HISTORY OF NEWPORT AND THE PARISH OF FORGAN ; AND RAMBLES ROUND THE DISTRICT, by J. S. Neish, 1890
PART XII. NEWPORT WATER SUPPLY - FALL OF THE TAY BRIDGE
While the Tay Bridge Railway promised to be a great boon to Dundee and the public generally, it had a very special interest for the inhabitants of Forgan and Newport. For the first time since the introduction of railways was the district brought into direct connection with the system of communication which covers the country like a network from 'Land's End to John o'Groats'. A new line was opened up from the Bridge at Wormit to Leuchars, passing in a south-easterly direction through the parish of Forgan, with a station at St. Fort, while a branch was carried eastward along the high banks of the Tay, passing Newport and joining the North British line at Tayport. East and West Newport were provided with separate stations on this branch, and thus the village and the rural districts of the parish were for the first time placed on the great railway system. A new mode of access to Dundee and the south was thus opened up to the inhabitants of the village, and it also provided them with a route by means of which an abundant supply of pure water could be provided from the Lintrathen supply introduced into Dundee a few years previously.
The rapid increase in the population of Newport called the attention of the Forgan Parochial Board to the necessity of providing a supply of water for the inhabitants. The wells which had been sunk by the proprietors on their various properties, though providing a supply sufficient for domestic purposes, were nevertheless inadequate to meet the sanitary requirements of a rapidly-growing community. A system of drainage required to be carried out, if the public health was to be preserved, and the water from private wells could not be utilised for flushing purposes. But, what was of far greater importance to the health of the community, the water in many of the private wells was found to be impregnated with impure matter to an extent which rendered it highly dangerous to the health of those who used it. About the year 1875 the Board began to consider the question of a water supply. Two schemes were proposed; the first was to procure a supply from some source in the immediate vicinity, and the second to get a supply from Dundee via the Tay Bridge. It was believed that sufficient water could be collected on the high ground of Wormit and St Fort to meet the wants of the village, and accordingly Mr. Sang, civil engineer, Kirkcaldy, was instructed to survey the ground and prepare a report, showing how the water could be collected, and what the probable cost of the works would amount to. Mr. Sang's report was laid before the Board at a meeting in July, 1876, along with a comparative estimate of the cost of bringing the Lintrathen water to Newport. Mr. Sang's plan was to gather water by means of 'ditches' at Wormit and St. Fort hills, and which he proposed to store in two reservoirs. The first of these reservoirs was to be placed to the westward of Park Knowe School, and the second to the south of Waterston's Crook, their united capacity being estimated at 35,500,000 gallons. It was calculated that the quantity of water that would be collected daily would be somewhere about 185,000 gallons, which would be amply sufficient to meet the wants of the population. The cost of this scheme was estimated at £25,000. On the other hand, the estimated cost of bringing a supply from Dundee via the Tay Bridge was about £7000. After examining both reports, the Board agreed to delay further consideration of either scheme in the meantime. The subject was thus shelved for a time, but it was again forced on the Board, and their movements quickened by a letter from the Board of Supervision, recommending the Local Authority to take some steps to provide a supply of water and a proper system of drainage for the village of Newport. The question could not be shirked any longer, and negotiations were at once entered into with the Dundee Water Commissioners and the North British Railway with the view of carrying out the Tay Bridge scheme. The scheme was favourably entertained by the Dundee Water Commissioners. A report was prepared on the subject by Mr. J. Watson, engineer to the Dundee Water Commission, which proposed to carry a pipe from the Hawkhill main to the north end of the Tay Bridge, where water would be delivered at the meter rate of 4d. per 1000 gallons, the Forgan Local Authority to lay the pipe over the Tay Bridge and construct all other necessary works. This report, which was laid before the Dundee Board on May, 1877, was not adopted, and Mr. Watson was instructed to prepare another report. The following conditions were ultimately agreed to by both Boards :- 1st, That the Dundee Water Commissioners should lay down a six-inch pipe across the river by the Tay Bridge, and erect a reservoir at an elevation of 250 feet on Wormit Hill, all to be their property, the Local Authority of Newport to pay the Commissioners at the rate of 5.75 per cent, on the cost of the construction of the works from the north end of the Tay Bridge to Wormit, including the service reservoir on Wormit Hill ; 2nd, The Newport Local Authority to pay 6d. per 1000 gallons for the water measured at the Newport outlet of the service reservoir ; 3rd, The Newport Local Authority to lay down and maintain the leading main from the service reservoir, and all other mains, service mains, and other works necessary for the supply of Newport.
