When visiting Edinburgh, every self-respecting tourist will certainly stop in the Old Town. Exactly, here, by right side The city is home to the ancient North Bridge.

The main function of the bridge is to connect the Old and New Towns, Princes Street and the Royal Mile. Below, under the bridge, Edinburgh's main railway station, Waverley, is surprisingly located.

For the first time, a bridge was built on this site back in 1763 - 1772, but after many years, in 1890 the bridge was destroyed. Four years later, the famous construction company Sir William Arrol & Co set about building the new North Bridge.

The architecture of the bridge is very interesting. It consists of three arched spans. The length of each of them is about 50 meters. The total length of the bridge reaches 525 meters. It is an indispensable connection point for vehicles.

Coordinates: 55.95210600,-3.18846900

Arc of Clyde Bridge

The Clyde Arc is one of the most original attractions in the Scottish city of Glasgow. This is a bridge that spans the River Clyde, not far from the Science Centre. Its official opening took place on September 18, 2006 with the participation of local authorities. Characteristic feature The structure is a curved design - the bridge crosses the river at an angle.

The bridge was designed by Edmund Nuttall architects and the concrete slabs were cast at a local factory. Construction of the structure began in 2003 and lasted until 2006, with work estimated to cost approximately £20,000. According to experts, the structure should last about 120 years.

The main span of the bridge is made of steel in the shape of an arch, its length is 96 meters. The central spans are located at a distance of 36.5 meters from each other. The total length of the structure is 169 meters. The bridge has two pedestrian paths, each 11 meters wide, and highway with four lanes.

Coordinates: 55.85726000,-4.28250700

Dean Bridge

Dean Bridge is a four-arch bridge in Edinburgh that spans the River Water of Leith and rises 32 meters above it. Its roadway is 136 meters long and 12 meters wide. This bridge was the last major work of the famous designer Thomas Telford, which was completed in 1831.

Before the bridge was built at this place, the inhabitants of this area forded the river. The proposal to build a bridge came from the Edinburgh lord and owner of the northern bank of the river, John Learmonth. Inspired by the successful example of the expansion of New Town on the southern bank, he also began to increase his own holdings, but for this a bridge connecting both banks of the river became necessary.

The entrepreneur was ready to take on all construction costs himself, but the board of road trustees suggested financial assistance, but on the condition that travel across the bridge will be free. Work began in 1829 and was completed three years later, but it was not opened until 1834. A fine was charged for those pedestrians who wanted to enjoy the view from this bridge.

In 1888, the bridge underwent some changes. The authorities turned to engineers to take measures to prevent suicides occurring from this bridge. As a result, the height of the parapet was raised.

Coordinates: 55.95290000,-3.21420000

City Union Bridge

City Union Bridge is one of the oldest bridges over the River Clyde. It opened as a railway bridge in 1899. It carries an internal railway line connecting two areas of Glasgow. The last extensive reconstruction of the bridge took place in 1995.

Currently, it is a complex structure made of steel and concrete, consisting of five spans installed on powerful piers. Both ends of the bridge are topped with small round towers. The length of the bridge is 800 meters, width – 12 meters. The distance between it and the river allows for the unhindered passage of ships. The bridge consists of a two-lane railway track and its load capacity is 70 tons. The speed limit here is 24 kilometers per hour.

Coordinates: 55.85314400,-4.24935100

Forth Bridge

Forth Bridge is a railway bridge located in the eastern part of Scotland, west of the center of Edinburgh. With a length of about 2.5 kilometers, it is the main link between the northeast and southeast of the country.

Construction of the bridge began in 1883 and took 7 tragic years. The fact is that more than 60 people died during the construction of this bridge. About 3.5 million pounds of metal were spent on it, which is 10 times more than was used to build the Eiffel Tower.

Until 1917, the Forth Bridge was the longest bridge in the world. This may sound paradoxical, but the influence visual power and the power of this bridge on works of modern culture is undeniable. Many directors chose it as a film set. For example, Alfred Hitchcock in his film "The 39 Steps" or in documentary film"Jump Britain", shot for Chanel 4.

References to it can also be found in literature, for example, in Iain Banks’ novella “The Bridge”, or in the video game “ Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas".

