --> 00:20:56,810
Everyone alright?
692
00:20:57,850 --> 00:21:00,530
That's taking my full weight, there.
693
00:21:00,690 --> 00:21:02,250
So, let me explain what's happening.
694
00:21:02,410 --> 00:21:04,850
The two gents on the end are representing
695
00:20:27,250 --> 00:20:28,610
Fowler on the right,
696
00:21:07,410 --> 00:21:09,330
And my two colleagues here
697
00:21:09,490 --> 00:21:11,450
are representing the towers of the bridge.
698
00:21:11,610 --> 00:21:12,890
Now, their arms
699
00:21:13,050 --> 00:21:15,050
act like the top cantilevers of the bridge.
700
00:21:15,210 --> 00:21:16,490
Now, they're in tension
701
00:21:16,650 --> 00:21:18,170
when I put my weight on here.
702
00:21:19,370 --> 00:21:20,450
There we go.
703
00:21:20,610 --> 00:21:22,290
And our wooden poles here,
704
00:21:22,450 --> 00:21:24,530
they represent the bottom cantilevers to the bridge.
705
00:21:24,690 --> 00:21:26,690
They're in compression, they're being squeezed
706
00:21:26,850 --> 00:21:29,730
and when I put the weight on this middle platform here,
707
00:21:29,890 --> 00:21:31,530
that's suspended between the two,
708
00:19:49,250 --> 00:19:53,530
supporting three giant 361-feet towers.
709
00:19:12,130 --> 00:19:15,050
Baker and Fowler didn't invent the cantilever bridge.
710
00:19:15,210 --> 00:19:17,930
It's been used all over the world for hundreds of years,
711
00:19:18,090 --> 00:19:21,170
but never on the scale they envisioned.
712
00:19:21,330 --> 00:19:24,170
One of the biggest advantages of this type of bridge design
713
00:19:24,330 --> 00:19:26,570
is that you can build outwards from each bank,
714
00:19:26,730 --> 00:19:29,650
without having to face the difficulties or the dangers
715
00:19:29,810 --> 00:19:33,810
of erecting temporary scaffolding in deep or fast-flowing waters.
716
00:19:34,810 --> 00:19:36,490
So, in 1883,
717
00:19:36,650 --> 00:19:39,570
four years after work stopped on Bouch's suspension bridge,
718
00:19:39,730 --> 00:19:43,450
they finally had a solution for crossing the Firth of Forth.
719
00:19:43,610 --> 00:19:47,170
Massive granite piers, 71 feet across,
720
00:19:47,330 --> 00:19:49,090
would be secured on the riverbed,
721
00:16:35,690 --> 00:16:39,130
one that could cope with winds that can easily top 90 miles an hour,
722
00:19:53,690 --> 00:19:57,090
The towers would support immense cantilever arms,
723
00:19:57,250 --> 00:19:59,650
connected by short bridging sections.
724
00:19:59,810 --> 00:20:02,450
The ends would connect to two smaller viaducts,
725
00:20:02,610 --> 00:20:04,330
either side of the bridge.
726
00:20:04,490 --> 00:20:08,730
When finished, the bridge would be over 8,000 feet long,
727
00:20:08,890 --> 00:20:10,850
weigh over 50,000 tonnes
728
00:20:11,010 --> 00:20:14,970
and be held together by 6.5 million rivets.
729
00:20:16,610 --> 00:20:18,210
To prove to the world
730
00:20:18,370 --> 00:20:20,130
that their solution would work,
731
00:20:20,290 --> 00:20:23,050
they created this extraordinary demonstration,
732
00:20:23,210 --> 00:20:25,210
a human cantilever.
733
00:20:25,370 --> 00:20:27,090
That's Baker on the left,
734
00:13:20,410 --> 00:13:22,330
and different interconnecting parts.
735
00:12:49,930 --> 00:12:52,170
that run between the top of the towers,
736
00:12:52,330 --> 00:12:53,610
like a huge rollercoaster,
737
00:12:53,770 --> 00:12:56,490
taking the weight as the trains roll through.
738
00:13:00,690 --> 00:13:02,610
The towers carry the weight
739
00:13:02,770 --> 00:13:04,370
down to the masonry piers,
740
00:13:04,530 --> 00:13:06,450
which hold the whole bridge up.
