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
Tay Bridge disaster have been advanced in the last 40 years, leading to 'forensic engineering' reinterpretations of what actually happened. The disaster inspired several songs and poems, most famously William McGonagall's "The Tay Bridge Disaster", widely considered to be of such a low quality as to be comical. The German poet Theodor Fontane, shocked by the news, wrote his poem "". It was published only ten days after the tragedy happened. C. Horne's ballad "In Memory of the Tay Bridge Disaster" was published as a broadside in May 1880. It describes the moment of the disaster as: "Hatter's Castle", the 1931 novel of