Coordinates: 56.00042100,-3.38872600

North Bridge

North Bridge is an important part of Edinburgh's infrastructure, connecting High Street and Princes Street, as well as the Old and New Town areas. The modern bridge was built in 1897 on the site of the old one.

Despite its history of more than a century, the bridge looks quite modern and authentic to the current appearance of Edinburgh. Three wide spans rise above the railway tracks and station, so it seems as if the bridge has no supports at all.

The length of the North Bridge is 160 meters, width - 22 meters. It was built by Sir William Arrol & Co., who also designed the Forth Bridge.

The first foundation stone was laid on May 25, 1896. At the southern end of the bridge where the Royal Mile and South Bridge, is home to a number of buildings, including the former headquarters of the Scotsman newspaper, as well as a block of commercial premises, apartments and department stores. At the northern end of the bridge is the Balmoral Hotel and Waverley Station.

Coordinates: 55.95222200,-3.18861100

George V Bridge

George V Bridge, also sometimes called King George V Bridge, is a three-arch road bridge over the River Clyde in the heart of Glasgow. The bridge was designed by Thomas Somers. It is the last remaining old style bridge in the city, spanning the Clyde. The bridge's architecture was tied to the elegant lines of the nearby Jamaica Street Bridge upstream. But, unlike the Jamaica Street Bridge, the arches of the George V Bridge are not built of granite, but of reinforced concrete box girders faced with gray Dalbeatty granite.

The plan for the King George V Bridge was not created and approved immediately, since initially it was supposed to copy the style of the Glasgow Bridge, but this was unacceptable in this place of the river. The Clyde Navigation Trust vetoed the project because the designers did not take into account the need for adequate water traffic on the river, and the height and style of the bridge could be a serious obstacle.

The opening of the bridge was supposed to take place in 1914, but the First World War made its own adjustments, so the construction of the bridge was completed only in 1927. It links the Tradeston area on the south bank and Oswald Street in the city centre.

Coordinates: 55.85570000,-4.25980000

Sights of Scotland

FORT BRIDGE

The Forth Bridge is a Scottish icon recognized throughout the world. It represents an entire era in the history of modern railway construction and still holds first place as the longest cantilever bridge.

I have seen this famous bridge more than once, but always just in passing, driving by in a car and admiring the grandiose engineering structure from afar. The bridge has always attracted attention with its unusual appearance.

It only takes 15 minutes to get to the bridge by local train, and then you need to walk down the picturesque paths. The train goes below Edinburgh Castle, located on a cliff. The impression is completely unforgettable - the castle is so close that it seems to be looming over you. The usual picture for everyone is completely different - when you are in a castle, the whole city is under your feet.

There is an airport next to the railway. The runway practically abuts the rails. Edinburgh has easy access to the airport. One way is by tram, it takes 40 minutes from the airport to the city, the second is by taxi, which is relatively cheap, and the third way is by taking the tram to the train station and from there by train to the airport - the journey will take 25 minutes.

It’s good that it’s winter now—the bare branches of the trees don’t interfere with a detailed view of the bridge. For me, its design is attractive. When viewed from the side, the bridge appears voluminous and bulky, but when viewed in profile, it is narrow. An association arises with a vertically standing plate.

It turns out that the bridge is the same age as the Eiffel Tower. It was built at the same time as the Forth Bridge, but using traditional wrought iron. Contemporaries noted that it was possible to place two Eiffel Towers between each of the three central columns of the bridge. This means that a total of six towers will fit into the Forth Bridge, not counting the viaducts on each side.

The history of the bridge's construction is quite interesting. At the end of the 19th century, when railway communication in Britain was already well developed, travelAlong the eastern coast of Scotland, between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, there were two wide bays of the North Sea - the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay. It was first proposed to build a tunnel under the Firth of Forth, and later a bridge, but both projects were rejected. A new bridge design based on a cantilever design was approved by parliament in July 1881.

Due to the incident with the Tay Bridge, one of the spans of which collapsed in a storm and people were killed, greatly inflated requirements were placed on the bridge over the Firth of Forth, excluding any vibrations even when a train passes over the bridge.

