Thomas Longridge Gooch (1 November 1808 – 23 November 1882) was

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

of the

Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...

from 1831 to 1844.

Biography

Gooch was born on 1 November 1808. He was the eldest son of John and Anna Gooch; John was from

Bedlington Bedlington is a town and former civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 18,470 measured at the 2011 Census. Bedlington is an ancient market town, with a rich history of industry and innovative residents. Located roughly 1 ...

, Northumberland, and Anna was the daughter of Thomas Longridge of Newcastle. John and Anna had ten children, and of their five sons, four became railway engineers: Thomas Longridge Gooch; John Viret Gooch;

Daniel Gooch Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet (24 August 1816 – 15 October 1889) was an English railway locomotive and transatlantic cable engineer. He was the first Locomotive Superintendent, Superintendent of Locomotive Engines on the Great Western Rai ...

and William Frederick Gooch. On 6 October 1823, Gooch was apprenticed for six years to

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the ...

; with Stephenson, he surveyed the

Newcastle and Carlisle Railway The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (N&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between ...

and for years from 1826 acted as Stephenson's secretary and draughtsman on the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

(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 The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire, it opened for goods on 1 August 1828 preceding the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) by two years. Passengers were carried from 1831. The railway operated inde ...

. In 1830, Stephenson was appointed to survey the route of the proposed

, 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.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gooch, Thomas Longridge British railway civil engineers British railway pioneers 1808 births 1882 deaths Engineers from Tyne and Wear People from Newcastle upon Tyne 19th-century British businesspeople