10 Unusual Facts You Didn’t Know About The Tay Bridge Disaster
8. A Man Crossed The Bridge In The Storm To Search For The Train
At 7:13pm the train had reached the signal cabin at the Wormit side of the bridge. After being given the all clear by the signalman it set off on its doomed crossing, disappearing into the dark of the storm. The signalman at the Dundee end of the bridge was expecting the train to have made the crossing by 7:19pm but this is a schedule it failed to keep.
News of the missing train soon reached Dundee’s engine sheds and despite the gail force winds, a locomotive foreman named James Roberts volunteered to cross the 88ft high bridge in order to investigate. Roberts was forced to crawl as he made his way across the bridge to avoid being blown off by the intensity of the winds.
However, he did not let the storm deter him and he struggled on in search of the train and its passengers. His crossing was cut short when he reached the centre section of the bridge and was greeted by a gaping hole in the tracks; the train’s fate becoming horrifically clear.