0:00:18 > 0:00:21Fred Dibnah and his steersman, Alf Molyneux,
0:00:21 > 0:00:26have now reached the Scottish Borders on their epic steam-powered tour
0:00:26 > 0:00:28to discover Britain's industrial past.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32They're on their way from West Cumbria
0:00:32 > 0:00:34to Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39We're now in Scotland and we're heading for a foundry
0:00:39 > 0:00:42to find out more about the casting process and foundry-men.
0:00:44 > 0:00:51Castings are a very important part of a traction engine, the cylinder block, the cylinder end covers
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and, of course, the pistons are all made from cast iron.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Like, even the hub caps over the wheels are made from cast iron.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03The business at the front where the steering gear is, is made from cast iron.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10The running repairs they made in Cumbria appear to have been a success
0:01:10 > 0:01:12and the engine is now running well, which is a good thing
0:01:12 > 0:01:16as they've still got more than 50 miles to go today.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23You know, there's some quite long journeys involved in it that'll be pretty uneventful
0:01:23 > 0:01:27really other than waving to people as they pass by, like.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32And then there's always the unplanned for, you know, things that happen.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Like, you get invited in to people's houses and things like that,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38which can be quite dangerous.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42You end up pouring whisky down your throat and all that sort of thing.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44Happened to me before that, you know.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49"Oh, just bring it round to our house so we can take a picture of it in front of the house!"
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Ended up at a party, you know. Weddings, we've done weddings, you know.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Can go up to ten miles, you won't fall off the engine.
0:01:56 > 0:02:03Or get arrested by one of them funny men in the blue suits. Yes, one of them masons.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13I think Glasgow was the second city of the Empire. Yeah.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Glasgow was one massive foundry, there's foundries everywhere.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Best engineers in t'world come from round here, didn't they?
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Yeah. Yeah.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27This is our petition for our mine.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Yeah? I'll sign that.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Thank you very much.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34My father was a miner - Machrihanish.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40I did a talk, but everybody were that pissed nobody understood what I were talking about.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48With the engine's belly-tank full up with water, they're ready for the road again.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59HORN BLARES
0:03:10 > 0:03:12We're now in Falkirk, which, of course,
0:03:12 > 0:03:17was the place where the industrial revolution in Scotland all started.
0:03:17 > 0:03:24And here, a great iron foundry called the Carron Ironworks that were opened in 1760.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28After 30 years, he'd employed a thousand men
0:03:28 > 0:03:33and became the biggest iron-smelting plant in the whole of Europe.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38It was here that James Watts' first castings for his earliest engines were manufactured.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Although there's not much of it left now,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46this area was the cradle of the steam revolution
0:03:46 > 0:03:48where Watt built some of the first steam engines.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53And Watt wasn't the only pioneering engineer working in these parts.
0:03:53 > 0:04:00This boat behind me is a three-quarter size, um, copy
0:04:00 > 0:04:04of the world's first steam-powered vessel.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08You know, and it were designed by an engineer called William Symington.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10It's called the Charlotte Dundas.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16And the engine for it was built at the Carron Ironworks where Symington was the chief engineer.
0:04:16 > 0:04:22And it were actually designed to pull barges on a canal, which it did quite successfully.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26The horizontal engine in it were far in front of its time.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30In 1803, it pulled two barges laden with 70 tonnes
0:04:30 > 0:04:35along a 20-mile stretch of the Forth and Clyde Canal.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37At three and a half miles an hour, you know,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40which is faster than what we're doing with the traction engine.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46Hmm. Built by the McKenzie Ship and Boatyard, eh?
0:04:46 > 0:04:51The canal owners were very concerned about the wash from the engine and the paddles,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55and it never really went into service.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58What a shame, you know, it's so long ago, 1803.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01He fell in the canal and drowned, did you know?
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Here, where the Charlotte Dundas is moored on the canal,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21there's a modern wonder of engineering,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23you know, the Falkirk Wheel.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25The world's one and only revolving boat lift.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27And it's so simple, you know.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Makes you wonder why nobody ever thought of it before.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43It was officially opened by the Queen in 2002.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46And it did away with eleven locks
0:05:46 > 0:05:51that covered a height of 115ft from the top canal to this canal down here.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55At each revolution, it moves 600 tonnes of water
0:05:55 > 0:05:59and the machinery involved are ten hydraulic motors,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02and they're unbelievably efficient, you know.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07They say that there's the same amount of energy used each revolution
0:06:07 > 0:06:10as there is in boiling two kettles of water.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16I'd better go and relieve my mate, Alf, now who's been faithfully looking after the engine.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19I'm off for a cheese buttie.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Pull in, Fred, now.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Pull in a bit. We're, um, we're just trying to harden.
