The life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer Part 9

_RAILWAY WORKS._

A.D. 1835--1859. aeTATIS 30--54.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY--THE BOX TUNNEL--THE BATH AND BRISTOL STATIONS--THE PADDINGTON STATION--THE GREAT WESTERN HOTEL--BRANCHES AND EXTENSIONS OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY--THE BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY--RAILWAYS IN DEVONs.h.i.+RE AND CORNWALL--RAILWAYS TO BASINGSTOKE, TO WEYMOUTH, AND TO SALISBURY--IN SOUTH WALES--IN IRELAND--IN ITALY--IN INDIA--SUPERVISION OF WORKS--MR. BRUNEL'S ENGINEERING STAFF--HIS REPUTATION AS A WITNESS--REMINISCENCES OF MR. BRUNEL, 1835-1838.

In the extract from Mr. Brunel's diary given at the close of the last chapter he refers to the successful issue of the contest for the Great Western Railway Act as a very important event in his life.

As the result proved, he did not take too hopeful a view of his future prospects; for from that time to his death he was fully employed as the engineer of railways which, in number and importance, were not inferior to those of any of his contemporaries. Of the main lines he constructed, one extends uninterruptedly from London to the Land's End, and another to the extremity of South Wales, at Milford Haven, 285 miles from Paddington.

It would be impossible to describe in detail all the engineering works which are to be found on Mr. Brunel's railways, the aggregate length of which is upwards of 1,200 miles; but in this chapter it is proposed to give a brief sketch of the lines he constructed, omitting all that can be more properly inserted in the three chapters which follow, relating to the broad gauge, to the Atmospheric System, and to the bridges and viaducts.

The Great Western Railway was opened to Maidenhead, a distance of nearly twenty-three miles, in June 1838, and to Twyford, eight miles farther on, in July 1839. A description of the Wharncliffe Viaduct at Hanwell will be found at p. 172, and of the Maidenhead bridge at p. 173.

The line from Twyford to Reading was opened in March 1840, and from Reading to Chippenham by May 1841. Meanwhile the portion from Bristol to Bath had been opened in August 1840. The last division, namely, that from Chippenham to Bath, containing the Box Tunnel, was opened on June 30, 1841; and the railway was completed throughout its whole length.

A considerable part of the history of the Great Western Railway is connected with the adoption on it of the broad, or 7-foot gauge, and will be dealt with in the next chapter, in which is also given some account of the longitudinal system of permanent way.

The bridges are described in Chapter VII.; but some of the other works may be noticed here.

In laying out the line, Mr. Brunel endeavoured to make it as straight and as level as possible throughout, and to concentrate those changes of level, which could not be avoided, into short inclines, to be worked, if necessary, by auxiliary power.

Accordingly the line is thus divided:--

Miles Yards

Level, or with an inclination not exceeding 4 feet in the mile 67 88

Above 4 feet, and not exceeding 8 feet in the mile 47 110

Steep inclines 3 1210

The steep inclines are two in number, of a gradient of 1 in 100, or about 53 feet in a mile, and descend towards the Bristol end of the line.

The Wootton Ba.s.set incline, 85 miles from London, is 1 mile 550 yards long.

The second incline is at Box, 99 miles from London, and is 2 miles 660 yards in length. An a.s.sistant engine is still occasionally used to work heavy trains at this point.

On this incline the line pa.s.ses through the Box Tunnel. This tunnel is the first out of London, and could only have been dispensed with by taking a circuitous route several miles longer than that adopted by Mr.

Brunel.

The tunnel is 1? mile in length, and is ventilated by six shafts.

They are 30 feet in diameter, and from 70 to 300 feet deep.

The Box Tunnel had been the subject of much criticism before the works were commenced; and during its actual construction it did not escape the unfavourable notice of those who were ignorant of the difficulties which presented themselves, and the means which had been taken to overcome them. Indeed, for some time after the opening of the line, there were travellers who used to avoid the terrors of the tunnel by posting along the turnpike road in that part of their journey.

