The Scotsman: How we reported the opening of the Forth Road Bridge

The front page of The Scotsman on Saturday, September 5 , 1964 which recorded the great occasion of the opening of the Forth Road Bridge. | The Scotsman

There were gun salutes, ships’ foghorns, a brass band and 50,000 people gathered on both sides of the water as the Forth Road Bridge officially opened - and there was a fair big of fog, too.

As more than 5,000 cars went over the bridge in an hour, traffic jams and law breaking followed.

On Friday, September 4 1964, the 40-year vision to create the bridge - which took six years to build - was finally realised as Queen Elizabeth II - dressed head to toe in royal blue - and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, in grey suit and felt hat, led the official opening.

The full front page of The Scotsman on September 5, 1964, which recorded the opening of the Forth Road Bridge. | The Scotsman

The fog, which obscured views of the mega structure, was so thick that the RAF flypast was cancelled but the scale and significance of the day clearly emerged in The Scotsman the following day.

The front page led with the impact of the bridge on motorists on that very first day that Edinburgh was linked by road bridge with Fife.

The report said: “Thousands of motorists had to break the law last night as the Forth Road Bridge, opened earlier in the day by the Queen, was put to the supreme test with a peak of more than 5,000 cars crossing in an hour and jamming the lanes.

“Cars were forced to halt, breaking the cardinal no-stopping rule.

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“There were a few breakdowns, but traffic was moving so slowly that they had little effect. The double lines of cars melted into one as they rounded the obstructions. Luckless drivers ignored another regulation by trying to cure the issues themselves instead of telephoning for help.

“There were other minor mishaps as cars were scraped or bumped. Sedate saloons, packed with families and buses and lorries took the inside lane, giving pride of place to the less leisured.”

In the first five hours, the bridge was crossed by 29,000 vehicles, generating £3,600 in toll money - around £62,000 in today’s values.

Travelling north was the easier route, the reporter noted. By the mid-evening, it was possible to drive from the West End to the end of the motorway three-and-a-half miles on the Fife side in 25 minutes. The return journey took an hour longer, the story said, although the reporter enjoyed the positives of the trip.

“But the crawl from north to south provided and opportunity to study Scotland’s latest achievement at leisure, to wonder at the floodlit high tower and catch new glimpses of the rail bridge, the builders of which must never have envisaged such traffic as crowded the new bridge last night,” the story said.

“There was time to watch the glint of water through the open grill separating south and north traffic lanes and near the occasional chink of coins striking the grating as people at open car windows followed the rail-bridge tradition of throwing money into the Forth.

“The pace to the south was so slow that at times the wisps of fog which had eddied around the bridge all day travelled faster than the vehicles,” it added.

While the traffic was slow, the task of the toll man was not. Half a crown was passed from open windows to the booth, where the coin could only be grabbed.

Tickets for those seeking a momento of the first day of the road crossing were hard to come by.

“For souvenir-seekers who asked: “No ticket?” the invariable reply was “No time,” the report said.

The first motorist to pay the 2s and 6d toll and drive over the bridge was Mr J Hamilton, the bridge resident engineer.

Celebrations continued in Edinburgh where Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh attended a luncheon at the Assembly Rooms. A 35-foot replica of the bridge took pride of place behind the top table. It was decorated with more than 4,000 red, pink and white dahlias and guests enjoyed a lunch of melon, grouse and ice cream.

Meanwhile, a “tremendous” rush to buy Forth Road Bridge stamps and first-day covers in Edinburgh and South Queensferry was “tremendous”, the paper reported.

In 24 hours, more than 800 man hours were spent hand stamping about 250,000 covers, postcards and packets. Outside the Philatelic Bureau at Edinburgh GPO, a queue of 400 people gathered to buy the stamps, which went on sale at midnight ahead of the opening. By 2am, 370,000 stamps had been sold.