Tay Bridge disaster that the wind pressure on the high girders had been no more than , from the absence of damage to vulnerable features on buildings in Dundee and the signal cabins at the south end of the bridge. The Inquiry felt that these locations were significantly more sheltered, and therefore rejected this argument. Baker's subsequent work on wind pressures at the Forth Rail Bridge site showed meteorologists "were" overestimating, but his might have over-interpreted the data. Law had numerous criticisms of the bridge design, some echoed by other engineers: Both Pole and Law had calculated the wind loading needed to overturn
Tay Rail Bridge of the top of the section below. The joint was then secured by bolts through matching holes on lugs (Crumlin) or flanges (Belah) on the two sections. This 'spigot and faucet' configuration was used (apparently without machining) on some Tay Bridge pier columns, but on some the bolts were relied upon to ensure correct alignment. (In the event, the joints were made using undersized bolts. This gave greater tolerances when assembling the column, but the less positive alignment of the column joints as initially assembled and after any subsequent 'working' of the joint would have weakened the column). On the