Tay Rail Bridge of Dundee "in respect of his meritorious services as engineer of the bridge. ..." On 20 June 1879, Queen Victoria crossed the bridge during her return south from staying at Balmoral; Bouch was presented to her before she did so. On 26 June 1879, he was knighted by the Queen at Windsor Castle. On the night of 28 December 1879 at 7.15 pm, the bridge collapsed after its central spans gave way during high winter gales. A train with six carriages carrying seventy-five passengers and crew, crossing at the time of the collapse, plunged into the icy waters of the
River Tay William McGonagall's poems "The Tay Bridge Disaster" and "Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay" and the German poet Theodor Fontane has mentioned the Tay in his poem "Die Brück' am Tay". Both poems deal will the Tay bridge disaster of 1879 seeing the bridge's construction as a case of human hubris and expressing an uneasiness towards the fast technological development of mankind. It is mentioned in the Steeleye Span song "The Royal Forester". Many Rolls-Royce civil aero-engines are named after British rivers, one of which is the Rolls-Royce Tay. River Tay The River Tay () is the longest river in