The original roadbed of Brunel's Great Western Railway

"Berang" (berang) 11/11/2020 at 21:43 • Filed to: None

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Found this in a book published in 1838. Pretty interesting way to construct a railway.

Poor_Sh > Berang 11/11/2020 at 21:52

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So, trains are #stanced?

facw > Berang 11/11/2020 at 22:02

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I’ve taken the Great Western Railway (the modern railroad with that name in any event) many times, though I suspect the rail bed is all long replaced. There are still a couple of his bridges, a fairly simple one in Maidenhead, and the much more impressive Royal Albert Bridge near Plymouth:

I didn’t know this was a thing before my trip to Cornwall, so was very surprised. It’s a pretty unique structure.

Berang > facw 11/11/2020 at 22:12

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All of the original broad gauge track was pulled up in 1893 I believe. Brunel was of course long dead by this point, and Gooch who was responsible for the mechanical (rather than civil, which was Brunel’s duty) engineering of the line had died a year or two earlier - although the plan to remove the broad gauge lines was made during his lifetime. However, it does make me wonder if any of those pilings are still buried under modern tracks, or perhaps in some people’s backyards and such.

Sir Daniel Gooch had an interesting career. As it turns out, Brunel, who was a genius with civil engineering, was something a disaster with mechanical engineering. The first locomotives he ordered for GWR by Brunel were such a disaster that Gooch was brought in to basically get the trains running at all. Gooch also rescued the Great Eastern, to repurpose as a cable laying ship, ultimately being used to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Berang 11/11/2020 at 22:30

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DID SOMEBODY SAY BRUNEL

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > facw 11/11/2020 at 22:32

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He was the god of bridges

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Berang 11/11/2020 at 22:34

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too bad his name was Gooch

Berang > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/11/2020 at 22:42

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you mean too bad his daughter’s name was Gooch