Tay Bridge disaster Scottish author A. J. Cronin, includes a scene involving the Tay Bridge disaster, and the 1942 filmed version of the book dramatically recreates the bridge's catastrophic collapse. The bridge collapse also figures prominently in Barbara Vine's 2002 novel "The Blood Doctor". Tay Bridge disaster During a violent storm on Sunday 28 December 1879, the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a train from Wormit to Dundee passed over it, killing all aboard. The bridge—designed by Sir Thomas Bouch—used lattice girders supported by iron piers, with cast iron columns and wrought iron cross-bracing. The piers were narrower and their cross-bracing was
Tay Rail Bridge Tay date to 1854 but it was not until 15 July 1870 that the North British Railway (Tay Bridge) Act, received royal assent. On 22 July 1871, the foundation stone of the bridge was laid. The bridge was designed by engineer Thomas Bouch, who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion. The bridge was a lattice-grid design, combining cast and wrought iron. The design had been used by Thomas W. Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858, after the use of cast iron in The Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was not as heavily loaded as a