0:06:37 > 0:06:45There's a big hill, what, if we were on the level we'd be OK with the water level in the boiler
0:06:45 > 0:06:49as it is, but we've got to go down this hill, which could uncover the crown of the firebox,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52melting the fusible plug,
0:06:52 > 0:06:57which means we could be here all night instead of having a pint in about half an hour, you know.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03Well, that's where we're going to, where that flame is burning on the horizon.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07It's that operation we did up in Cumbria on it
0:07:07 > 0:07:11when we planed that five-sixteenths off the edge of the steam port.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Made a hell of a difference.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19So they need to find some water - quickly.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Right at the last minute, help is at hand.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45And there's nothing like getting it straight from the men from the Water Board.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Oh, aye. It'll be coming out of the funnels? I think I need a drink.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Thanks very much, chaps.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10An engine like this is a rare sight around here, but in the early 1900s
0:08:10 > 0:08:14there were tens of thousands of them steaming around Britain's roads.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35They've had a good long run today,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38so how's Fred feeling about the performance of the engine now?
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Well, it's getting better, it's running now.
0:08:42 > 0:08:49We've had some good spells of maybe 14 miles an hour and speeds like that.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51If you keep 200lb on the clock.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54And it seems to accelerate up hills now,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58which it wouldn't do, would it? When we were in Cumbria, you know.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02There's nothing dropped off it, you know, that's the main thing.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08We'll wrap it up and go for a pint, I think, usual style.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17But a traction engine's not like a car
0:09:17 > 0:09:20and before they can go to the pub at the end of the day
0:09:20 > 0:09:22there's always plenty of work to do.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Tonight, there's a few nuts that need tightening.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28I'll wind it back so it's in a better position.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31Wait a minute.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Staying at railway workshops, is a very handy place to break down at, you know.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43We're not really broke down, I mean.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47We could've tightened them up, but they'd have just come loose again.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51While we're at it, we might as well do it properly, and um...
0:09:51 > 0:09:59It's just my luck to drop this nut now down onto the top of the red-hot firebox.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Right, now then, a big spanner...
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Sorting out the coal and water is Alf's department.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15That's still a bit tight.
0:10:23 > 0:10:29Yeah, if we can find a washer of a suitable thickness we're on, really.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Now we need...Alex and his washer department.
0:10:38 > 0:10:44You know, if we can find a washer of the right thickness, of which there's a half a bucketful just arrived.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Ah... Ah, that looks the part maybe, right.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53We'll leave it at that.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Will you tighten that up against...? Cos the two are close together.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01They can't go any further, can they, because of the split pins? No.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06I'm ready for finishing now.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13But...um, he's got to do his repairs.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15We're preparing for tomorrow, basically.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20We've got a bit of coal, we want quite a bit more yet.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23We've some polishing to do.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28And, um, sheet it up and then it starts again tomorrow.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29It's nice and bright.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33We'll light the fire and muck it all up again,
0:11:33 > 0:11:38and then back to square one when we've finished running.
0:11:38 > 0:11:46Are you enjoying it? Yeah, yeah, I am. Yeah, we've met some cracking people up here, haven't we?
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Anyway, I'll have to get on with my work. Yeah.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Did it come loose?
0:11:52 > 0:11:54ENGINE PEEPS Oh!
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Make myself deaf, I don't know.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03This is the foundry we've been heading for.
0:12:03 > 0:12:10The Ballantine and Bo'ness Iron Company and it's been here since 1820 and employs over 100 people.
0:12:10 > 0:12:16This is it. Here they cast everything from pillar boxes to lamp standards
0:12:16 > 0:12:18to beautiful iron railings,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and, you know, for places as far away as London and maybe all over the world, you know.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26But, you know, looking around at the quality of workmanship
0:12:26 > 0:12:34and the ornamental stuff, there can't be many places as good as what this place is, believe me.
0:12:34 > 0:12:35If you come through this way, lads.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Yeah. Through you come, through you come.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42Ah, there's some lovely tackle in here, isn't there?