When designing the bridge, engineers abandoned cast iron and wrought iron, which were widely used at that time, and chose steel. In 1886, work began on the construction of the supports, which required an incredible amount of steel - 54,860 tons, produced in two steel foundries in Scotland and one in Wales. 6.5 million rivets weighing a total of 4,267 tons were made in Glasgow.

The bridge has three main supports a little more than 100 meters high, the central one is installed in the middle of a deep bay. Consoles assembled from pipes with a diameter of 3.6 meters support sleeves 207.3 meters long, connected by jumpers. The total span distance is 521.3 meters. The distance between the supports is 582.8 meters, and between the outer bulls - 1630.7 meters.A viaduct adjoins the console on both sides.The railway track runs 48.2 meters above high tide.

For more than 120 years, since its construction, the Scots have continuously painted the bridge, whose total length is 2.5 km. No sooner had the paint dried on one end of the object than rust began to form on the other. In Great Britain, the expression “painting the Forth Bridge” has become equivalent to our “carrying water in a sieve” and means useless labor. Since 2012, thanks to the new composition of special painting materials, the endless painting process has been interrupted, according to experts, for at least 25 years.

I wonder what's oldThe bridge's paint contained lead, so all of it had to be stripped from the steel structure and reassembled in such a way that the toxic metal would not leak into the bay waters. The new coating consists of materials used for offshore oil platforms. More than a quarter of a million liters of paint were used on the bridge, costing £130 million. In July 2015, UNESCO included Forth Bridge as a World Heritage Site in Scotland.

The construction of the bridge led to a continuous east coast railway route from London to Aberdeen.The railway bridge in 1907 carried approximately 30,000 passenger trains weighing a total of 14.6 million tons, while in 2000 the bridge carried approximately 54,080 passenger trains and 6,240 freight trains weighing approximately ten million tons. Today, up to 200 trains a day pass through the bridge,carrying 3 million passengers every year.Its design also provides the necessary space for ships and boats in the bay.

On both sides of the bridge along the shore there is a path, quite busy, with people walking along it, despite the fact that the city is quite far away and you can’t get here on foot, you need to get there by transport.

Not far from the bridge there is the cozy town of Queensferry ( Queensferry ), which literally consists of a couple of streets. I don’t think there is expensive housing there and there is a demand for it. This place is suitable for people who appreciate British culture and lead a quiet, measured life.

Queensferry has beautiful cozy streets. The white house overlooking the bridge is the house of the old admiral. It’s good to make films here - colorful Scottish buildings with gardens, pubs, a fish restaurant, a tea house - time has frozen in the last century, and this has a special charm.

In general, three bridges have been built across the bay - one railway Fort Bridge and two road bridges. Moreover, the estimated service life of the old road bridge - 120 years - had already expired by the beginning of the 21st century. Now it is closed for renovation and only pedestrians can walk through it.

A year and a half ago, I calmly drove across this bridge by car, but now I was surprised by the poor condition of the road surface, and in general the closed bridge without cars with rare pedestrians looked very sad.

In one place hangs a huge number of locks left by brides and grooms as a symbol strong family. And in the other there is an interesting sign with a phone number, on which it is written that “you need to talk to someone first,” apparently the bridge was used not only in moments of joy, but in order to commit suicide.

Preparatory work for the construction of the new bridge began in 2011 with the construction of access roads. Interestingly, fragments of the bridge were built in China and Spain, and then by sea delivered to Edinburgh. New technologies in bridge construction were used during assembly, ensuring shorter construction times and reliability during operation.

The Forth Bridge railway bridge connects the coast of Edinburgh and Fife and was one of the first cantilever bridges on a global scale. In addition, he held the record for the longest span for several years.

The bridge was built in 1882 over the course of eight years. The 19th century was rich in the construction of railway communications in the country. The wide Firth of Tay and Firth of Forth (North Sea) prevented the laying of a railway line between Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Many ways to solve this problem have been proposed, for example, building a bridge or building a tunnel. The projects were rejected one after another.

1865 was a decisive year, parliament approved the construction of a bridge near the village of Queensferry. There was a disaster Caused by a storm in 1879, the construction of the bridge stopped two years after the start of construction. At that moment, the central section of the bridge collapsed along with the train traveling across it. At least 70 lives ceased to exist along with Forth Bridge. The investigation proved that the cause of the crash was a design error.

