William Bouch

[3] In 1849 the Shildon Works Company under Bouch and Gilkes took over the entire haulage of passenger and freight trains on the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

In 1860, Bouch designed the first British standard gauge tender locomotives to use a 4-4-0 wheel layout which had earlier become popular in the United States.

These workshops took over the building and repair of the Stockton & Darlington Railway's steam locomotive fleet.

A letter of apology to Henry Pease, one of the organisers of the celebrations, is in the collection of the National Railway Museum.

In it, Bouch explained his philosophy for stocking spare parts and noted that locomotives could be repaired and back in service within seven days.

In failing health since early 1875, he travelled to the south coast resort of Weymouth in an attempt to recover.