SCOTLAND’S HISTORICAL ENGINEERING LANDMARKS Lecture at IDA [Danish Society of Engineers] Kalvebod Brygge Copenhagen 22 Oct 2013 by Prof/Dr Roland A Paxton MBE FICE FRSE School of the Built Environment Heriot-Watt University Vice-chairman Institution of Civil Engineers Panel for Historical Engineering Works Industrial Revolution transport infrastructure in Scotland MAIN ROADS Poor 1750–1820. Improved under Abercrombie, Telford & McAdam from 1790-1830s, then inter-city decline until early 20th century and tarmacadam in motor vehicle age CANALS Ship and narrow boat – Forth & Clyde Ship 1768- 90, Aberdeen 1796, Crinan 1809, Caledonian Ship 1822, E & G Union 1822. Mostly superseded by railways by mid-19th cent. RAILWAYS Iron plateways – Caledonian Canal 1805, Bell Rock 1808 – Kilmarnock & Troon 1811 [Stockton & Darlington 1826; Liverpool & Manchester (first world inter-city) 1830]. Edinburgh & Dalkeith 1831 – railway MANIA 1840s – spread nationwide by the era of the Tay 1878 and Forth Bridges 1890 BRIDGES were an ESSENTIAL COMPONENT of all Edinburgh railway map 1847 Scotland Street Tunnel ‘Innocent’ Railway terminus Holyrood Tunnel to Braid Burn iron bridge˃ EDINBURGH c.1850 Scotland St Tunnel – Old North Br inclined plane operated 1772, Mylne/ railway 1847- 68 - Smeaton Central Station Scotland Street Tunnel – mushroom growing c.1890 Edinburgh & Dalkeith Rly Solum conserved as a cycle track 1982-90 ‘Innocent’ Railway - Braid Burn c.i. bridge 1831 [Scotland’s earliest?] being raised in 2001 Edinr & Dalkeith Rly Glenesk Bridge 60ft span; 65 ft high Jardine 1829-31 Glenesk Bridge ˃˃˃˃˃˃ Dalkeith Map 1847 Dalhousie Viaduct ˅ Dalhousie Via. 1832- 46 Leaderfoot Rly Viaduct 1865 125ft high. Drygrange 1779-80, Stevens, 105ft span! Bypassed 1973 by steel box beam bridge 186ft span State in 1995 Restoration near completion Restored 1996 Laigh Milton Viaduct, Kilmarnock. Wm Jessop, Engineer. Opened 1811 – the world’s earliest surviving viaduct on a public railway – conserved 1995-96 for £1.1m Laigh Milton Via on K&T 1811; ‘Killingworth’ locomotive 1816 3ft iron plate rail of Jessop type fixed to 15x15x10in stones at each end Rails broke under engine vertical piston action and horse traction was resumed Ballochmyle Viaduct 1850 - 181ft span 176ft high UK’s largest masonry railway viaduct. Engineer John Miller Ballochmyle Viaduct 1850 – Another view © RCAHMS Tweed bridges at Berwick – Royal Border, 2152ft long, 1850 HMQV – R. Stephenson – London to Edinburgh direct Royal Tweed, max span 361ft – longest in rc in UK in 1928 Berwick Bridge 1610-34, 1164ft long, 17ft wide, max span 74ft The world’s longest span suspension bridge for carriage traffic from 1820-26 and now the longest serving - 193 years Union Bridge R. Tweed at Paxton in 2013. Span 437ft; dip 26ft Engineers: Capt S. Brown John Rennie ˄ Union Bridge in 1822 ˂ Note state of 15ft x 2in diameter w.i. chains & hangers in Jan 2013. Some hangers replaced temporarily. Note 1903 HTS cable to carry the bridge if a chain fails UNION BRIDGE 1820 Note state of bridge on 5 October 2013 and one of 4 replacement hangers and caps to ˂ ˂ ˂ low chain pairs near mid-span Titan Crane Clydebank 1907. Largest of type when erected, now the earliest survivor and an iconic visitor centre TITAN Crane designated ‘International’ by four engineering organisation presidents 20 August 2013. Initiated & nominated by PHEW Scotland “534” at Clydebank Yard c.1933, 2 acres surface, 10,000,000 rivets on completion. Note crane in fitting out basin beyond “534” named Queen Mary in service in 1936. Now permanently berthed at Long Beach, California Danish Tour of Scottish Historical Engineering Works 26-30 August 2012 – Basic route map Most of Danish party at historic Stirling Bridge [c.1415] in August 2012. 