Valentine's Post Card

The Forth Bridge

Opened 1890

Postcard by Valentine  -   The Forth Bridge  -  opened 1890

©  Copyright: For permission to reproduce, please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk

The Forth Bridge

The View

The number on this postcard suggests that the photograph was taken in 1890, the year that the Forth Bridge was opened.

However, this is one of the postcards in Valentine's Velvette Gravure series.  The postcard may not have been issued until around 1940.

The Statistics

This postcard, like many others, includes some impressive statistics about the bridge.  The statistics on this postcard include:

-  length = 1.5 miles

-  height =  361 feet (Some say 340feet)

-  rivets used = 6,500,000.  (Some say 7,500,000 or 8,000,000)

Deaths during the Construction

One statistic that is not mentioned on this postcard is the number of men who died during the building of the bridge.

The number has frequently been reported as being 57, but some recent research by local historians and genealogists at the Queensferry History Group suggests that the number was, in fact, closer to 80.

 

South Queensferry

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