Tay Bridge memorial unveiled

A permanent memorial to the 59 victims of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster was unveiled yesterday, 134 years after the tragedy.

Six granite stones, three on either side of the river, now stand facing out towards where the bridge used to be, bearing the names of those known to have died on Sunday, December 1987.

The memorial reads: “On the day a storm had been raging on Tayside for several hours at about a quarter past seven in the evening a passenger train of the North British Railway Line, travelling from Burntisland to Dundee was crossing the newly built and much acclaimed Tay Rail Bridge.

“Suddenly, the thirteen central spans of the bridge known popularly as the high girders started to come apart. They tumbled into the Tay carrying the train and all on board with them.

“There were no survivors.”