He was the eldest son of John and Anna Gooch; John was from Bedlington, Northumberland, and Anna was the daughter of Thomas Longridge of Newcastle.
[4] On 6 October 1823, Gooch was apprenticed for six years to George Stephenson; with Stephenson, he surveyed the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and for 2+1⁄2 years from 1826 acted as Stephenson's secretary and draughtsman on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), living in Stephenson's house in Liverpool.
In January 1829, Gooch became Resident Engineer for the Liverpool end of the L&MR, but in April the same year he took a temporary appointment as Resident Engineer of the Bolton and Leigh Railway.
[1] In 1830, Stephenson was appointed to survey the route of the proposed Manchester and Leeds Railway,[5] and Gooch was appointed his assistant.
Gooch carried out most of the actual surveying for the new line, and was in charge of the construction.