IT was in this week of March in 1890 that one of the great symbols of Scotland, the Forth Bridge, was officially opened by the Duke of Rothesay, the then Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII. The Forth Bridge – it only became the Rail Bridge after the Road Bridge opened in 1964 – was recognised as one of the wonders of the world when it first started to carry trains. It is now an icon of Scotland, and a World Heritage Site as declared by Unesco.

Its gestation was long and not without trouble. For centuries people had wondered if the Firth of Forth could be bridged at the narrow point between North and South Queensferry, but in 1806 a plan emerged for the construction of a tunnel under the Firth. The next serious plan was for a suspension bridge in 1826, but that, too, went nowhere.

The arrival of the railways made the construction of a bridge much more of an imperative. The North British Railway (NBR) company had been established in 1844 and by the 1860s it had lines across much of central Scotland and to Perth and Dundee. The journey from Edinburgh to Fife and beyond involved disembarking at South Queensferry and crossing by ferry to the other side.

An English engineer called Thomas Bouch proposed bridges across both the Firths of Tay and Forth, and in 1870, NBR gained an Act of Parliament authorising the construction of the Tay bridge.

It was opened in 1877, by which time Bouch was already working on the Forth Bridge. Indeed, work had already stated on site when, on December 28, 1879, the Tay Bridge collapsed, killing all 75 people on board the train which was crossing at the time.

It became clear that Bouch’s poor design had been a major factor in the Tay Bridge disaster, so NBR sought a new builder and also shared the cost with the Midland, North Eastern and Great Northern Railways.

That agreement brought on board retained engineers such as Sir John Fowler, Benjamin Baker and WH Barlow, and in 1881, Bouch’s design was abandoned and the new engineers’ proposals were adopted. A three-span cantilever bridge and the use of steel instead of iron was proposed.

Sir William Arrol was the main builder of the bridge, then the world’s largest steel structure. Arrol was Scotland’s greatest expert on steel and iron construction, and was confident in his methods. At peak construction, there were more than 4000 men engaged in building the bridge, which began to take shape throughout the late 1880s.

By the time of its completion, 53,000 tonnes of steel secured by 6.5m rivets soared 360 feet or 110 metres above the Forth, the length of the bridge being 1.53 miles or 2467 metres.

Sadly, many men died during the construction of the bridge. At least 73 were killed, mostly by falling into the Firth, but it may have been more than 100, while many more hundreds sustained injury.

On January 21, 1890, two test trains crossed the bridge. Each was bulked up to weigh 1800 tonnes. The bridge passed the test with flying colours.

So to the opening on March 4, 1890. It is likely Queen Victoria herself would have performed the opening but by then she was 70 and suffering greatly from rheumatism so the job went to her son.

There were three royal princes in attendance on a dreich day. As well as Edward there was also his son, Prince George, and his brother Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The crowds strained to see them in the first carriage of the royal train, and the Edinburgh Evening News described the scene as follows: “The royal train took nearly 10 minutes to cross, so slowly did it proceed and little interest was manifested in it by the few people immediately below, the greater portion of the crowd having rushed to the station when the first train (carrying local and railway dignitaries) passed.

“After 20 minutes had elapsed it reappeared again at the North Queensferry Station, and the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, who occupied the first carriage immediately behind the engine, being recognised were greeted with a ringing cheer from a large crowd.”

There was precious little ceremony, apart from the fitting of a commemorative golden rivet, but the crowd loved the occasion and in those temperance-aware times, the paper was not impressed with the fact that more than a few people had imbibed a celebratory drink.

It reported: “After the prince and party recrossed the bridge, the weather became rather inclement, the ingoing conveyances were crowded, and by three o’clock the great bulk of the people had left for home. Inebriates made their presence known in the thinned crowd.”

Tsk, tsk. Still, it was a suitably royal occasion to hansel the great bridge, and of course, Edward’s descendant Queen Elizabeth has performed the opening ceremony on the other two bridges that cross the Forth between North and South Queensferry.