Photos

Another from the day I drove to Perthshire. It was too cold for me to take more than one quick shot - so I had to use unsharp mask after rotating and downsizing, then some mid-tone adjustment, slight sharpening and border. I'm amazed what one can do with post processing!

Before the nearby road bridge was opened in 1962 we had to walk or drive down this ramp onto a ferry, to go across to North Queensferry and beyond. I think those are puffins sitting on the end of the pier.

"Painting the Forth Bridge" used to mean "a task that never ends" because as soon as the painters got to one end, they had to start again at the other. Now a new glass flake epoxy formula is being used to create a chemical bond which provides an almost impenetrable layer to protect the bridge's steelwork from the weather. Once the work is finished "a complete repaint of the bridge will not be required for many, many years". The current contract, which began in 2002 and should finish by 2012, involves stripping the paint using high-powered blasters and replacing it with the new formula designed for North Sea oil rigs. The scaffolding is carefully designed so that no flakes of old or new paint will fall on shipping underneath.
Information taken from The Scotsman.

Details of the bridge's construction are given in the note to Paul Brown's lovely TE photo.