10 Unusual Facts You Didn’t Know About The Tay Bridge Disaster

10. The Bridge Was The Longest In The World When The Disaster Happened

The Bridge spanned two miles across the firth of Tay, making it the longest bridge in the world at the time of its construction. 85 tall support columns held a single railway line high above the Tay meaning that only one train was able to cross the bridge at a time. To avoid collisions on the bridge, signal men were stationed at each end who would pass batons to the engine drivers. Only when the signal man at the other end of the bridge signalled to say that he had received the trains baton was another train able to make the crossing.

Today the title of the worlds longest bridge belongs to the Danyang-Kushan bridge in China, which is part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and stretches a staggering one hundred and two miles (165km). Thankfully due to advancements in railway traffic signals, there is no need to wait while batons are passed back and forth along this one hundred and two mile stretch of track.