ABSTRACT
AS noted in our last chapter, the official opening of the ForthBridge took place on 4 March, 1890. It was not until 1 June, however, that passenger trains began regularly to use the bridge. From the latter date the East Coast through traffic to and from the northern parts of Scotland was diverted on to it, the trains being now carried on throughout beyond Edinburgh by the North British Company's engines — through Fifeshire and down the beautiful Glen Farg to Perth, and across the Tay Bridge, and thence by Dundee and Montrose, hugging the coast, to Aberdeen. Prior to this date, as the reader knows, the East Coast route had become merged in the West Coast at Larbert Junction, and its through coaches had been hauled by the Caledonian Company over the 100 miles and more between there and Aberdeen under stringent " facility clauses." Now, by the completion of the two great bridges, the East Coast companies had a separate route of their own as far north as Kinnaber Junction, thirty-nine miles only from Aberdeen. Between Kinnaber and Aberdeen, moreover, they had obtained running powers over the Caledonian line.
