'Detail of the top member'

"Photograph of a detail of the top member. Detail of the whole length between verticals including junctions. It would be interesting to know the number of visitors who have passed through the works and, being brought face to face with the subject of this picture, failed to recognise in it one of the connecting links at the apex of each cantilever. These members being built at the angle they were finally destined to assume, as well as upside down, it is not surprising that they proved somewhat bewildering to the uninitiated. By reference to No 1 the position of this member is easily seen - on the tops of vertical columns of Fife Pier. These members were built in pairs, and invariably erected in the yard prior to permanent fixing. They have a depth of 12 feet. The foreground of the picture presents a wilderness of steel plates and diaphragms stacked and ready for use." Transcription from: Philip Phillips, 'The Forth Railway Bridge', Edinburgh, 1890.

[Shelfmark RB.l.229 - Image 12 of 40]