0:12:42 > 0:12:43Yes, it's really, really nice.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46This is one of our pattern stores here, Fred.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50As you can see, we can match up any head with any bar
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and these days that's sort of big business for us... Yeah.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56..the restoration work in parks and what have you.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00I don't think we've counted, but I think we've over 100,000 patterns
0:13:00 > 0:13:02within the foundry, so it's a lot.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Quite a lot, yeah. Yeah.
0:13:04 > 0:13:10But many of these patterns will date back to, you know, when the foundry first started.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12You still have those patterns?
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Absolutely, we never, ever throw any pattern away.
0:13:15 > 0:13:16No, never do.
0:13:16 > 0:13:23A lot of people don't realise that every one of these had to be made out of wood, before it were...
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Yes, absolutely. ..made out of aluminium or cast iron.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30You know there's some skilled work, isn't there? Yeah.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38In you go, boys, in you go. Ah, this is, um...the pattern shop?
0:13:38 > 0:13:40This is the pattern shop, lads, aye.
0:13:40 > 0:13:41Yeah, life starts here.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Yeah. We're one of the last general jobbing foundries that's left
0:13:45 > 0:13:49and um, we're sent all sorts of things, like postcards, and drawings
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and they come into the pattern shop and the lads,
0:13:53 > 0:13:59like Alan, William and Brian and the boys, they sort of turn it into reality.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02And then from here it goes down to the shop to be cast.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06It's nice to see, cast iron coming back, sort of fighting back against all the plastic.
0:14:06 > 0:14:12Oh, aye. It's very durable stuff, isn't it? It don't rot away like steel. Indeed, indeed.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Right, Alf, mind your feet as you come down. Yeah, yeah.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24So this, Fred, is the next stage from the pattern shop.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Once the pattern is made they come down here into the moulding shop.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32I'm sure you recognise this is a bollard, a street bollard - street furniture,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37that's another big thing that we do. And Ricky here is closing the box up.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39They're cores, aren't they? That's right.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42And you see the dark core, so the metal goes round about it.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47We can't stop production, Fred, we've got to let them go. Aye, aye. No, no.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52They're just blowing all the extra dust out, so there's no' any residue there.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55But, aye, so we do the street furniture.
0:14:55 > 0:14:56We do big lamp posts here.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01This is our heavy end, so-called because the larger, heavier castings are made in here.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05And you can see the size of the boxes, they're big.
0:15:05 > 0:15:11When we move onto the next stage you'll see a lot of the smaller castings, smaller things.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16That's OK, mate.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20That's that, Fred, I think we should move on to the next moulding shop.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Yeah. You dinnae want to fight with this boy! I tell you.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28So this is the main moulding shop we're going through to now. Yeah.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30This is the main moulding shop.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34His jacket seems to have been set on fire a few times!
0:15:35 > 0:15:38There's three tonne of metal in the furnace.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42It all arrives at once and each different shop gets a tonne.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47And they sort of have different turns of where the metal is just to make sure, you know.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51They all get an equal chance of going home a wee bit early, that's about the size of it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56That's it coming now, this'll be...ductile iron or spheroidal graphite,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01but I cannae say that with my teeth. What're you laughing at? What's wrong with my teeth?!
0:16:01 > 0:16:04The metal goes into the ladle. Yeah.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10And that's the magnesium that's making it as bright as you see it there, lads. Yeah.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13And that'll bring all the impurities up to the top.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18You cannae have that going into the casting because the impurities would be in the casting.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21That's them just topping the ladle up there. Yeah.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24There we go.
0:16:25 > 0:16:26So getting the wheel on
0:16:26 > 0:16:30for pouring and tilting it when it comes into the shop here.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35Oh, right. And he's got his wee stirrer there...
0:16:45 > 0:16:50So this is the molten metal coming through into the moulding shop now.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55It's a bit like a pint of Guinness there, Fred, all the impurities come up to the top.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58As you see the furnace-man has a thing like Neptune's fork
0:16:58 > 0:17:03and he takes all the slag off the top so that we're left with the pure metal there.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33That's the green sand mould in the plant there...
0:17:33 > 0:17:37It's still done in the traditional way with the hand ladles, as you see.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42You've got to be pretty strong to carry one of them about there.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45I think one of the lads was saying there's 56lbs in it.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50And I mean it's not as though you're just doing one, is it? Yes. You've got all them holes to fill up.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55You've got to be a real man. You think you'd be up for it these days?