741
00:13:06,610 --> 00:13:08,250
All those small ties
742
00:13:08,410 --> 00:13:10,810
basically prevent the whole thing pulling apart
743
00:13:10,970 --> 00:13:13,290
but, at the same time, they add stiffness
744
00:13:13,450 --> 00:13:15,690
so it doesn't twist in the wind.
745
00:13:15,850 --> 00:13:18,770
It seems almost too complicated,
746
00:13:18,930 --> 00:13:20,250
with its strange angles
747
00:12:46,890 --> 00:12:49,770
The rail track below me is hanging off these flat girders
748
00:13:22,490 --> 00:13:25,530
A more pared-down structure would have made more sense.
749
00:13:25,690 --> 00:13:29,250
So, why did they design and build it like this?
750
00:13:29,410 --> 00:13:32,090
The reason it seems so over-engineered
751
00:13:32,250 --> 00:13:34,210
is because, well, it is,
752
00:13:34,370 --> 00:13:35,850
and for one simple reason -
753
00:13:36,010 --> 00:13:37,610
the Tay Bridge disaster.
754
00:13:37,770 --> 00:13:41,690
The memory of that tragedy is encoded into the DNA of this bridge.
755
00:13:41,850 --> 00:13:45,490
The design, the materials, even the methods they used to build it,
756
00:13:45,650 --> 00:13:48,010
were seen as a reaction to that tragedy.
757
00:13:48,170 --> 00:13:50,410
This bridge not only had to physically stand up to
758
00:13:50,570 --> 00:13:52,250
whatever the world could throw at it,
759
00:13:52,410 --> 00:13:54,970
it had to make people believe it could do so.
760
00:12:11,050 --> 00:12:12,970
You've even got snow on some of the mountains up here.
761
00:11:30,410 --> 00:11:32,170
from right on top.
762
00:11:35,410 --> 00:11:39,770
It's a 361-foot ride up the north tower, to the top.
763
00:11:39,930 --> 00:11:43,530
My guide, Colin Hardie, is charged with maintenance on the bridge,
764
00:11:43,690 --> 00:11:45,770
and gets to go up every day.
765
00:11:45,930 --> 00:11:48,810
But for me, it's a chance of a lifetime.
766
00:11:52,290 --> 00:11:54,010
(LAUGHS)
767
00:11:54,170 --> 00:11:55,930
Phew! Look at this!
768
00:11:59,730 --> 00:12:03,450
The views from up here are absolutely stunning.
769
00:12:03,610 --> 00:12:05,210
I mean, you've got...
770
00:12:05,370 --> 00:12:07,410
You've got the city of Edinburgh just behind us, there,
771
00:12:07,570 --> 00:12:08,970
and then you're just heading up,
772
00:12:09,130 --> 00:12:10,890
straight out, into the mountains, up here.
773
00:13:55,130 --> 00:13:57,410
It was designed to combat fear.
774
00:12:13,130 --> 00:12:14,970
And you can see the other bridges right beneath us,
775
00:12:15,130 --> 00:12:17,210
where it feels like you're on top of the world, up here.
776
00:12:17,370 --> 00:12:18,890
It's magical.
777
00:12:20,210 --> 00:12:21,570
As Colin gets on with making sure
778
00:12:21,730 --> 00:12:25,330
the bridge is still here for another 125 years,
779
00:12:25,490 --> 00:12:27,770
I get to take a look at this amazing structure
780
00:12:27,930 --> 00:12:30,410
from a totally unique perspective.
781
00:12:31,490 --> 00:12:35,050
I'm stood now, looking down from the top of the bridge.
782
00:12:35,210 --> 00:12:37,610
All of that intricate, cross-bracing metalwork
783
00:12:37,770 --> 00:12:39,330
starts to make a bit more sense.
784
00:12:39,490 --> 00:12:42,170
There's a...there's a lot of order and form to it.
785
00:12:42,330 --> 00:12:45,770
This is built to be strong, it's built to last.
786
00:15:58,730 --> 00:16:00,450
to use on such a large scale.
787
00:15:14,850 --> 00:15:17,890
for the failure of the supports on the Tay Bridge.
788
00:15:18,890 --> 00:15:21,810
Now, if we look at steel, by comparison,
789
00:15:21,970 --> 00:15:25,130
it's relatively strong in every direction.
