The Forth and Tay bridges
The NBR built and opened a major single track railway bridge across the River Tay estuary at Dundee on 31 May 1878; at the time, it was the longest railway bridge in the world at nearly 2 miles from end to end. Following the destruction of this bridge in a storm on 28 December 1879, with the loss of a train and all 75 passengers and crew, the Company constructed a replacement double-track bridge which was opened on 20 June 1887 and is still in use today (bottom view). The Forth Bridge Railway Co. which was formed by the NBR, Great Northern, North Eastern and Midland Railways, constructed the famous cantilever Forth Bridge (top view), which was opened on 4 March 1890. Completion of the Tay and Forth Bridges gave the NBR an unrivalled continuous east coast railway route from Edinburgh to Dundee and Aberdeen.