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Until me present state of health I'd have been all right with that, yeah.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Ah, I tell you, you're more of a man than me, mate. I wouldnae be able for that.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Brian, are you getting older or is that getting heavier?
0:18:13 > 0:18:15It's getting heavier.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19In the end, he's going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, yeah.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22It's what I said, he'll be a big strong lad.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27You wouldn't let him give you a slap. Has he to put them on as well? Yes. And see the height...
0:18:27 > 0:18:30And see the height he's got to lift them? Yeah. It's a man's job.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33The pattern will be in the box there.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35The box is in two parts.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38The pattern is placed in there, pulled out,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41you put the core in, close the box up,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46clamp it down, and then the metal is poured through the blow holes there.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52It really is, it's just really to make sure you get a continuous flow of good-quality metal.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55What's the idea of, like, the three pouring holes?
0:18:55 > 0:19:00Well, it's just to make sure that you get an equal flow through the moulding box, Fred,
0:19:00 > 0:19:01that's about the size of it.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05But it's certainly an age-old process
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and we'll be here for a long, long time.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Well, this area's very famous for the foundry, isn't it?
0:19:12 > 0:19:14It really is, central Scotland.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Way back to 1803, you know, Carron Ironworks.
0:19:17 > 0:19:24That's right. We've been here since about 1820 - the company was started here.
0:19:24 > 0:19:31I think it was established in about 1856 and it has been in the Ballantine family now.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36And, yeah, Mr Ballantine is still, you know, the son and heir.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40And good news for us, he has a young son, so hopefully he'll come along and join us.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45He's at university at the minute but... The other good thing about Mr Ballantine is
0:19:45 > 0:19:48when he was coming into the shop at first
0:19:48 > 0:19:51his father made him come here and do this.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54He made him do the moulding, he worked in the pattern shop,
0:19:54 > 0:20:00and he worked in the fitting shops. So he'd have a real insight into the job itself.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01How it's all done.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07Sadly, you know, we're getting less and less and we're one of the last few standing now.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12Just recently, two of the largest foundries in Scotland just closed down there.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17And you've got to feel for the men and the skills that are left on the street now, Fred.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19But...we soldier on.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22How long does it take one of them young moulders
0:20:22 > 0:20:25to learn that traditionally, so he can be left on his own?
0:20:25 > 0:20:29It's really a five-year apprenticeship.
0:20:29 > 0:20:35There's a lot of father and son combinations in here, so they'll learn the skills from their dad.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Every moulder's responsible for his own ladle.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43At the end of the day, you'll need to chap that out, back to the metal, and then re-line it,
0:20:43 > 0:20:49get it dried off. We've got little individual driers, and then it's ready for the next day again.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54In 1950, there were more than 200 foundries like this in central Scotland.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Now this is one of the only ones left.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03Back at the railway, it's time to get prepared for the next stage of the journey.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Come on then, it's time we were away. Right, we're off.
0:21:08 > 0:21:09Are you ready?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Yep. Wagons roll!
0:21:28 > 0:21:33They're going to be heading back south to England, but before they leave this part of Scotland,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Fred wants to have a look at the Forth bridges
0:21:36 > 0:21:40and see if they can drive the engine over the road bridge.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52They're not sure whether traction engines are allowed across the bridge.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00That's a good view of the bridge now.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Well, we've made it. Get off me wheel.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Oh, right... Sorry.
0:22:14 > 0:22:20There they are, eh? Two together - one built this century and one last century.
0:22:20 > 0:22:21Which is the rail bridge?
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The red un'. Oh, right. That they never stop painting.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28There's a train going over. Looks like a blooming model.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29Yeah, yeah, they...
0:22:29 > 0:22:32When they built that one there were,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36I think, 57 men were killed building it, the rail bridge. The rail bridge?
0:22:36 > 0:22:381890. There were only a few,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41there were only a couple killed on t'other one.
0:22:41 > 0:22:42But...
0:22:43 > 0:22:48..two of Scotland's greatest landmarks. Looks impressive.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Oh, aye, yeah, yeah.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53It is when you're on top. I've been on the rail bridge.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57You know, on the ironwork, like. Yeah.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Well, if you're going up the ironwork today I'm not coming with you.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Are you not? No. When it was built - the rail bridge
0:23:05 > 0:23:08it was the longest in Europe for a spell, weren't it?
