The Forth Rail Bridge, which was opened in 1890, is an internationally recognised symbol of the achievements of late 19th century civil engineering. Its robust and original design took account of the lessons on the effect of wind on exposed bridges learned from the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879. It was the first cantilever bridge in the world, and the first major steel bridge. It is certainly the best known railway bridge in the world, and one of the most renowned civil engineering achievements of all time.
The Bridge provides a rail link across the River Firth between the Lothians and Fife. It is located on the site the historic crossing point on the river between what are now the towns of South and North Queensferry. The Forth Bridge is the archetypal symbol of the power of the railways as a significant stage in human history. While it made journey times on the East Coast of Scotland a little shorter, it is the stupendous scale of the bridge that gives it, and the railways it symboloises, world cultural importance.