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The Royal Scottish Society of Arts
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3rd Meeting of the 187th Session (2007-2008)

"Railways Wars and unnecessary bridge construction"

Professor Charles McKean FRSE, Hon FRIAS, Hon FRIBA, Hon FRSGS, D.Litt (Hon), FRSA, FSA Scot
Professor of Scottish Architectural History
University of Dundee

In the Wolfson Suite, Ground Floor
Edinburgh University Library
George Square, Edinburgh
On Monday 3rd December 2007, at 7pm

Why should a small railway company like the North british have to undertake the construction of the largest, the longest and the tallest railway bridges in the world on a line, globally speaking, going from nowhere to nowhere (i.e. Edinburgh to Aberdeen) ? This talk addresses the reasons, looks at the detailed construction of Tay and Forth Railway bridges (all of them!), the saga of deluded salmon and quarantined Belgians, and ends with the manipulation of the media. The conclusion, generally, is that we now know why our railways system is so poor, but we still behave in similar ways.

Professor McKean is Professor of Scottish Architectural History, Department of History, University of Dundee. Between 1979 and 1994, he was Secretary and Treasurer, and Chief Executive, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. He was chairman of the NTS Buildings Committee 1995-2003, a member of the Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland 2003-6, and the Heritage Lottery Fund Scottish Committee. He is Chairman of UNESCO World Heritage Trust, an Honorary Member of the Saltire Society, and Honorary President of the St. Andrews Preservation Trust. He is a frequent consultant on historic buildings and towns, and is a member of two of Historic Scotland’s Burgh Survey teams. He has published over 50 articles and chapters in books, many on the architecture, gardens, culture and conservation of the Scottish Renaissance, and his 22 books include Fight Blight (1977), The Scottish Thirties, (1987), Edinburgh - Portrait of a City (1992), The Making of the Museum of Scotland (2000), The Scottish Château (2001), and Battle for the North (2006)


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