0:23:08 > 0:23:10I don't know about that. It was.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Instead of it being built out of wrought iron
0:23:12 > 0:23:16it were one of the earliest structures built out of steel. Of steel, yeah.
0:23:16 > 0:23:23I had a book once with magnificent drawings and pictures in and I lent it somebody and it never come back.
0:23:23 > 0:23:30Of the whole construction of it all, you know as it went on from day to day. It were a right good book, that.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33But I ain't got it no more.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36How far across is it, do you know?
0:23:36 > 0:23:40No idea. It's a long way. It looks it from here.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45Yeah, yeah. I wonder if they'll let us go over with this.
0:23:45 > 0:23:51There might be some sort of speed job, you know, you might have to be able to do 20mph,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54or something like that which we can't do, can we?
0:23:54 > 0:23:59There's one thing about it we'll not have to pay a toll because these'll not be on their notice boards.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03No, no, that's right. Yeah, I didn't think about that, yeah.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05But are they going to let them across?
0:24:51 > 0:24:53A bit windy!
0:24:53 > 0:24:55CAR TOOTS
0:25:00 > 0:25:04We've just come over your bridge, Alastair, and it didn't collapse.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08That's good to know. Did you have any problems getting up the slope?
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Yeah, well, it's, the engine isn't really running as good
0:25:12 > 0:25:14as it should be doing, but it made it all right.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18How old is it now the bridge?
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Well, the bridge opened in 1964 so we're...
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Getting on a bit. ..our 40th anniversary.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Do you have much maintenance? Well, we've got a big problem.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Not only do we have to maintain this structure because it's 40 years old... Yeah.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35..but it was designed in the '50s when the heaviest... Ah, lighter...
0:25:35 > 0:25:37..commercial vehicle was only 24 tonne.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41And now the European standard is 44. Yeah, yeah, mmm, mmm.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Added to that, last year we carried 24 million vehicles.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49Bloomin' heck, that's a lot, isn't it? When it opened in '64...
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Can they not put stronger ropes on, you know?
0:25:53 > 0:25:55It's not the ropes that are the problem. No.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00The towers are now reaching their limit, the main cable is reaching its limit.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01Yeah, yeah. I see what you mean.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04In fact we recently put a new tower inside that tower.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08And the wall thickness of that new steel is about an inch and a half.
0:26:08 > 0:26:15So you have a column taking an extra 6,000 tonne off the existing tower.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18In fact, we've put so much load into the new tower
0:26:18 > 0:26:24that the existing bridge had been relieved of its weight and actually went up an inch and a half.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Blooming heck, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was a big operation.
0:26:27 > 0:26:28Yeah, yeah.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30I noticed one or two bits
0:26:30 > 0:26:33where it was a bit up and downy, the road surface, you know.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37What you've got to remember, is it's blowing up quite a gale now,
0:26:37 > 0:26:42but if the wind got up to 100mph, the centre span would move out 23? feet
0:26:42 > 0:26:45in the direction of that wind. Yeah. That's a long way.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50So every 60ft across the deck you've got a movement joint
0:26:50 > 0:26:53and that's where you get the clatter as you go across the bridge.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Well, you wouldn't think that, would you? 23 foot.
0:26:56 > 0:27:0223 foot in 100mph wind. So it's left hand down a bit as you're heading to Fife.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05What size winds have you recorded over there?
0:27:05 > 0:27:09We've put it off the scale about 102.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Oh, so you've had them kind of...? Oh, yeah, we're pretty far north.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Did you close? We close at 85, to all vehicles.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22Because after that you're starting to get light heads coming off and that's a bit dangerous.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26And standing where you are you would actually see the bridge starting to oscillate.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Somebody explained that. That's amazing that.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31How high are they, them towers?
0:27:31 > 0:27:36You're 508 feet above the river if you're standing on the top of these towers.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Yeah. I've never been up a chimney that big, you know.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42What's the highest chimney you've been up then? Oh...
0:27:42 > 0:27:47300? 300 foot. 300 feet. Yeah. That was without a lift?
0:27:47 > 0:27:54We attempted to knock a concrete one down that were 450ft high,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57but the bloody thing fell down a day early, you know.
0:28:22 > 0:28:28That's the first traction engine ever to have driven across the Forth Bridge under its own steam.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by BBC Broadcast 2005