4 spans 38ft-56ft Four centuries later, Dean Bridge, Edinburgh 1832 - 96ft spans, 106ft high - £18,556. Still in service - sophisticated elegance in masonry - a Telford/Gibb masterpiece! Dean Bridge drawing 1832 Dean Bridge Drawing 1832 Drawing signed Extrados of arch at crown by Telford – note his hand-pitched Dean Bridge bottom pavement EdinburghDean Bridge interior – crown of arch 1832 Bottom pavement not found when I dug a trial hole in 1972 - probably never was! John Loudon McAdam & his family achieved an improvement in road making nationally from 1816-30 by applying a simple and easy to implement system and improved management. But his roads needed continual maintenance. Unlike Telford, whose construction was more substantial with a stone base, he did not engineer his roads to line and gradient by means of cuttings, bridges and embankments Great North Road (A9) 1926 – North of Blair Atholl - basically Telford’s construction method - still being used by me in Sale [South Manchester] housing estate roads in the 1950s! Telford 250 years commemoration plaque Telford atlas map showing some of his Scottish work [below] Cartland Craigs Bridge 1822 near Lanark c.129ft high - 50ft spans - cost £4500, much less than a Bonar type cast iron bridge Glasgow and Carlisle Road Bridges [Telford] 1822 Esk Bridge. Note the multi-span cast iron arches of the Bonar genre [formerly at the Metal Bridge Inn on what is now the A 74] Rennie’s Hawes Ferry Pier 1812 at South Queensferry No crossing of the Forth below Stirling until 1870s Forth Bridge under balanced cantilever construction in 1888 Forth Bridge – hydraulic riveting near cantilever top in 1888 Last meeting of Trustees of the Forth Bridges Visitor Centre Trust – 29/3/2012 Benjamin Baker’s anthropomorphic model of Forth Bridge 1887 Tay Bridge when opened in 1878. Engineer: Sir Thomas Bouch Tay Bridge destroyed in Force 10 gale 28/12/1879 Tay Bridge girder on its side with carriage on sand bank after disaster – January 1880 Tay Bridge as rebuilt by 1887 My first ICE/ASCE IHCEL plaquing 12 Septr 1987 1987 Dundee Floating Harbour 1825-34 and conversion of Telford’s Craig Ferry Harbour 1821 into Discovery Dock in 1993 ˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃˃ Linlathen East cast iron bridge c.1804 Scotland’s oldest iron Bridge? Linlathen Iron Bridge c.1804 being tested at 5kNm² loading © Ian Cowe Original drawing of Bell Rock Lighthouse operations 1810 © NLS Bell Rock Signal Tower Museum, Arbroath 1812-13 Coalbrookdale Bridge 1781 – span 100ft 6in, 6in greater than central arch of Blackfriars Bridge (London 1769). Made practicable by improved iron making. The world’s first large iron bridge - semi-circular elevation Bonar Bridge 1812 – 150ft span – Telford/Hazledine – First of an innovative iron genre achieving spans greater than could then be managed in stone Craigellachie Bridge 1814 carrying Danes in August 2012 Craigellachie Bridge IHCEL plaque 2007 Petroski & Paxton. Note plaque on free-standing masony pillar Tewkesbury Bridge 1823-26 Aberdeen Harbour – North Pier. Engineers: Smeaton 1780 – Telford/Gibb 1816 – Dyce Cay 1877 Aberdeen Harbour – North Pier 1816 Telford/ Gibb construction Use of Railways, special crane and Inclined courses Wellington Suspension Bridge, Aberdeen 1830-1 Span 215ft Capt S.Brown/J. Smith Carr Bridge 1717 in August 2012 Traditional construction of the kind used for the rest of the century in the Highlands Findhorn Viaduct [railway] 1897 132ft steel spans. 