The Great Western Railway
Brunel's Broad Gauge Railway
Copyright Ciamar Price and Ragged Angel Ltd 2011. Smashwords Edition
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Table of Contents
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The Great Western Railway
Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Great Western Railway was designed to be one of the fastest of its time.
The railway was built on a wide gauge of 7 feet known as "broad gauge", designed to increase speed and passenger comfort. It was joked that GWR stood for God's Wonderful Railway. The GWR was behind a range of engineering feats from Paddington station to the Severn tunnel and the Royal Albert Bridge. Its eventual end came when it was absorbed by the amalgam that was British Rail, but for a time the Great Western Railway stood for speed, luxury and efficient travel.
1833 – Founding The Great Western
At the time, it required an Act of Parliament to found a railway company. The Great Western Railway Act went through Parliament repeatedly, and was defeated in 1834. It finally passed in 1836 effectively founding the Great Western Railway. However work had already begun years earlier on finding funds and the chief engineer had already been identified - Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Unusually the Act failed to specify the gauge (distance apart) of the rails, probably because most of the country was using Stephenson's narrow gauge which had 4 feet 8 inches between the rails. Brunel however took advantage of the Act's omission.
He had his own ideas that a broader gauge would provide faster, smoother, travel. Wider, lower rolling stock should, he reasoned, reduce air resistance and as he foresaw mass transit, speed was essential. With his reputation (he was already responsible for the Thames Tunnel, and the design for the Clifton Suspension Bridge) he was able to convince the GWR board to go along with it.
The new gauge, with seven feet between the rails, was quickly and logically dubbed Broad Gauge.
SS Great Western - The railway steam ship
The GWR was one of the longest railways in the country. The story goes that when Brunel was asked sarcastically why he did not extend it further, he replied "Why not?" and built the steamship Great Western, to extend the route to New York. It would be the first of his three Great Ships. A wooden hulled ironreinforced paddle steamer it was setting records for the journey as late as 1843.
1836 - The Early Days
The first part of the line (Paddington to Maidenhead) was completed in 1838. However the company was at the time running an odd assortment of rolling stock.
Broad gauge, and other specifications demanded by Brunel, meant that no existing engines could run on the track, so new trains had to be designed and built. Eventually these designs standardised - two of the most famous became known as the Firefly and Iron Duke classes of locomotives.
One of the characteristics of Broad Gauge engines were the huge driving wheels. This was an early form of gearing designed to allow the trains to achieve higher speeds.The other standardisation was the livery: the famous green of the engines and brown and cream of the carriages rapidly became known nation-wide.
Possibly the most famous livery in British railway history, the GWR engines were a standard green with brass fittings, while the carriages were brown and cream.
The Rolling Stock
Brunel's original specifications for the broad gauge engines had been rife with problems. Two test engines, the Vulcan and Premier, were built to the designs, but were slow, inefficient and known to derail.
Ironically, given that Brunel designed the broad gauge, it was not his engine designs that were finally used. His request for a short piston stroke and low axle loading meant that the engines could not produce the power required for great speed Fortunately for the fledgling Great Western Railway, Brunel had selected Daniel Gooch as the chief locomotive engineer. He proved to be one of the few who could surpass Brunel in an area of engineering.
Daniel Gooch
Having worked for Stephenson since he was in his teens, aged twenty-one Gooch was already an experienced railway engineer when Brunel hired him for the Great Western Railway. After the failure of Brunel's designs, he persuaded Brunel to buy two narrow gauge engines the North Star and Morning Star and convert them to Broad Gauge. Some sources suggest Gooch had worked on the original designs for the North Star itself before joining the GWR, which was how he knew the engines were available.
Once the engines were running, problems became apparent. The engines had been built to run narrower gauges and converted; the Morning Star had actually been built for the New Orleans rail company, who then did not take delivery.