A few years later, engineers Benjamin Baker and John Fowler were created new project , the basis of which was a cantilever structure. Parliament approved it in 1881. There were quite a few high requirements for drawing up the project; for example, there should not be any vibration, even the slightest, while the train was moving along it. The engineers chose steel as the main material. They acted based on the experience of an engineer from the United States, James Eads.

Completed in 1885 preparatory work with a foundation for supports under water. A year later, the supports were built, using about 58,000 tons of steel. The opening of the bridge took place on March 4, 1890.

How is the bridge constructed? It had 3 main supports (height 100.6 meters). The consoles themselves were assembled from pipes with a diameter of 3.6 meters that supported the sleeves (length 207.3 meters). The distance to the water is 48.2 meters. The length of the bridge is 2500 meters. The total length of the span is 521.3 meters.

Just imagine, it took 120 years to cover the bridge! When the workers reached the end of the structure, the beginning was already overcome by rust. We solved the problem in 2012 with the help of new paint with a composition that allows us to finish the work once and for all.

Many directors have chosen the bridge as a filming location; everyone can see the power, strength and beauty, just go to Scotland.

I discovered this bridge, which UNESCO recently announced was adding 23 new cultural heritage sites to its list.

Forth Bridge is a huge bridge spanning the River Forth from the small town of South Queensferry to the city of Inverkeithing. The impressive railway bridge, stretching for one and a half kilometers, is the first large steel bridge in the world. It was opened in 1890 and still remains one of the largest engineering structures of the late Victorian era. Its massive sections are secured with nearly twenty million rivets. The area of ​​its painted part is fifty-five hectares. There is a fairly common expression: “it’s like painting the Forth Bridge”, which means an ongoing and constantly repeated task.

Let's take a closer look at it...

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Bridge over the Firth of Forth was built in 1890 in Scotland to connect Edinburgh with the north of Scotland. It received this name due to the fact that the North Sea Bay is formed by the mouth of the Forth River, which means “Black River” in Gaelic.

The construction of this railway engineering marvel was made possible by Benjamin Baker and John Fowler, who eventually managed to build a bridge that carries about 200 trains every day.

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Proposals to somehow connect these lands have been received since early XIX century. A tunnel was proposed near the Firth of Forth in 1806, and a bridge was proposed in 1818, but both projects were rejected. Almost half a century later, in 1865, an act of parliament approved the construction of a bridge in a narrow part of the bay, near the village of Queensferry. Eight years later, a consortium of 4 railway companies commissioned Thomas Bautsch to design the railway bridge. In turn, Thomas Bauch proposed building a suspension bridge with two spans, each 480 meters long. Due to delays in financing, construction was delayed and by 1879, only one support had begun to be installed.

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On 28 December 1879, the Firth of Tay bridge disaster occurred, two years after it opened. As a result of an unusually powerful storm, the central span of the railway bridge collapsed along with a train passing over the bridge, killing 75 people. The commission found shortcomings in the design of the destroyed bridge and the Baucha Bal project was rejected. Shortly after Thomas Bautsch's death, fellow engineers John Fowler and Benjamin Baker proposed a bridge design based on a cantilever structure. Already in 1881, parliament approved this project. Following a serious incident on the Tay Bridge, the Firth of Forth Bridge was subject to very high requirements - even with a passing train, there should be no vibrations on the bridge.

Engineers abandoned cast iron and wrought iron and chose steel. In 1865, the open hearth furnace was invented, and the quality of steel improved, so that it was suitable for the construction of this bridge. The British began construction of the bridge in December 1882 and by the end of 1885 they had completed the installation of granite bulls, eight of them standing in the water. The construction of the foundation was carried out using caissons - huge metal cylinders that were immersed to a depth of 27 meters.

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Work on the construction of the supports began in 1886. Their construction required a huge amount of steel - 54,860 tons. The steel was produced at two steelworks in Scotland and one in Wales. Six and a half million rivets, weighing a total of 4,267 tons, were made in Glasgow. Construction of the central span was completed by November 1889.

On 4 March 1890, the Prince of Wales opened the railway bridge over the Firth of Forth. Benjamin Baker and Gustave Eiffel also attended the ceremony. The total cost of this project was £3.2 million. Also, 57 people died during the construction of the bridge; eight more were rescued from boats that were on duty under the bridge during construction.

