Leader: Go Forth and end an aphorism

IT’S the end of an era, and the end of an aphorism. The era in question is the decade or so it has taken to strip, prepare and paint the Forth Bridge. It is the end of an aphorism because we will now longer accurately be able to say an endless task is akin to painting the structure.

At least that is what Network Rail – which put some £130 million, 4.5 million man hours, and enough paint to cover 240,000 square metres into the restoration – assure us is the case. Given the effort and the cost which has gone into this, and the claims that previous paint jobs would last for years but did not, we hope this is so. It would be embarrassing if the much-vaunted glass-flake epoxy paint were to start flaking off any time soon as if it were badly applied emulsion.

In the meantime, we can at last admire the bridge’s magnificent cantilever construction re-coated in its original red oxide colour in all its glory, now free of scaffolding which disfigured it for ten years and marvel that, with only the odd re-paint and careful maintenance, it has stood the test of time.

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The word “iconic” is much overused and therefore devalued, but it can be accurately applied to this triumph of Victorian engineering which gave us a phrase which is, we hope, now consigned to history.

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