790
00:15:25,290 --> 00:15:29,210
So, nice steel beam there.
791
00:15:29,370 --> 00:15:32,730
Admittedly, that's a slightly thicker steel beam,
792
00:15:32,890 --> 00:15:35,850
but...I've got a much bigger hammer.
793
00:15:39,650 --> 00:15:43,850
(LAUGHS) That's done absolutely nothing at all to that,
794
00:15:44,010 --> 00:15:48,130
and that's why they built the Forth Bridge out of steel.
795
00:15:48,290 --> 00:15:50,570
Steel is basically iron
796
00:15:50,730 --> 00:15:53,770
which has had its impurities, like carbon, reduced,
797
00:15:53,930 --> 00:15:56,050
making it stronger and less brittle.
798
00:15:56,210 --> 00:15:58,570
It had always been prohibitively expensive
799
00:15:11,810 --> 00:15:14,690
And it's that fundamental weakness that was blamed, in part,
800
00:16:00,610 --> 00:16:03,530
But in 1856, a new discovery -
801
00:16:03,690 --> 00:16:06,930
blowing air through the molten iron to burn off the impurities -
802
00:16:07,090 --> 00:16:09,690
meant that they could now produce vast amounts
803
00:16:09,850 --> 00:16:11,970
of high-quality steel cheaply,
804
00:16:12,130 --> 00:16:16,370
making it the perfect material for building the Forth Bridge.
805
00:16:16,530 --> 00:16:19,410
But using steel didn't solve everything.
806
00:16:19,570 --> 00:16:22,330
The bridge still had to overcome some major problems -
807
00:16:22,490 --> 00:16:25,290
firstly, the great distance from shore to shore,
808
00:16:25,450 --> 00:16:26,890
over a mile and a half,
809
00:16:27,050 --> 00:16:31,010
the incredible depth, sinking down almost 100 feet,
810
00:16:31,170 --> 00:16:33,530
and, of course, they had to come up with a solution
811
00:16:33,690 --> 00:16:35,530
for the Scottish weather,
812
00:14:34,930 --> 00:14:38,650
to build such large supporting structures from.
813
00:13:57,570 --> 00:13:59,490
To help counter this fear
814
00:13:59,650 --> 00:14:02,290
and settle the nerves of a shocked public,
815
00:14:02,450 --> 00:14:05,450
the decision was taken to build the new bridge across the Forth
816
00:14:05,610 --> 00:14:09,250
out of a completely different material to the Tay Bridge -
817
00:14:09,410 --> 00:14:11,010
steel.
818
00:14:11,170 --> 00:14:12,770
(FORGE HISSES AND ROARS)
819
00:14:12,930 --> 00:14:17,010
To help understand the advantages of steel over cast iron,
820
00:14:17,170 --> 00:14:18,450
I've travelled to London,
821
00:14:18,610 --> 00:14:22,210
to one of the last traditional cast-iron makers.
822
00:14:24,890 --> 00:14:28,690
The Tay Bridge wasn't the only bridge to be made out of cast iron,
823
00:14:28,850 --> 00:14:32,850
but it was the bridge that clearly and tragically demonstrated
824
00:14:33,010 --> 00:14:34,770
why it's the wrong material
825
00:00:01,420 --> 00:00:03,780
Britain's iconic bridges,
826
00:14:39,650 --> 00:14:41,850
Cast iron is a very strong material.
827
00:14:42,010 --> 00:14:44,290
If I take this spindle here, this cast-iron spindle,
828
00:14:44,450 --> 00:14:46,450
and use it as a pillar -
829
00:14:46,610 --> 00:14:48,250
just rest it up there -
830
00:14:48,410 --> 00:14:50,010
I can apply huge amount of force
831
00:14:50,170 --> 00:14:51,650
on the top of there...
832
00:14:54,890 --> 00:14:56,770
I could be hitting that all day long.
833
00:14:56,930 --> 00:14:58,930
It's not gonna buckle, it's not gonna break,
834
00:14:59,090 --> 00:15:01,370
when I'm applying a force in that direction.
835
00:15:01,530 --> 00:15:03,250
But try and bend it
836
00:15:03,410 --> 00:15:06,050
by hitting it like this and...
837
00:15:07,210 --> 00:15:09,290
That went through really easily.
68152
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