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Engineer’s Report, West Cornwall Railway, 29 July 1852

September 14, 2020 / iron_steam

From The Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet, and General Advertiser (Truro, England), Friday, August 27, 1852)

ENGINEER’S REPORT.
18 Duke-street, Westminster, 29th July, 1852

Gentlemen,

Since my last report, the works between Redruth and Truro, have been proceeding with such vigor, that l have no doubt that portion of the Line will be ready for opening to the public, by the time of your next half-yearly meeting.

The relaying of a portion of the old line, between the top of Angarrack and bottom of Penpons, with Barlow’s rails, has been completed and taken into the company’s hands.

The contractor is at present re-laying the portion of the old line, between Camborne and a point near Redruth, and it will, no doubt, be completed in a few weeks.

Upon the new lines already opened, the works are in good condition, and the traffic will no doubt require some additional small sidings at various stations.

Additions to the carriage end waggon stock, necessary for the anticipated increase in traffic, are being made, and two locomotive engines have been purchased on favorable terms.

Considerable progress is made with the station at Redruth, and a temporary station will be provided near Truro.

I am, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
l. K. BRUNEL
To the Directors of the
West Cornwall Railway Company

Obituary of William Pole

September 13, 2020 / iron_steam

The Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1901

William Pole was born in Birmingham on the 22nd April, 1814, his father being Thomas Pole, of that town.

At the age of fifteen he was articled for six years to Mr. Charles H. Capper, an Engineer in Birmingham who represented the Horseley Company, at whose extensive works the pupil was enabled to lay the foundation of the extensive knowledge of engineering which he afterwards attained.

One of his early experiences was a visit paid to the Horseley Company by the Princess Victoria, then eleven years of age, who was much interested in seeing one of the old copper coins, weighing an ounce, forged to an ingot and then rolled out to a strip nearly 25 feet long, with a thickness of about inch. In 1836, a year before the Princess became Queen, young Pole came from Birmingham to London, and, as he died three weeks before Her Majesty, there was a marked coincidence in the duration of their life-work.

Obituary of William Bell

September 2, 2020 / iron_steam

The Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1892

William Bell was born at Leith on the 21st of September, 1818. He was educated at the High School, Leith, and afterwards at Edinburgh University, where, in 1839, he gained the gold medal and prize for Natural Philosophy, and was second in Mathematics.

On leaving the University in the following year, he became a pupil of the late John Hammond, then Resident Engineer on the Great Western Railway at Reading, where William Bell had many opportunities of making practical experiments on the working of locomotive engines, and on other subjects connected with mechanical engineering.

In 1842 he was placed by Mr. Hammond with the late John Thornhill Harrison on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, and was subsequently Resident Engineer on the Cheltenham extension and on the Dawlish contract, which he measured up.

Journal Entry of I. K. Brunel on the January 1828 Flooding of the Thames Tunnel

September 1, 2020 / iron_steam

From a handwritten diary held by the Brunel Institute

I have now been laid up quite useless for 14 weeks and upwards, ever since the 14^th January. I shan’t forget that day in a hurry, very near finished my journey then; when the danger is over, it is rather amusing than otherwise – while it existed I can’t say the feeling was at all uncomfortable. If I was to say the contrary, I should be nearer the truth in this instance. While exertions could still be made and hope remained of stopping the ground it was an excitement which has always been a luxury to me. When we were obliged to run, I felt nothing in particular; I was only thinking of the best way of getting us on and the probable states of the arches. When knocked down, I certainly gave myself up, but I took it very much as a matter of course, which I had expected the moment we quitted the frames, for I never expected we should get out. The instant I disengaged myself and got breath again – all dark – I bolted into the other arch – this saved me by laying hold of the railrope – the engine must have stopped a minute. I stood still nearly a minute. I was anxious for poor Ball and Collins, who I felt too sure had never risen from the fall we had all had and were, as I thought, crushed under the great stage. I kept calling them by name to encourage them and make them also (if still able) come through the opening. While standing there the effect was – grand – the roar of the rushing water in a confined passage, and by its velocity rushing past the opening was grand, very grand. I cannot compare it to anything, cannon can be nothing to it. At last it came bursting through the opening. I was then obliged to be off – but up to that moment, as far as my sensations were concerned, and distinct from the idea off the loss of six poor fellows whose death I could not then foresee, kept there.”

The sight and the whole affair was well worth the risk and I would willingly pay my share, £50 about, of the expenses of such a ‘spectacle’. Reaching the shaft, I was much too bothered with my knee and some other thumps to remember much.

If I had been kept under another minute when knocked down I should not have suffered more, and I trust I was tolerably fit to die. If, therefore, the occurrence itself was rather a gratification than otherwise and the consequences in no way unpleasant I need not attempt to avoid such. My being in bed at present, tho’ no doubt arising from the effects of my straining, was immediately caused by me returning too soon to a full diet at Brighton; had I been properly warned of this, I might now have been hard at work at the tunnel. But all is for the best.

Related Material

First Parliamentary Debate on the Great Western Railroad

August 24, 2020 / iron_steam

House of Commons Debate

10 March 1834

Lord Granville Somerset moved the second reading of the Western Rail-road Bill.

