Tay Rail Bridge, Dundee - Ref: WC1659
Photograph from Alexander Wilson Collection.
On Sunday 28 December 1879 the 5.27 train left Burntisland for Dundee. Just after 7pm the train reached the bridge at the height of a violent storm and a few minutes later all passengers were at the bottom of the river. Approximately 75 passengers were on the train but only 46 bodies were found.
W H Barlow who had been a member of the Court of Inquiry designed a new bridge. Many of the girders from the old bridge were found to be sound and reused in the construction of the new bridge. The old piers were demolished and their remains can still be seen today.
Alexander Wilson who took this photograph, was a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923.