We have said that a letter from the Board of Supervision quickened the action of the Forgan Parochial Board in regard to the water supply, but another circumstance, which we must pause to relate, had also a stimulating influence on the minds of the officials. Singularly enough, the Board, at their meeting on 3rd July, 1876, dismissed the water question for further consideration at some indefinite period in the future, and threw the onus on the shoulders of the ratepayers. Towards the end of the same month, on 26th July, a fire occurred in a shop in the village, which, owing to the scarcity of water, could not be extinguished till it had entirely destroyed the building and a large amount of valuable property. The fire originated in the shop of Mr. Dow, painter, which was situated in the centre of a terrace of two-storey buildings on the road leading through the lower part of the village. The ground floors of the range of buildings were occupied as shops, and the upper flats as dwelling-houses; the block, raised a little above the level of the roadway, formed a very attractive object when viewed from the river. About twelve o'clock noon some inflammable substance got ignited in the painter's shop, and in a few minutes the whole premises were enveloped in flames. A panic seized the inhabitants of the adjoining shops and houses, and a scene of indescribable confusion followed. There was no fire-engine in the village, and but a very inadequate supply of water in the neighbourhood of the conflagration. The fire in consequence spread rapidly, and in a short time it reached the flat above the shop, and at one time threatened to envelop the whole range of buildings in its devouring embrace. Building was at that time going on very extensively in the neighbourhood, and the workmen employed at the various houses in course of erection hastened to the scene of the conflagration and exerted themselves bravely to subdue the flames. But the want of water, and other appliances to cope with the fire, rendered their efforts almost futile. Buckets were procured, and water, obtained from a spring well at the Gas-work opposite, was poured on the burning house. Gangs of men formed themselves in lines from the well to the seat of the fire, and passed the buckets of water along with great celerity; but though they exerted themselves to the utmost, they were unable to check the progress of the fire.
A message was despatched to Dundee, and by one o'clock about twenty men of the Dundee Fire Brigade, under Captain Ramsay, with lengths of hose and a hand pumping engine, arrived with the Ferry steamer. The fire-engine was stationed on the beach, and water from the river was pumped on the burning building, and by four o'clock in the afternoon the fire was completely subdued. The building in which the fire originated was completely destroyed. The flats above Mr. Dow's shop were occupied by Mr. Robert Macgregor, draper, and Mr. Richardson, tailor, and the greater part of their household effects were utterly destroyed. Mr. Macgregor and his family were from home at the time. The neighbouring shopkeepers and residenters also suffered considerable loss owing to their furniture and stock-in-trade having been hastily removed from the houses and shops, and thrown promiscuously on the street. The total amount of damage caused by the conflagration was estimated at £4000.
Contrary to general expectation, the accident of February, 1876, did not materially retard the completion of the Tay Bridge. The two girders blown down by the force of the gale on that stormy night were fished up from the bed of the river again, and with the advance of spring and summer the works were pushed on with great rapidity. The bridge was completed in the autumn of the following year, and the first train was run across the viaduct on 23rd September, 1877. Six months afterwards the bridge was opened for traffic, the interval having been required for the erection of a station at Dundee, and the completion of the branch lines connecting the bridge line with the North British line at Leuchars, and the Dundee and Arbroath Railway at the Camperdown Dock at the east side of the Harbour of Dundee. The traffic by the Tay Bridge line continued to increase month after month, and the undertaking gave abundant promise of turning out a great financial success. Thousands came from all quarters to see the bridge, which was acknowledged to be one of the greatest triumphs of engineering skill the world had ever witnessed. The Emperor of Brazil, General Grant, ex-President of the United States, and Prince Leopold visited Dundee in the summer of 1877, the object of their visit being solely to see the great bridge. To crown all, Her Majesty Queen Victoria crossed the bridge in the Royal train on her journey south from Balmoral on 20th June, 1879. Shortly after Her Majesty performed this memorable journey she conferred the honour of knighthood on Mr. Bouch, the engineer, in acknowledgment of his great achievement.
