The story of Forth Bridge

When it opened on 4 March 1890, the Forth Bridge had the longest single cantilever span in the world, a record it kept until 1919. This railway bridge crosses the Firth of Forth 9 miles west of central Edinburgh, carrying the Edinburgh–Aberdeen line between the villages of South Queensferry and North Queensferry over a total length of 2,467 metres. Designed by the English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, it was begun in 1882 and opened by the Duke of Rothesay, the future Edward VII. Before it, ferries carried travellers across.

In 1818 James Anderson proposed a suspension bridge so light that, as Wilhelm Westhofen put it, on a dull day it would hardly have been visible. Look up at its two spans of 1,709 feet: they are still the world's second-longest single cantilever spans.

Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in 2016 it was voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder.