Painting The Forth Rail Bridge - Watkins Hire help to Cure the solution.

The iconic Forth Rail Bridge was opened in 1890, constructed of some 55,000 tonnes of steel and all held together with 6.5 million steel rivets. So painting it to protect this steel is vital. It has always been said that,

“As soon as the painters move across and complete painting the bridge, it will be time to start all over again at the other end!”

Well not any more, thanks to modern paints and modern heating/drying of that paint. The new coating is said to have a lifetime of some 20 + years, so maybe this is one story that will fade into the mists of time?

Watkins Hire worked with the specialist contractors undertaking this work to ensure that all the coatings were properly dried and cured using Watkins Hire's efficient modern large volume Warm Air Heaters. These were strategically placed across and at times at the very top of the bridge, to aid the curing of paint, forcing the warm dry air into the encapsulated bridge framework, stage by stage. This allowed the paint to bond and dry and will assist in this mammoth project being completed on time on 23rd December 2011.