The Forth Bridge/Transport and Distribution of Material
Transport and Distribution of Material.
The supply, the transport, and the distribution of the materials necessary for the building of foundations and piers containing some 140,000 yards of masonry and also of some 55,000 tons of steel, and a more than equal amount of temporary appliances, was no mean task, and required the exercise of much energy and skill as well as tact and patience, for the work was equally pressing on all points, and no one liked to be left behind in that great race for supremacy.
Of the building materials, granite, Arbroath rubble, and sand were brought by water, and could, therefore, be unloaded at the various centres where required; so also could rafts of timber in baulks and planks or battens in barges, and in some instances cargoes of coal or coke, but all the other material had to come down the incline, and for these the jetty at Queensferry was the main centre of collecting and storing, as well as of distributing to the other jetties.
The steel for erection, after it had passed through the shops and had received a coating of boiled oil, and its distinguishing markings both in typing and stencilling, was passed down the incline on trollies and charged into steam barges for general distribution.
For the service of carrying materials were provided, four steam launches for the light work, and eight large steam barges, with a number of ordinary barges or lighters, which were towed by one of the launches or barges.
For the general service of conveying the workmen from or to, or between, the different main centres, a paddle steamer was hired for some time, which was afterwards replaced by one specially built for these works, and capable of carrying 450 men at a time. The steam barges, which were decked over, and the steam launches, were also used for the same purpose, as well as for the service of the engineers and other officials belonging to the staff. A large number of ordinary rowing boats were also kept in use, one of them, manned by two expert watermen, being attached to each cantilever for the purpose of saving life, should any man be unfortunate enough to fall from the erection. As a matter of fact these boats saved at least eight lives, and they saved fully 8000 caps and other garments which the wind had blown off the bridge.
Soon after the works had got into full swing it was seen that the accommodation at South Queensferry and North Queensferry and the adjoining villages, was totally inadequate for the number of workmen employed, and arrangements were made with the North British Railway Company to run trains between the works on the south side and Edinburgh, and between the north side and Inverkeithing and Dunfermline. These were all special workmen's trains and were run at merely nominal fares, the price for an Edinburgh weekly ticket being 2s., or 2d. for a run of over 13 miles. The Dunfermline tickets were about half that amount.
Two trains were run in the morning, closely following one another, and two trains at night, each train bringing a number of men going on their shift, and taking back those who had worked their shift. Some time later the train service was extended as far as Leith. It is worthy of remark that the men living at Leith, and there were several hundreds, had to leave their homes at 4 a.m., in order to be at their work at 6, and they would not on their return in the evening, reach home again before 7 o'clock, yet they preferred this to the other alternative of living in the overcrowded rookeries of the neighbourhood.
In the summer time a steamboat service was also arranged between the South Queensferry Jetty and Leith, viâ the Firth of Forth, calling both ways on Inchgarvie, and so long as the weather was favourable, this was a most enjoyable, and certainly healthy trip for the tired workmen.
On wet and stormy days, when the men had to leave work owing to the weather, these trains were often telegraphed for, to enable them to return to their homes, instead of keeping them till nightfall and leaving them to the tender mercies of the public-houses, of which there were in this place, as in many others, far too many.
As it was not possible to so arrange that the workmen living on the south side or north side of the Firth respectively, should be working on the same side, and as the Inchgarvie men also belonged to both sides, it required quite a fleet of steamboats and barges to convey the men to the points whence their trains started, the more so as this had to be done within a very short time after work had ceased. In bad weather, or during fogs, and on dark mornings and nights the transport of many hundreds of men—some nine hundred working on Inchgarvie alone at one time—was a subject of unceasing care and anxiety to those in charge, for in addition to the dangers provided by the elements, there was always a number of unruly and reckless men whose conduct brought mishap and injury on others as often as on themselves.