The workers that had begun building the Forth Railway Bridge, nine miles west of Edinburgh, in 1882 were haunted by the tragic events of a few years earlier. On a winter night in 1879, a storm whipped up the waters of the Firth of Tay. Freezing rain lashed down on the new railway bridge that spanned it, while hurricane-force winds buffeted the iron sides that stretched out into the darkness.
Out in the distance, a light was seen. Through the roar of the wind, the determined grunting of a steam engine grew louder, making its way towards the bridge. As it trundled across, its red tail light vanished. A witness in the signalling house couldn't believe his eyes. Then the grim reality dawned on him. The iron supports had crumpled, pitching the locomotive into the water. No one survived.
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