125 years of steel bridges in Britain (part 1)

摘要

On completion of the Forth Rail Bridge in 1890, steel rapidly replaced wrought iron as a material for bridge construction in Britain. Until then, the Board of Trade had restricted steel bridges. In this two-part article based on the James Sutherland History Lecture 2015, Alan Hayward traces the development of bridge types, construction methods, steel strengths and design practices. Part 1 covers the period from around 1890 to 1970. Part 2 will describe steel bridges from the 1970s using Alan's own experience and include movable, suspension and cable-stayed bridges. I am honoured as a non-historian to follow the distinguished engineers who have given this lecture in the past. In 1957 I was apprenticed as a student civil engineer to British Railways (BR), studying part-time as one of the last to take the ONC/HNC route to qualification. After working for Dorman Long and Cleveland Bridge, I joined Mott, Hay and Anderson and designed bridges under David Smith and Tony Gee. In 1979 I became Chief Engineer with Fairfield Mabey, constructing a series of successful alternative steel bridges. I co-founded Cass Hayward Consulting Engineers in 1983 to design and prepare erection schemes for bridges and roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro) facilities, with involvement in code drafting, including BS5400 and the Eurocodes.