Mr. Brunel never troubled himself about the ordinary gossip which is always circulated concerning any remarkable work; but matters a.s.sumed a different aspect when, a year after the completion of the tunnel, doubts were expressed as to its safety by an eminent geologist, at a meeting of the Inst.i.tution of Civil Engineers. Mr. Brunel, who was on terms of friendly intercourse with the speaker, addressed to him the following letter:--

June 21, 1842.

I a.s.sure you, my dear Sir, that when my attention had been drawn to the statements reported to have been made by you on this subject, I refrained as far as possible from expressing any opinion. I thought it my duty to read the notes taken, but I never said that I thought your statements were correct. Indeed, I had hoped to have avoided the necessity of making any observations upon these statements; but as a letter to Mr. Saunders on such a subject is almost the same thing as if it were addressed to myself, and as it was shown to me, it would not be candid towards you if I now refrained from saying, that the opinions you are reported to have expressed with respect to the Box Tunnel are by no means considered correct, either by myself or by those others who, from being intimately acquainted with the rock as it was really found, and the works as they were really executed, are capable of judging.

In the notes shown to me the observations alluding to this work in particular, as an ill.u.s.tration of the views you were explaining, appear to have been curtailed, and the allusions rendered somewhat less direct; but still the inference unavoidably to be drawn from them is, that the back joints, as we call them, and other defects which exist originally, or which show themselves after a time, in this rock, are not well known, and tolerably well understood and guarded against, by practical engineers, and even by our workmen.

In this opinion I a.s.sure you you are mistaken. Ignorant as I may probably be myself of the science of geology, I cannot have been engaged for several years in making very extensive excavations, probably the largest hitherto made, in this particular rock, having also the opportunity of examining very old and large quarries in the same rock and close to the line, having among my a.s.sistants men not meanly acquainted with this particular branch of geology, and surrounded by workmen of considerable experience, I cannot have gone through such a study without acquiring a very intimate and practical knowledge of the structure and peculiarities of the particular ma.s.s of rock which is now in question; and I will say frankly what I feel upon this point, which is, that I ought now to possess a more thorough and practical knowledge of this particular rock and its defects, and the best mode of remedying them, than even you yourself, with your immeasurably greater scientific knowledge of rocks generally.

The opinion you are said to have expressed of there being great danger of some serious accident occurring in the tunnel is, I am firmly convinced, erroneous; at all events the reason given convinces me that you have not become acquainted with the means which have been taken by me to examine and to ascertain the security of every part of the rock, to remove or to support with masonry any part not so ascertained to be secure, or with the precautions taken to prevent any such accidents as those you have imagined. And notwithstanding the heavy responsibility which rests upon me, from all which you gentlemen of science are, happily for yourselves, so free, I feel that as regards the works of the Box Tunnel everything necessary has been done to render them secure, and that the doubts and fears you have so easily raised, but which it might be more difficult again to set at rest, are entirely unfounded.

In conclusion, I must observe that no man can be more sensible than I am of the great advantage it would be to me as a civil engineer to be better acquainted with geology, as well as with many other branches of science, that I have endeavoured to inform myself on the subject, and that I have not altogether thrown away the many opportunities afforded me in my professional pursuits; but that if from a conviction that you possessed information far more extensive than mine, if from doubts of the sufficiency of my abilities or the means I was likely to bring to bear upon the subject, if from a fear of such consequences as you now antic.i.p.ate, you had kindly, on any one of the many occasions when I have had the pleasure of meeting you, intimated that you had any suggestions to make to me, I should have been anxious to have availed myself of your a.s.sistance. But after the lapse of years, the first intimation I have of such doubts is the very public expression of a very strong opinion, which, if weight be attached to it, must tend to alarm the public unnecessarily, and to injure the value of the property of individuals who have embarked several millions in that property.

Between Chippenham and Bristol the nature of the building stone enabled Mr. Brunel, at moderate cost, to make the bridges, tunnel fronts, and stations ornamental features in the picturesque scenery through which the railway pa.s.ses.