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The bridge rests on three pillars, each 100.6 meters high, the central one located off Inchgarvey Island, in the middle of a deep bay. The distance between the supports is 582.8 meters, and between the outer bulls - 1630 meters. Consoles assembled from steel pipes with a diameter of 3.6 meters support sleeves each 207.3 meters long, connected by jumpers 106.7 meters long. The railway track is located at a height of 48.2 meters above water level.

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The length of the bridge is 521.3 meters - with this indicator, the bridge over the Firth of Forth was for some time the longest bridge in the whole world.

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In 1964, Queen Elizabeth II opened another bridge, next door to the Forth Bridge. It was the largest suspension bridge outside the United States. The two bridges create a striking contrast, clearly visible from the footpath in South Queensferry. This city was named after Queen Margaret, who came to power in the 11th century, after her husband, King Malcolm III. When traveling between Edinburgh and the royal palace in Dunfermline, Margaret used the local ferry.

Not far from Queensferry is the small island of Incolm with a 12th-century abbey.

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The Fort Bridge is a uniquely beautiful railway bridge connecting the shores of the Firth on the east coast of Scotland, on one of which the capital, the city of Edinburgh, is located, and on the other - the region of Fife. It was one of the world's first cantilever bridges and, at the time of its completion in 1890, it had the longest span. The Fort Bridge is also considered the world's first steel bridge of significant size. Design for a long time was the standard by which beam cantilever bridges were studied and developed.

The bridge elements are made of metal pipes with a diameter of 3600 mm. There are three main supports of the bridge, and they are located at a distance of 582.8 m from each other. The total length of the bridge is almost 2.3 km. The minimum height of the railway track above the water level at high tide is 48.2 m.

Fort Bridge is a uniquely beautiful structure

A few facts about the construction of the Fort Bridge

The need to organize a reliable connection between the shores of the Firth of Forth, which cuts deep into the eastern coast of Scotland, arose at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1806, a tunnel project was developed, which was never implemented due to the complexity of the work. The bridge project proposed in 1818 was also rejected because its cost turned out to be unaffordable for the local budget.

In 1865, a customer was found willing to pay for the construction of the bridge - a newly created consortium, which included 4 railway companies. The then famous engineer Thomas Bautsch was appointed responsible for the development of the project, and his bridge had a suspended structure that was common at that time. Some financial questions were not allowed to begin implementing the completed project until 1879.

Also in 1879, a similar bridge across another bay, the Firth of Tay, collapsed, resulting in a train accident that killed 75 people. After this incident, Thomas Bauch's project was subjected to a thorough examination, according to which construction was stopped and the project was declared not to meet safety requirements.

The developer of the new project was John Fowler in collaboration with Benjamin Baker. The Forth Bridge was now a cantilever structure and the main material was steel.

Stone bridge pillars

The total weight of the metal structures is almost 55 thousand tons; factories in Scotland and Wales were involved in their production. Special rivets for joining steel elements were manufactured in Glasgow. Their total quantity is more than 4.2 thousand tons (6.5 million pieces). The installation of supports in the bay was carried out using metal caissons lowered to the bottom to a depth of about 27 m.

The height of the structures above the water level is 110 m, the height of the railway. canvas - 48 m

The cost of the construction is more than 3 million pounds sterling. The construction of the bridge cost the lives of almost 60 people. At the same time, during the installation work, rescue boats were constantly on duty in the bay to catch workers who had fallen off the bridge.

Supporting bridge structures on “bulls”

There is one interesting sustainable problem associated with the operation of the bridge. English language the expression is “paint the Forth Bridge.” The history of the expression is related to the fact that from the very moment of construction and for more than 120 years, the process of painting the bridge was permanent. The surface area of ​​structures subject to anti-corrosion treatment is more than 55 hectares. In this regard, by the time the painting of one part of the bridge was completed, the structures on the other part had already begun to rust.

There are 110 m inserts between the bridge consoles

Since then, anti-corrosion coatings for metal have become much more effective and there is no need for a permanent painting process today. But to this day, Scotland understands the expression to paint Fort Bridge as a process that lasts endlessly.