Forensic Engineering Copyrighted imageCredit: Dundee City Council

With the loss of all 75 lives on board the fateful passenger train, the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879 was not just a catastrophe, it was (and remains) the worst structural disaster in British history.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material within this site: St. Andrews University Valentine Collection; Dundee Central Library; BRB (Residuary) Limited; Dr David Jones, Cambridge University

Forensic Engineering: The Tay Bridge Disaster in more depth:

The Tay Bridge Disaster: Context Copyrighted imageCredit: Dundee Central Library

The Tay Bridge disaster was a product of its time - how did the race to build railways start a journey that would end in...  Read more : The Tay Bridge Disaster: Context

The Tay Bridge Disaster: Design of the bridge Copyrighted imageCredit: Dundee Central Library

About the design of the Tay Bridge, part of the BBC/OU's programme website for Forensic Engineering  Read more : The Tay Bridge Disaster: Design of the bridge

The Tay Bridge Disaster: Timeline Copyrighted imageCredit: St Andrew's Valentine Collection

Timeline of events related to the Tay Bridge disaster, part of the BBC/OU's programme website for Forensic Engineering  Read more : The Tay Bridge Disaster: Timeline

The Tay Bridge Disaster: The Board of Trade Inquiry Copyrighted imageCredit: North British Railway / National Archive Scotland

Details of the Board of Trade Inquiry into the Tay Bridge Disaster, part of the BBC/OU's programme website for Forensic Engineering  Read more : The Tay Bridge Disaster: The Board of Trade Inquiry

The Tay Bridge Disaster: Aftermath Copyrighted imageCredit: St Andrew's Valentine Collection

The aftermath of the Tay Bridge Disaster, part of the BBC/OU's programme website for Forensic Engineering.  Read more : The Tay Bridge Disaster: Aftermath

Tay Bridge Theories: Bill Dow Copyrighted imageCredit: Production team

Bill Dow gives his expert view on how The Tay Bridge came to collapse  Read more : Tay Bridge Theories: Bill Dow

Tay Bridge Theories: Peter Lewis Copyrighted imageCredit: Production team

Peter Lewis's theories about the Tay Bridge Disaster, part of the BBC/OU's programme website for Forensic Engineering  Read more : Tay Bridge Theories: Peter Lewis

Tay Bridge Theories: Tom Martin Copyrighted imageCredit: Production team

Tom Martin believes the Tay Bridge would have fallen, train or no train  Read more : Tay Bridge Theories: Tom Martin

Centre of gravity Featuring: Activity Copyrighted imageCredit: Production team

Why is centre of gravity important? And why might ignoring it cause problems?  Launch now: Centre of gravity

Trajectory explained Featuring: Activity Copyrighted imageCredit: photos.com

Why is trajectory important? And how can it play a role in discovering the cause of disaster?  Launch now: Trajectory explained