This meant that, among other issues the boilers were undersized for the demands of broad gauge. The engines could scarcely pull sixteen tons at forty miles an hour, a far cry from the speed that broad gauge was meant to support. Brunel and Gooch went to work on the North Star. It had arrived before the rails it was due to run on had been built and spent some time in a warehouse waiting for the rail link to be completed, giving the engineers time to plan. The engine was stripped down and improvements made including widening the blast-pipe. The performance improvements they made increased the load to forty tons at forty miles an hour, while reducing the fuel used by more than half. The engine pulled the inaugural train for the Great Western Railway in 1838.
The Broad Gauge Engine Classes
Once the newly rebuilt North Star had proved its effectiveness, it was used as the basis for the first class of broad gauge engines, the Star Class. Twelve Star class engines were built, and they along with the later Firefly engines, were the ones that established the Great Western’s reputation.
In 1840, the first Firefly was introduced. Capable of speeds of over 60 mph, the Firefly became the workhorse of the Great Western. The Iron Duke class, a more powerful version, quickly followed, capable of eighty miles an hour and pulling the fastest express train in the world “The Flying Dutchman.” Gooch's successors, Joseph Armstrong in 1864 and then William Dean in 1877, would continue to build on his work, designing some of the most classic locomotives of all time. Gooch himself would eventually become chairman of the GWR.
Firefly Class
Learning from his work on the Star Class, Gooch realised that forty miles an hour was not enough. He began work on a new engine for the broad gauge, designed to take advantage of the tracks. In 1840, the first Firefly was introduced, and quickly proved her performance advantages. Capable of sixty miles an hour, with an improved piston stroke and a larger boiler, the Firefly would become the workhorse of the Great Western Railway.
Over 60 would eventually be built. Concerned by manufacturing practices, Gooch set up his own factory in Swindon to produce them. This would eventually become the famous Swindon Railway Works.
The Iron Duke Class
Even as the Firefly came into service, Gooch was designing bigger and better steam engines.
The Iron Duke class was developed from the already successful Firefly class. The prototype was completed in 1846, and the rest of the class soon followed. It looked very similar to the Firefly, the main external difference visible in images being the two wheels in front of the main motive driving wheel rather than one. Other differences, such as the larger driving wheel, can be hard to make out in the pictures of the time without a direct comparison.
It pulled the Flying Dutchman, for some decades the world's fastest express. As this ran across the country, from London Paddington to Penzance in Cornwall, the Iron Duke engines became instantly recogniseable and iconic. Speeds of sixty miles an hour were common, but the Iron Duke engines were known to reach eighty.
1836-1862 Triumphs of the Great Western
With a chief engineer like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it was easy to see the railway was destined for great things - even if like Broad gauge some were rather ahead of their time. The terminus at Paddingon Station is one such example. Designed and built by Brunel, opening in 1836, much of the station today dates from his existing design in 1854.
The Royal Albert Bridge, also called the Tamar or Saltash Bridge, opened in 1859 linking Cornwall for the first time with the rest of the UK. It was built with Broad Gauge and apparently Cornish farmers liked the smooth efficient transit of goods this gave, allowing fresh produce to be transported to locations across the country.
Then there were the tunnels. The Box Tunnel was the longest underground railway tunnel of its type and opened in 1841. The even longer Severn Tunnel, linking the railway to Wales was designed in 1872 and opened in 1886.
Wherever it went during this period, the Great Western was setting engineering firsts. More importantly, in the public eye, it was doing it all with speed, grace and sheer style.
1845-1889 The Gauge Wars
The Broad Gauge was a controversial choice, requiring as it did entirely new rolling stock. It also meant that where the railway met another line which was narrow gauge, passengers had to change trains to continue their journey. This was called a gauge break.
However Broad Gauge had advantages in speed and efficiency. The narrow gauge companies were trying to prove Broad gauge needed to be abandoned, so the GWR suggested a race.
The Race
In 1845 a Firefly class Broad gauge locomotive was raced against two new standard gauge engines. The engines would run the same distance, pulling the same load.
