Sir Thomas Bouch was a British railway engineer. He was born in Thursby, near Carlisle, Cumberland, and lived in Edinburgh. As manager of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway he introduced the first roll-on/roll-off train ferry service in the world. Subsequently as a consulting engineer, he helped develop the caisson and popularised the use of lattice girders in railway bridges. He was knighted after the successful completion of the first Tay Railway Bridge, but his reputation was destroyed by the subsequent Tay Bridge disaster, in which 75 people are believed to have died as a result of defects in design, construction and maintenance, for all of which Bouch was held responsible. He died within 18 months of being knighted.
Thomas Bouch
Bouch's pioneering ferry ramp
Original Tay Bridge from the north
Fallen Tay Bridge from the north
Thursby is a village in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is near to the city of Carlisle. Thursby was historically part of the county of Cumberland.
St Andrew's Church, Thursby
Entrance to Crofton Hall, near Thursby
Thursby social status graph