The Earl of Kerry, having been requested by the Great Western Railway Company to second the Motion for the Second Reading, would take that opportunity of stating the reason which induced him to support the measure. It was well known that Bristol was the great “entrepot” of the imports from Ireland, and in that respect the railway would be one of great national importance, for by it the best and most wholesome food would be obtained by the labouring classes of this great metropolis more cheaply. It would be of great advantage also to all the western counties, allowing their produce to be brought cheaper than at present to the London market. As to the objection that the advocates of the Bill were supporting a measure which had no body, but merely a head and a tail, it was one that had been argued a considerable time before the Committee. He admitted that it was so, but, in explanation of it he would beg to state how the speculation was got up. It only commenced last August; and every Gentleman who was acquainted with the proceedings must know that, before the end of October, notices were served upon all the persons whose property was likely to be affected by it, as it was necessary that the Company should order a survey of the whole line of the proposed Railway. The evil complained of, therefore, would be remedied in time. He considered this a great national undertaking, and he was sure that the grounds of opposition to it which he had heard frequently out of the House would have no weight in it. He regretted that some opposition was made to this Bill by a learned body, the Provost and Fellows of Eton College; but he had learned that the nearest point to the College at which the Railway touched was a mile and a half distant. Now the governors of Harrow and Rugby, within a quarter of a mile of the first of which the Birmingham Rail-road would pass, had not objected to that, nor did they think that the interests of those establishments would be affected by it. If there were any objections to be made to this Bill, he thought the proper time would be when it was in Committee. Out of 1,368 landowners on the proposed line of road, only 135 had expressed their dissent to it. He did not think it was necessary for him to add any more as he hoped that the House would agree to the Second Reading, and they would then have a full opportunity of discussing it in Committee.

Obituary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

August 24, 2020 / iron_steam

Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 19, 1860

MR. ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL was the only Son of the late Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, whose mechanical genius and originality of conception he largely inherited. Young Brunel was born at Portsmouth, in the year 1806, at the period when his Father was engaged on the block machinery for the Royal Dockyard. He received his general education at the College Henri Quatre, at Caen, where, at that time, the mathematical masters were particularly celebrated, and to his acquirements in that science may be attributed the early successes he achieved, as well as the confidence in his own resources which he displayed throughout his professional career. On his return to England, he was, for a time, practically engaged in mechanical engineering, at the works of the late Mr. Bryan Donkin, and at the age of about twenty, he joined his Father int he construction of the Thames Tunnel, where he attained considerable experience in brickwork and the use of cements, and more especially, in meeting and providing for the numerous casualties to which that work was exposed. The practical lessons there learned were in valuable to him; and to his personal gallantry and presence of mind, on more than one occasion, when the river made irruptions into the Tunnel, the salvation of the work was due. One of his first great independent designs was that selected for the proposed suspension-bridge across the River Avon, from Durdham Down, Clifton, to the Leigh Woods, which he owed to the fact, that upon the reference of the competing designs to two distinguished mathematicians for the verification of the calculations, his alone was pronounced to be mathematically exact. Want of funds prevented, at that period, the carrying out of the design, which there are now some hopes of seeing executed, by transplanting to that site the present Hungerford Suspension-bridge, which is itself the work of Mr. Brunel.

Observations on the effect of wind on the suspension bridge over the Menai Strait, more especially with reference to the injuries which its roadways sustained during the storm of January 1839

August 17, 2020 / iron_steam

E COWPER, I K BRUNEL, S SEAWARD, J M RENDEL, B DONKIN

[Editor’s note: Cowper, Edward Shickle; Brunel, Isambard Kingdom; Seaward, Samuel; Rendel, James Meadows; Donkin, Bryan]

Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 1, 1841

February 16, 1841

In the month of December 1825, when the original construction of the bridge was nearly completed, several severe gales occurred, and considerable motion was observed, both in the main chains and in the platform of the carriageways. It appeared that the chains were not acted upon simultaneously, nor with equal intensity; it was believed, therefore, that if they were attached to each other, and retained in parallel plains, the total amount of movement would be diminished.

On the 30^th of January, and on the 6^th of February, 1826, some heavy gales again caused considerable motion of the chains and roadway, breaking several of the vertical suspending rods, and of the iron bearers of the platform.

Engraved portrait of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Introduction: The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer

August 6, 2020 / iron_steam / 0 Comments

I’m beginning with a transcription of Isambard Brunel’s biography of his father, The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer. This will be the first of many volumes of primary source materials that, I hope, will be of use to the readership of the blog.

I will break up the chapters into several parts each for the sake of brevity. Each part will be linked within the chapter and to the overall table of contents. Additional materials, such as a listing of the persons noted in the book, and other historical notes and asides, will also appear.

I am indebted to Mr. I. K. Brunel (Ghost), without whose insistent demands I would not have embarked upon this project. Undoubtably Mr. Brunel will share commentary with us as we go.

Finally, please consider subscribing to the site, and if the materials are of interest and use to you, a tip to support the work we’re doing would be much appreciated.

Obituary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel