Thomas Bouch designed the original Tay Bridge in Dundee. Consisting of over 85,000 cubic feet of timer, over 2 million rivets and more than 10 million bricks it took six years to build. Bouch decided to use lattice girders supported by iron piers in the design. This made the design far more aesthetically pleasing than his previous work but compromised on strength.
Thomas Bouch
The Tay Bridge was officially opened on September 26th 1877 and proved very successful. In the summer of 1879 Queen Victoria crossed via private rail and Bouch was knighted soon afterwards for his work but just a few short months later, a disaster like no other would befall the Tay Bridge.
On December 28th 1879 a fierce storm struck Scotland. Rain teemed from the sky that was lit up frequently by bright lightening accompanied by the ferocious sound of thunder. A wicked wind whipped at the lattice girders as engineers raced to warn the rail authority that structural integrity of the Tay Bridge might be compromised but before anything could be done, a train began to cross.
The construction buckled under the weight of the train as the wicked wind continued to thrash against it. As the passenger locomotive neared the central part of the Tay Bridge it collapsed under the weight sending the train plunging down into the river below. Seventy nine people on board perished. A countrywide review into bridge safety soon followed and Bouch died shortly afterwards, broken from guilt.
Ghost Sightings
Ghost stories are rife around the area with a plethora of people claiming to have experienced strange goings-on from light anomalies to car malfunctions and even a ghostly train driving through mid air in the approximate position of the original bridge. The train appears in spectral form speeding toward the central part of the river before an enormous crashing sound can be heard and the ghostly carriage can be seen plummeting in to the river below as spectral apparitions scream and thrash in the water before vanishing right before your eyes.