144ft high max. Engineer: Murdoch Paterson WICK BREAKWATER D.& T. Stevenson South-east fetch across North Sea c.670km Travellers & jennies at work in 1865. 1372t end removed by sea 1872; new 2642t end removed 1877. Abandoned Wick Breakwater remains in 2013 Wick Break- water. Notional 6-12m wave action in SE storms which caused its failure Dhu-Heartach Lighthouse 1869-72 Engineers: D. & T. Stevenson Rectangular Skerryvore hyperbolic Lighthouse curvature. 1839-42 – Light world-class. 150ft Another view above showing rail- High ways - Engineer Water. Alan Stevenson C of G 41ft above base Glenfinnan Viaduct under construction c.1896 - mass concrete PHEW centenary ‘Special’ in 1997 Loch-nan-Uamh Viaduct c1899 - mass concrete Horse & cart remains found by radar scanning in 2001 PHEW’s latest plaque unveiled Motala 7/2013 by Paul Jowitt Caledonian Canal south end [and Ben Nevis] - opened to Inverness in 1822 Caledonian Canal Muirtown Locks Photo c.1890 Caledonian Canal Muirtown Locks Photo c.1920 Caledonian Canal - Laggan Cutting Caledonian Canal Neptune’s Staircase Locks 40ft wide x 25ft deep Telford & Jessop 1804-22 White Bridge – A General Wade ‘Military’ bridge of 1732. Span 40ft. After emergency repairs to obviate collapse in 2011 Main Road A93 south of Braemar c.1950 * Cluanie Inn Rhibuie Road 1819 Sheil Sheil Bridge Bridge Glensheil Kintail Road GLEN SHEIL and GLENGARRY Highland Roads - 1821 Map Filming Drove Road documentary with TV personality Griff Rhys Jones in October 2011. From here on the Telford road of 1819 is flooded by the water of Loch Loyne. Note my sartorial elegance! Spade used to investigate road construction! Rhibuie Drove Road 1819 (Telford) - typical retaining wall – note batter Rhibuie Drove Road 1819 (Telford) in October 2011 Rhibuie Road 1819 (Telford) – exposed surface Rhibuie Road 1819 (Telford) about 2km from Cluanie Inn Shiel Bridge at 1719 battle site – Telford c.1817 – now bypassed and deteriorating From Telford’s 1821 Report – note 90ft tapered cattle slip Kyle Rhea Ferry in 1930s - original construction c.1820. Recently uplisted by Historic Scotland to Class B Skye Bridge 1995 crossing c.500m gap and Kyleakin Lighthouse 1857 Ben Nevis Observatory 1883-1904 [planned T. Stevenson 1874] Glencoe Road Improvement c. 1932 Highland Railway 150 years Perth to Inverness Dalguise Viaduct on completion in 1863 Mitchell/Fairbairn Lattice girder development of tubular bridges Dunkeld Bridge 1808 over River Tay Telford’s largest Highland bridge 7 arches – largest 90ft span – hollow spandrel construction – parapet on arc of great radius Dunkeld Bridge 1808 (Telford) – interior Perth Bridge, Smeaton, 1766-71 Central Scotland Canals 1768-2013 Smeaton, Mackell, Rennie, Baird, Telford Forth & Clyde Canal Regeneration - ICHELandmark Plaque Maryhill Locks Forth & Clyde Canal Edinburgh & Glasgow 1768-91 at Glasgow Union Canal – Avon Aqueduct 1821 12, 50ft spans 85ft high Taken over by E&GR in 1849 Kelvin Aqueduct In 1858 Campsie Branch of Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway routed through arch.