4th place in "Trains, sort of..." challenge

[Stupot99]

As a very amateur photographer, I was pleased to get a 4th place with this photo


Forth Rail Bridge @ dawn

GM5, Oly 9-18mm

 

[Corkcampbell]

Thanks for the reply, but I disagree a bit. Metal fatigue was a science at that time. DeHavilland just didn't pay attention to it. Perhaps that's why we don't fly on British-built airliners now. The builders of the Boeing 707, already being developed, toured the Comet factory and noted the lack of metal fatigue analysis and noted that there was no assembly line and that the airliners were being "cobbled" together with tools out of the 1930s. I've read a couple of books on the building of the 707 and 747 during the last year or so (including Joe Sutter's book), and they are in boxes because of a move, so I don't remember which one described that; I apologize for lack of reference.

 

[dinoSnake]

Nice photo, but isn't that the bridge (or predecessor) that collapsed, revealing lack of testing and research, much like the Comet debacle much later, that proved lack of that country's engineering ability?

I, very initially, thought the same thing. But no, the bridge that collapsed was the Tay Bridge and was replaced by the Tay Rail Bridge just meters up the waterway. The Tay Bridge disaster, along with the Vajont Dam disaster, are some of the most interesting tales of, well, gross human incompetence. Mulholland's St. Francis Dam is an excellent tale of well intentioned hubris (is there really such a thing?) gone awry.

 

[dinoSnake]

Thanks for the reply, but I disagree a bit. Metal fatigue was a science at that time. DeHavilland just didn't pay attention to it. Perhaps that's why we don't fly on British-built airliners now. The builders of the Boeing 707, already being developed, toured the Comet factory and noted the lack of metal fatigue analysis and noted that there was no assembly line and that the airliners were being "cobbled" together with tools out of the 1930s. I've read a couple of books on the building of the 707 and 747 during the last year or so (including Joe Sutter's book), and they are in boxes because of a move, so I don't remember which one described that; I apologize for lack of reference.

Metal fatigue was a developing science when the Comet project was started (1945) but the science of metal fatigue on a pressurized aircraft was new, as there were few pressurized aircraft in existence, never mind one that traveled at such speeds. The water tank tests that the Comet went through, after the crashes, were historic in their application.

 

[Stupot99]

Nice photo, but isn't that the bridge (or predecessor) that collapsed, revealing lack of testing and research, much like the Comet debacle much later, that proved lack of that country's engineering ability?

 

[Stupot99]

Good shot. Thanks for posting.

I think the bridge can do with a lick of paint, or don't they paint it anymore?

Peter in Canada.

It was stripped and repainted in 2011. It is claimed that it will not need repainting for 25 years.