
At 7:13pm on the 28th of December, 1879, the Tay Rail Bridge in Scotland collapsed as a train passed over it.

The collapsed bridge, photographed in either 1879 or 1880.
Everyone on board was killed. Only forty-six bodies were recovered, but judging by tickets sold for the journey, over seventy are thought to have died.

The bridge photographed shortly before the disaster.
The weather had been terrible at the time, and as the train proceeded onto the bridge there was a bright flash of light before the train disappeared, falling into the river below. The signalman at the other end did not comprehend what had happened and at first refused to believe the train had crashed.

The locomotive was retrieved from the river and put back into use. It is photographed above in 1880.