|
The Forth Bridge approach railways were railway lines constructed in the period 1887 to 1890 to form new main lines on the opening of the Forth Railway Bridge. The Forth Bridge opened in 1890 at the Queensferry crossing, and only local branch lines approached the location. The North British Railway built new main lines and upgraded some existing lines. The increase in passenger traffic resulted in serious congestion at Edinburgh Waverley, which was extended and modernised in the years following 1890. ==Background== In 1842 the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened its main line. It was an immediate success, showing that longer distance railways could be commercially viable. The easy availability of money in the following years resulted in a considerable number of Scottish railway schemes being promoted, and many were authorised in the 1845 Parliamentary session. Among them were railways aspiring to reach northwards from the central belt.〔John Thomas revised J S Paterson, ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 6, Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders'', David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1984, ISBN 0 946537 12 7〕 The Scottish Central Railway obtained authorisation to build from the Edinburgh and Glasgow line near Castlecary, to Perth by way of Stirling. The SCR opened in 1848, and in time connected with other railways north and east of Perth.〔Peter Marshall, ''The Scottish Central Railway: Perth to Stirling'', Oakwood Press, Usk, 1998, ISBN 0-8536-1522-5〕 The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was authorised on the same day in 1845 as the SCR; its line was to run from Burntisland, in Fife on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth, and to reach both Perth and Dundee by an inland route. In fact Dundee was to be reached by ferry, although even at this early date there was talk of a major bridge across the Tay. The line ended at Ferry-Port-on-Craig for a ferry to Broughty. At the Edinburgh end too, a ferry journey was involved, across the Firth of Forth. In fact passengers leaving the centre of Edinburgh for Dundee first took a train on the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway to Newhaven, and then a ferry to Burntisland, and the E&NR train to Ferry-Port-on-Craig. Their journey concluded with another ferry crossing, and then a final train journey on the Dundee and Arbroath Railway from Broughty Ferry to Dundee. At first the E&NR route, being considerably shorter, (and much quicker than the stage coach journey that was formerly the swiftest,) was considered the better route, but in time the inconvenience of the ferry crossings became a serious disadvantage. For goods and mineral traffic they were even worse, requiring the contents to be physically transshipped from goods wagon to ship and so on.〔John Thomas and David Turnock, ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 15, North of Scotland'', David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1989, ISBN 0 946537 03 8〕 The successor railway to the E&NR, the ''Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway'', installed train ferries for goods and mineral traffic: the wagons were transferred on to rails on the ferryboats, avoiding the transshipping, but this was still an imperfect arrangement. In time the multiplicity of Scottish railway companies coalesced: the Scottish Central Railway became part of the Caledonian Railway, and the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway became part of the North British Railway. Incidentally, Ferry-Port-on-Craig station became renamed Tay-Port, and later Tayport. The Caledonian Railway and the NBR became deadly rivals, each seeking to establish monopolistic primacy in areas they served, while at the same time seeking to penetrate the rival's territory. The Caledonian became dominant north of the Tay and in the central belt and to Carlisle, while the North British Railway had a near-monopoly in Fife, rich in mineral resources, and also from Edinburgh to Berwick where it connected with partner railways in England. The North British sought to extend northwards, and to create its own route beyond Dundee to Aberdeen, but the two ferry crossings, of the Forth and the Tay, were a major limitation in addition to the competitive tactics of the rival Caledonian Railway. Construction of bridges over both the bodies of water was long on the agenda for the NBR, but it was the Tay that was bridged first. The engineer Thomas Bouch designed and built the Tay Bridge, which opened in June 1878. This transformed the pattern of railway services in Fife, and new routes for passengers, especially residential and excursion journeys, and minerals, became heavily used. The NBR had been acquiring minor railway lines, and running powers on others, to further its aim of reaching Aberdeen by an independent route, and the Tay Bridge integrated with them.〔The NBR never achieved a completely independent route to Aberdeen, being reliant on running powers over the Caledonian Railway line from Kinnaber Junction (near Montrose) northwards, and on the joint Dundee and Arbroath Railway.〕 The Tay Bridge fell in December 1879, taking a train down with it; 75 persons perished in the Tay Bridge disaster. Beyond the human cost, there was a huge financial cost to the North British Railway, which at once set about commissioning a second bridge. It opened on 20 June 1887.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Forth Bridge approach railways」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|