It took 600 men six years to build & was one of the longest bridges in the world On its completion in 1878 famous visitors including the Emperor of Brazil Prince Leopold of the Belgians & Queen Victoria herself came to pay homage to this marvel of Victorian engineering Then on the night of 28 December 1879 the unthinkable happened Battered by an apocalyptic storm the thirteen 'high girders' of the rail bridge over the Tay estuary fell headlong into the river below carrying with them a train with all its passengers & crew There were no survivors What caused the fall of the Tay Bridge & who was really to blame? Returning to the subject since the first edition of The Fall of the Tay Bridge in 1994 David Swinfen has meticulously analysed new evidence & now presents a solution to the riddle which has perplexed historians & engineers for generations what really brought the bridge down?