The opening of the Newport Railway, and the completion of the water scheme, were two great events in the history of the village. The first followed close on the opening of the Tay Bridge, and the Lintrathen water was flowing through the village by 11th November, 1879. In little more than a month after this event the water was suddenly and unexpectedly cut off by the fall of the Tay Bridge.
For eighteen months trains were run over the bridge night and day without the occurrence of a single accident, and the confidence of the public in the stability of the structure was fully established. Its capability to bear an enormous weight had been put to the severest test by the Board of Trade Inspector, and the engineers were confident that it was capable of resisting any strain that, could be applied to it. Great was the consternation, therefore, which filled all hearts when the proud structure, by a blast of December wind, was hurled into the bed of the river without a moment's warning, involving a railway train and its freight of human beings in its destruction. Sunday, 28th December, 1879, will long be remembered in the annals of Dundee and Newport. All that day the wind blew strongly from the south-west, accompanied with occasional showers of rain. As the day advanced the gale increased in fury, and when night set in it blew a perfect hurricane. The waves in the river were running mountains high, and dashing on the piers and along the shore with a noise like thunder. The Ferry steamers continued to ply as usual, but the passage was only made with great difficulty. The angry waves dashed in tempestuous fury around the piers of the bridge, but proud and majestically it reared its head above the seething waters, and seemed to defy the elements to do their worst. But its hour was come - the Storm Fiend was shrieking on the blast and claiming the proud structure for its prey. The usual Sunday trains were run across the bridge in spite of the storm, no one ever dreaming for a moment that danger was near at hand. About four o'clock in the afternoon a train from Dundee passed over the bridge, and again at six o'clock another train made the passage in safety. This was the last train that ever crossed that fatal roadway. It was purely a local train, starting from Tayport at 5.50, stopping at East and West Newport to take up passengers, and reaching Dundee at 6.15. By this train passengers from Newport were enabled to come to Dundee and attend evening service, whence they could return home either by steamer or train as they might select Though the storm was raging with terrific fury, nothing unusual was experienced by the officials or passengers who travelled by the Newport train. But the hurricane was still increasing in fury. The night was not dark; the moon at her full was shining bright and clear, only obscured at intervals as the driving clouds shot across her path. The mail train which left Edinburgh at 4.15 p.m. for Dundee passed through Fife taking up passengers at the various stations and junctions along the route, and reached St. Fort about seven o'clock in the evening. After a halt of a few minutes, during which the tickets were collected and some passengers added to the number, the train started on its fatal journey. In a few minutes the bridge was reached. The signalman stationed in the cabin at the south end of the bridge handed the baton to the engine-driver. Some fears were entertained regarding the storm, but none of the officials had power to delay the train, and so the engine and carriages swept past on to the treacherous bridge, and entered among the high girders, and that was the last that was seen of the ill-fated train. A dark cloud obscured the moon; a wild gust tore down the valley of the Tay; flashes of fire were seen blazing from the bridge, and suddenly the lights of the train disappeared. When the 'Queen of Night' emerged from behind the storm cloud, the eyes of those who witnessed the occurrence were strained towards the bridge. To their horror and consternation a great gap yawned in the centre of the structure, and the train, a moment before speeding on its way, was now nowhere to be seen. The bridge had fallen, and the engine and a train of six carriages, and between seventy and eighty human beings, had sunk beneath the raging waves.
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