# Canonical recap data for Tay Bridge Disaster (1879)
# Source: https://recap.at/1879/tay-bridge-disaster
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: tay-bridge-disaster
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1879/tay-bridge-disaster"
title: Tay Bridge Disaster
subtitle: Structural collapse of Scotland's newly completed railway bridge, killing 75 and exposing deficiencies in Victorian engineering standards.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1879-12-28
datePrecision: day
year: 1879
decade: 1870
country:
name: United Kingdom
slug: united-kingdom
summaryShort: The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent European windstorm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway (NBR) passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line travelling from Burntisland to Dundee passed over it, killing all aboard. The bridge, designed by S
summaryLong: The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent European windstorm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway (NBR) passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line travelling from Burntisland to Dundee passed over it, killing all aboard. The bridge, designed by Sir Thomas Bouch, used lattice girders supported by iron piers, with cast iron columns and wrought iron cross-bracing. The piers were narrower and their cross-bracing was less extensive and robust than on previous similar designs by Bouch.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Catastrophe_du_pont_sur_le_Tay_-_1879_-_Illustration.jpg/1280px-Catastrophe_du_pont_sur_le_Tay_-_1879_-_Illustration.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Tay Bridge disaster"
importance: 68
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster"
  title: Tay Bridge disaster
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent European windstorm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Rai
wikidataQid: Q1287158
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260703210332/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster"
  capturedAt: 2026-07-03
  label: Tay Bridge disaster
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster"