He took great pleasure in finis.h.i.+ng minutely the various designs, and making them correct in their proportions and details. One tunnel front, near Bristol, may be singled out for especial mention. During its construction a part of the ground behind slipped away, and it became unnecessary to complete the top of one of the side walls. It was therefore left unfinished, and was planted with ivy so as to present the appearance of a ruined gateway.

The roofs of the Bath and Bristol stations are of large span, and are handsome architectural structures. They are each in the form of a Tudor arch; the Bristol roof is 72 feet span, and the Bath roof 50 feet span.

The framing is an example of a peculiar form of construction, somewhat a.n.a.logous to that adopted in the large s.h.i.+pbuilding sheds in the dockyards. There are no cross tie-rods, but each princ.i.p.al of the roof is formed of two frameworks, like cranes, meeting in the middle of the roof; the weight being carried on columns near the edge of the platform, and the tail ends of the frames held down by the side walls. As the two frames do not press against each other at their meeting point at the ridge of the roof, there is no outward thrust. The side walls being on a viaduct could not without difficulty have been made to resist a horizontal thrust.

At the Bristol station Mr. Brunel introduced hydraulic machinery for working lifts. By these the waggons were lowered to and raised up from the goods shed, which was placed at the level of the ground, about 12 feet below the railway.

Although the works already described were completed in 1841, the permanent terminus at Paddington was not commenced till the year 1849.

It was completed in 1854. Previously to that time a temporary station had been used, the booking offices being under the arches of the Bishop's Road bridge.

As the level of the railway was lower than that of the surrounding land, no exterior architectural effect could be produced; but Mr. Brunel took this opportunity to carry out his views as to the proper structural use of metal in works of this description.

In the design of the ornamental details, he obtained the a.s.sistance of Mr. (now Sir Matthew) Digby Wyatt.

The interior of the princ.i.p.al part of the station is 700 feet long and 238 feet wide, divided in its width by two rows of columns into three spans of 68, 102, and 68 feet, and is crossed at two points by transepts 50 feet wide, which give s.p.a.ce for large traversing frames. The roof is very light, consisting of wrought-iron arched ribs, covered partly with corrugated iron and partly with the Paxton gla.s.s roofing, which Mr.

Brunel here adopted to a considerable extent. The columns which carry the roof are very strongly bolted down to large ma.s.ses of concrete, to enable them to resist sideways pressure.

This station may be considered to hold its own in comparison with the gigantic structures which have since been built, as well as with older stations. The appearance of size it presents is due far more to the proportions of the design than to actual largeness of dimension. The spans of the roof give a very convenient subdivision for a large terminal station, dispensing with numerous supporting columns and at the same time avoiding heavy and expensive trusses. The graceful forms of the Paddington station, the absence of incongruous ornament and useless buildings, may be appealed to as a striking instance of Mr. Brunel's taste in architecture and of his practice of combining beauty of design with economy of construction.

The goods station was erected at about the same time as the pa.s.senger station, and is remarkable for the completeness of its arrangements, and for the great use made of hydraulic machinery. This is also applied in the pa.s.senger station.[45]

In connection with the Paddington station mention may be made of the Great Western Hotel, which was built at the extremity of the land belonging to the railway company.

When, in 1854, no tenant could be found for it, a few of the shareholders of the Great Western Railway, being unwilling that the building should remain empty and be a loss to the proprietors, formed themselves into a company to lease and work the hotel. Mr. Brunel became a Director, and shortly afterwards (in December 1855) the chairman. He occupied this post till his death, by which time the hotel had become very prosperous. He found attendance at the meetings of the Directors and the supervision of the management of the hotel a very agreeable relaxation from the more important duties which took him to Paddington.

The branches and extensions of the Great Western Railway, as far as their history affected the general interests of the company, are referred to in the chapter on the broad gauge. Branches were opened to Oxford in 1844, to Windsor in 1849, to Wycombe in 1854, to Uxbridge in 1856, to Henley in 1857, and to Brentford in July 1859.