Anyone fancy going to the top of the Forth Bridge?!

[Vile Consort]

I did go on a visit to the bridge something like 30 years ago. After indemnifying the British Railways Board against all liabilities, including death*, we were conducted along the deck of the bridge to about the half way point, pressing ourselves against the parapet as trains whizzed past our noses and the bridge executed vertical oscillations. The spray that emanated from some passing trains at about face level was the result of toilets being flushed!

Our guide then lifted a trap door to reveal the sea glistening 150 ft below and invited us to climb down a metal ladder to a walkway comprised of a single plank of wood perhaps 15" wide and 2" thick with a wire "rail" at waist height on one side, and a long drop to the water at the other. Every time a train rumbled past above our heads, the walkway bounced with the rest of the structure.

We were told that painting of large parts of the structure had been suspended, as it was no longer acceptable to lose a painter every now and again and they had yet to devise a safe method of working.

* There was an added frisson as one of the inspectors had fallen to his death from the bridge whilst conducting a party of visitors only a few weeks before our visit.

[pastoralguy]

I did go on a visit to the bridge something like 30 years ago. After indemnifying the British Railways Board against all liabilities, including death*, we were conducted along the deck of the bridge to about the half way point, pressing ourselves against the parapet as trains whizzed past our noses and the bridge executed vertical oscillations. The spray that emanated from some passing trains at about face level was the result of toilets being flushed!

Our guide then lifted a trap door to reveal the sea glistening 150 ft below and invited us to climb down a metal ladder to a walkway comprised of a single plank of wood perhaps 15" wide and 2" thick with a wire "rail" at waist height on one side, and a long drop to the water at the other. Every time a train rumbled past above our heads, the walkway bounced with the rest of the structure.

We were told that painting of large parts of the structure had been suspended, as it was no longer acceptable to lose a painter every now and again and they had yet to devise a safe method of working.

* There was an added frisson as one of the inspectors had fallen to his death from the bridge whilst conducting a party of visitors only a few weeks before our visit.

Oh come on, That's nit picking...

[Stillhomewardbound]

We had the book of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation on the shelves of my father's study and the dust-jacket on the rear had a picture of the interior of the bridge taking from very high up. It was one of those images which filled a young boy's head with all sorts of possibilities. Then when I was thirteen I went on a school trip to Edinburgh which included a trip to see the bridge.

I think now, as I thought them, that it is one of the most exciting structures on the planet. So, if there's a space on this bridge Walk-Over please count me in!

[Stillhomewardbound]

I did go on a visit to the bridge something like 30 years ago. After indemnifying the British Railways Board against all liabilities, including death*, we were conducted along the deck of the bridge to about the half way point, pressing ourselves against the parapet as trains whizzed past our noses and the bridge executed vertical oscillations. The spray that emanated from some passing trains at about face level was the result of toilets being flushed!

Our guide then lifted a trap door to reveal the sea glistening 150 ft below and invited us to climb down a metal ladder to a walkway comprised of a single plank of wood perhaps 15" wide and 2" thick with a wire "rail" at waist height on one side, and a long drop to the water at the other. Every time a train rumbled past above our heads, the walkway bounced with the rest of the structure.

We were told that painting of large parts of the structure had been suspended, as it was no longer acceptable to lose a painter every now and again and they had yet to devise a safe method of working.

* There was an added frisson as one of the inspectors had fallen to his death from the bridge whilst conducting a party of visitors only a few weeks before our visit.

Yooooouuuu lucky bar steward!! Great post. Felt almost like I was there.

The closest I've come was when I was working on P&O's Oriana and we called into the Forth. We were too big to dock at Leith so we stay at anchor and passengers disembarked by tender. Anyway, we were only a fifth of a mile from the bridge, the only problem being that she was heavily shrouded as part of a major refurbishment programme (2003ish), so her majesty was sadly concealed.

[scottycelt]

Like the OP it would no good for me as I automatically start shaking uncontrollably on the 3rd/4th step of even a small set of ladders.

However, I have the same childhood memories as Mangerton with his generous donations of old Imperial pennies and ha'pennies. Annual family holidays in Elie offered great excitement with the rail trip alone and almost from departing Queen Street Station in Glasgow chatter about the thrill of shortly being on that incomparable bridge again would have been rife. I had the same sort of thrill when I last gazed in awe at the huge structure from a coach on the parallel road bridge in 1998. The world-famous old rail bridge still retains the capacity to excite and amaze.

As for appropriate music, and due to the height and magnificence of the subject, I would choose R Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie (even if not in the valued presence of EA) or alternatively the final movement of the little-known and heard first version of Bruckner's 4th where the composer is obviously on some sort of trip (?!) and sounds of clanking machinery and shunting steam locomotives can clearly be heard.

[ahinton]

The more the merrier! What music would we take?!

Shostakovich's Forth Symphony - and perhaps also his Firth Symphony (sorry - seem to have developed a Franz Lisp this morningside); far better than anything by Leslie Bridgewater...

[gamba]

I have spent some time filming the railway bridge. It's big & solid, no worries. Now, if you're talking about the road bridge, that is another matter. BBC Scotland spent months compiling a film of the construction of the road bridge & I was allocated much of the work. Flimsy catwalks at 500 ' with ships beneath looking like Dinky toys ! One of the worst aspects was walking on steel mesh at night, ensuring your feet stood on the wire & NOT the open bit between !! Setting - up a tripod wasn't that easy either ! Worst was straddling a beam out into space, pushing the camera ahead of you, filming the required activity & then either backing on your return or turning round whilst still straddling a beam at 500' Luckily we were still on 35mm. film & I was able to use an old Newman- Sinclair camera which has a flat bottom & capable of staying put & not rolling about !