The GWR suggestion that London to Exeter be used as a route was declined, as the Narrow Gauge companies requested a shorter route. The GWR put forward Ixion, a Firefly class locomotive. The narrow gauge companies put forward two engines: Engine A, and No 54. Both were newer than the Firefly. To give the Firefly an edge, the GWR used preheated water in the boiler. Not to be outdone, the narrow gauge teams gave Engine A a rolling start, installed a portable boiler to aid the fire and also used preheated water.
No. 54 came off the tracks. Engine A achieved fifty-four miles per hour towing fifty tons. Ixion won the challenge, at over sixty miles per hour and towing eighty tons. The Firefly engine was faster and used less fuel despite being significantly older than the narrow gauge engines. The demonstration was meant to bring the Broad Gauge time.
1846 – The Act
Despite the fact that Broad Gauge was technically superior, a Parliamentary Act was passed in 1846 stating that all new railways must be standard gauge. They based the decision on the fact that Stephenson's narrow gauge railway had substantially more track laid for it.
The GWR and other broad gauge railways ignored it and continued to lay Broad Gauge tracks as late as 1877.
1861 – A Business Problem and Dual Gauge
With GWR already owning most of the Broad Gauge rail in the country, it was ironically a business consideration by their management that sowed the seeds for Broad Gauge's eventual end. The GWR had bought a number of smaller railway companies, and these were narrow gauge.
Converting narrow gauge to broad gauge was expensive, as bridges and tunnels had to be rebuilt and cutting widened to accomodate the wider rails. To avoid a gauge break, the new lines were laid as Dual Gauge.
Dual Gauge
Dual gauge was a system of three rails, one on one side, but two on the other, allowing the track to take both narrow and broad gauge trains. While technically the best of both worlds, this made points and junctions complex and expensive to maintain.
By 1861 the Great Western Railway had a mix of all three types of rail and both rolling stock. The system needed to be standardised.
Perhaps most importantly for the future of the broad gauge, Brunel had died in 1859. He was no longer around to champion his creation. However it would be decades before his influence would fade enough for the last broad gauge to be removed. Sir Daniel Gooch, Brunel’s friend and close colleague continued to champion the Broad Gauge. When Gooch died in 1889, Broad Gauge lost its strongest supporter. The railway began to move towards a standard gauge.
1890-92 - The Broad Gauge debate
Despite the advantages standardisation would bring, it ran into opposition, not purely from supporters within the GWR itself.
The broad gauge Cornwall Railway ran over the Royal Albert Bridge (also built by Brunel) and was the rail link that had brought Cornwall access to the national rail network. Brunel had built the Cornish Railways, including timber viaducts to the remote areas.
As a result, in Cornwall, the fast direct routes afforded by Broad Gauge had many supporters among the general public. The fast express route of the Flying Dutchman, between Paddington and Exter, was beloved by commuters.
1892 - The end of Broad Gauge
Finally in 1892 the decision was taken to convert the whole network to narrow gauge, now called standard gauge. Even in this the GWR set itself high standards.
The decision was taken to change the entire final stretch of Broad Gauge, the length of the Flying Dutchman’s express route from London to Penzance, over one weekend.
On Friday 20th May 1892 the last Flying Dutchman pulled out of Paddington, towed by an Iron Duke engine and hailed by cheering crowds. The following Monday a narrow gauge train pulled the morning express into the same station. With the end of Broad Gauge the routes lost their names, and a little of the romance went out of rail.
For some time afterwards the scrappers' yards were filled with the GWR broad gauge engines, which could not be adapted to standard gauge.
1906 The Last Broad Gauge Engines
Two Broad Gauge engines had been preserved and were saved and displayed at Swindon Railworks, the factory established by Gooch to build them many years earlier.
The two engines were “Lord of the Isles” an Iron Duke class engine, and the “North Star” itself, the engine that had pulled the inaugural train on the Great Western many years earlier. For a time both were displayed at a number of museums round the country. Then in 1906 the Swindon Railworks scrapped them both, claiming to “not have enough space”. The decision has been decried ever since.
