A bridge too far?
OVER the past year, some more mature readers have been trawling through their photographic archives to help mitigate Covid-19 lockdown blues. Among them has been Heritage Railway contributor Hugh Dougherty.
Hugh came across a long-forgotten slide of himself, aged 21, taken on Saturday, May 6, 1972, sitting rather dangerously on the track in the middle of the Tay Bridge.
“It was all legal and above board,” explained Hugh. “As a member of the Glasgow University Railway Society (GURS), I was on a society organised walk over the Tay Bridge.
“We'd previously enjoyed a walk over the Forth Bridge, so a letter from our secretary to the old Public Relations and Publicity Department of BR's Scottish Region secured permission for a GURS walk across the Tay Bridge.”
The GURS party met the bridge officer at Dundee station. As was then the norm, there was not a scrap of personal protective equipment in sight. The students set off along the side of the track in single file, the guide taking ghoulish delight in showing the lads the stumps of the original Tay Bridge.
“We had to really squeeze against the side of the girders as trains whistled past us,” recalled Hugh. “Incredibly, our guide suggested that we might all like to have photographs taken sitting on the track – hence this pose, complete with safari jacket and psychedelic tie! We all survived what would be a bridge too far in terms of today's risk-aware safety regime. We went home to Glasgow the long way round, via Edinburgh, to get the maximum value out of our tickets.”
For the record, Hugh did pass his 30 hours of exams in history and economic history and duly graduated, despite dicing with death on the high girders above the Tay.
As for the rest of the GURS bridge walkers, Hugh said: “Some of us have kept in touch over the decades. We've all become old and boring, but have never forgotten having a sit-down in the middle of the Tay Bridge on that fine, Saturday in May, now nearly half-a-century ago.”
He concluded: “If you've not already done so, it's time to dig into your own archives –you never know what might turn up!”