Editing Tay Bridge (section)

=== Construction ===
Whilst Bouch was in the process of revising his design, the company which had been awarded the contract for the bridge's construction, Messrs De Bergue of [[Cardiff]], went out of business.<ref>Reportedly, the company's owner, Mr De Bergue, had gone [[insanity|insane]] and then died – Minutes of Court of Inquiry.</ref> During June 1874, a replacement contract for the work was issued to [[Gilkes Wilson and Company|Hopkin Gilkes and Company]], successors to the [[Middlesbrough]] company which had previously provided the ironwork for the Belah viaduct.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>Minutes of Evidence – evidence of Sir T Bouch, p. 406</ref><ref>Bouch’s brother William was Locomotive Superintendent of the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]] and also a director of Gilkes which made locomotives for the S&D. On his brother's death in January 1876, Bouch as his sole executor effectively inherited his shares, and also his personal guarantee of the firm's borrowings. The firm was not in good enough shape for Bouch to dispose of his interest, and he lost a large amount of money when it went bankrupt during 1880. In principle, there was therefore a conflict of interest with Bouch's duty to advise the railway company on the acceptability of the contractor's work. (Minutes of Evidence – evidence of Sir T Bouch, p. 440)</ref> Gilkes had originally intended to produce all the bridge ironwork on Teesside, but in the event continued to use a foundry at Wormit to produce the cast-iron components, and to carry out limited post-casting machining operations.{{Citation needed|date=May 2018}}

The change in design increased cost and necessitated delay, intensified after two of the high girders fell when being lifted into place during the night of Friday, 3 February 1877.<ref name="Grothe">{{cite web|url=http://www.todayinsci.com/Events/Bridges/BridgeTay-GoodWords(1878).htm|title=The Tay Bridge|work=todayinsci.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Dundee Courier and Argus|date=5 February 1877|title=The Tay Bridge Accident}} gives detailed accounts by those actually involved:</ref> 
<blockquote>The fallen girders had to be removed and new ones built.<ref>One of the fallen girders was recovered and reused.{{Citation needed|date=May 2018}}</ref> and the piers to be erected again; and this threatened seriously to interfere with the expectation of having the bridge finished for the passage of a train by September. Only eight months were now available for the erection and floating out of six, and the lifting of ten {{convert|245|ft|adj=on|disp=sqbr}} spans. Five and seven respectively of the {{convert|145|ft|adj=on|disp=sqbr}} spans had yet to go through the same process. Seven large and three small piers had yet to be built. The weight of iron which had to be put in its place was {{cvt|2,700|LT|ST|disp=sqbr}}, and it seemed incredible that all this could be done in eight months. A good deal would depend on the weather but this was far from favourable.<ref name="Grothe"/></blockquote>

Despite this the first engine crossed the bridge on 22 September 1877, and upon its completion in early 1878 the Tay Bridge was the longest in the world. While visiting the city, [[Ulysses S. Grant]] commented that it was "a big bridge for a small city".