It helps to be interested in your work - gettng good pictures takes the fright away. The producer, my assistant & others have had to be helped down when the wind increases & the whole structure begins to wobble. You see, they have nothing to do except wonder if it's all going to fall down - quite natural reaction. Anyhow, they're only a nuisance & get in the way !

[pastoralguy]

Yooooouuuu lucky bar steward!! Great post. Felt almost like I was there.

The closest I've come was when I was working on P&O's Oriana and we called into the Forth. We were too big to dock at Leith so we stay at anchor and passengers disembarked by tender. Anyway, we were only a fifth of a mile from the bridge, the only problem being that she was heavily shrouded as part of a major refurbishment programme (2003ish), so her majesty was sadly concealed.

I have spent some time filming the railway bridge. It's big & solid, no worries. Now, if you're talking about the road bridge, that is another matter. BBC Scotland spent months compiling a film of the construction of the road bridge & I was allocated much of the work. Flimsy catwalks at 500 ' with ships beneath looking like Dinky toys ! One of the worst aspects was walking on steel mesh at night, ensuring your feet stood on the wire & NOT the open bit between !! Setting - up a tripod wasn't that easy either ! Worst was straddling a beam out into space, pushing the camera ahead of you, filming the required activity & then either backing on your return or turning round whilst still straddling a beam at 500' Luckily we were still on 35mm. film & I was able to use an old Newman- Sinclair camera which has a flat bottom & capable of staying put & not rolling about !

It helps to be interested in your work - gettng good pictures takes the fright away. The producer, my assistant & others have had to be helped down when the wind increases & the whole structure begins to wobble. You see, they have nothing to do except wonder if it's all going to fall down - quite natural reaction. Anyhow, they're only a nuisance & get in the way !

Wow! I have a 16mm print of the construction of the Forth Bridge. It's gone very pink and is full of splices but it's a wonderful document of an amazing project. I wonder if you were the cameraman, gamba.

[salymap]

I have spent some time filming the railway bridge. It's big & solid, no worries. Now, if you're talking about the road bridge, that is another matter. BBC Scotland spent months compiling a film of the construction of the road bridge & I was allocated much of the work. Flimsy catwalks at 500 ' with ships beneath looking like Dinky toys ! One of the worst aspects was walking on steel mesh at night, ensuring your feet stood on the wire & NOT the open bit between !! Setting - up a tripod wasn't that easy either ! Worst was straddling a beam out into space, pushing the camera ahead of you, filming the required activity & then either backing on your return or turning round whilst still straddling a beam at 500' Luckily we were still on 35mm. film & I was able to use an old Newman- Sinclair camera which has a flat bottom & capable of staying put & not rolling about !

It helps to be interested in your work - gettng good pictures takes the fright away. The producer, my assistant & others have had to be helped down when the wind increases & the whole structure begins to wobble. You see, they have nothing to do except wonder if it's all going to fall down - quite natural reaction. Anyhow, they're only a nuisance & get in the way !

Still on form I see gamba Going over the Forth railway bridge I looked outof the train window but there didn't seem any bridge between the train and the water.

I was born with vertigo, I think.

[gamba]

Pastoralguy,

I presume you're referring to the road bridge as I don't think I was around when the other one went up !
Also other filming took place on behalf of the organisations contributing to the erection of the main structure.
This would have occurred around about the early 1960's, not long after I arrived in Scotland.

A nice little story while I still have it in mind : We arrived one morning to find the wee man who worked the ' lift ' ? , ( the rather basic means by which we were hauled up the outside of the end towers in order to get to the main platform ) covered in sticking plaster & bandages.
" What happened - You couldn't have fallen to the ground, surely ? You'd have been killed. " said I . " The cable broke " said he, " & instead of falling to the ground I shot up to the top of the tower at a fantastic speed." " UP " we all repeated in unison ? " Yes, up " said he.
Apparently it stopped very suddenly when reaching the end of it's travel
- but he continued, going round & round the inside of the
container. The outcome of a break in the cable places the action, not in the hands of gravity, but that of a fairly massive counterweight - hence one is rather nicely ( I think ) aimed towards Heaven rather than that other place.

He appeared none the worse from his experience & as I am told, frequent retelling in the local helped balance out any ill- effects, even if it produced other ill-effects of a more pleasing nature.

[alycidon]

Like the OP it would no good for me as I automatically start shaking uncontrollably on the 3rd/4th step of even a small set of ladders.

Gosh, scotty, we DO have something in common after all!

I rather think that I would like the first movement of Brahms' 3rd - seems appropriate. But I shall not be going up - just reading some of these posts has made me feel quite queasy!

[eighthobstruction]

My dyslexic brain just read the thread title as "anyone who goes forth to the fridge"....a lot easier than climbing a bridge....

[BBMmk2]

My dyslexic brain just read the thread title as "anyone who goes forth to the fridge"....a lot easier than climbing a bridge....

I had to read it twice as well, hmmm but mine is dyspraxia.

[ahinton]

My dyslexic brain just read the thread title as "anyone who goes forth to the fridge"....a lot easier than climbing a bridge....

A bridge too far, methinks (and surely one would sally rather than sully forth thereto, would one not?)...

[mercia]

some interesting photos of the construction, taken from a book - you may want to turn down the volume on your computer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlTY2NGDUZ8

is it not the Forth bridge that Hannay escapes on to in The 39 Steps ?