As soon afterwards as 1925 a replica of the North Star was built, and placed on display. Where possible the builders used parts from the original.
1947 - The end of GWR
The Great Western Railway itself finally ended in 1947 when the railways were nationalised under Clement Atlee's Labour government and became part of British Rail. At the time it was lamented as the end of an era.
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Didcot Railway Centre
The Broad Gauge story does not end with the railway. The Great Western was gone, but not forgotten. In 1999 parts of the line were added to Unesco's World Heritage sites list. More importantly, despite the almost total destruction of the rolling stock, there is one place in the world that you can still see Broad Gauge steam railway running.
With all three gauges (standard, broad and dual) the Didcot Railway Centre is operated by the Great Western Society, and has a collection of GWR rolling stock. Its engines include Firefly, an engine designed as a replica of one of Brunel's broad gauge engines.
A replica of the Iron Duke was also built and is housed in Swindon Railworks. For Brunel’s two hundredth anniversary it was temporarily displayed alongside his second Great Ship, the SS Great Britain in Bristol. The North Star replica, built in 1925 and housed at Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is regrettably non-working. Both the Firefly and the Iron Duke replicas are capable of running, and the Firefly may often be seen at Didcot Open Days.
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Box Tunnel
At the time it was built the Box Tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in the world. Running between Bath and Swindon, through Box Hill, the tunnel was part of the Great Western Railway network built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Today it is still a vital rail link between London Paddington and Bristol.
The Design of the Tunnel
In 1841 the Great Western Railway's London-Bristol route had only one more section to be completed. Although work on this section had begun in 1836, the work was slower because of the need to deal with Box Hill, a large limestone hill directly in the railway's path.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel rose to the challenge with a plan for the longest railway tunnel yet built. Planned to be two miles long, and running at a gradiant of 1 in 100, the Box Tunnel was greeted with scepticism when the idea was announced.
Building the Box Tunnel
Initially two shafts were sunk, and in 1837 engineers were hired to begin building. Dealing with clay and limestone, the tunnel had to be bricklined due to the unstable nature of the rocks. A steam pumping engine kept water out of the tunnels while the men worked, but the tunnel still flooded in autumn in 1837 and 1838 (despite the improved engine Brunel added after the 1837 flood).
The sections had been cut from opposite ends and were planned to meet in the middle. When the two tunnels did, and it was found that they were exactly true and met up with less than two inches variance, Brunel was delighted. There is a story that he pulled a ring off his finger and gave it to the foreman - whether true or not, the ring is apparently still the treasured posession of the foreman's family.
Despite these successes the work fell behind. In 1840, Brunel stepped up efforts on the tunnel. With most of the GWR completed it was now one of the major issues.
Changes to the Design
Not everything went as Brunel had planned. He had wanted to leave the front of the Box Tunnel cut from limestone in the style of a gothic arch. In the event, potential frost damage to the limestone, and the protests from the public who feared it would collapse forced him to add a brick frontage to the section. While the ornate front of the Box Tunnel is often shown in pictures, the rear is (and remains) a simple brick archway.
Brunel also rejected a suggestion that the tunnel should be lit, making it a gloomy journey for the passengers until modern times.
A Sunlight Story
There is a famous story that Brunel aligned the tunnel so the sun would shine directly through it on his birthday, April 9th, each year.
In practice, although this effect occurs, it appears to take place on or around April 6th. This may be due to the effect of leap years, atmospheric effects or a number of other causes. Given typical British April weather however, it is an effect you are unlikely to witness.
A Vital Rail Link
In June 1841 the tunnel opened, finally establishing the London-Bristol Railway link. On the 30th June a train made the first journey between the two, from one end of the route to the other, in four hours.
Nowadays the Box tunnel is still a vital part of the London - Bristol Railway route. However it did not remain the longest rail tunnel for very long. Even after Brunel's death in 1859, the Great Western had grand ideas.
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Severn Tunnel
The Railway Tunnel under the Severn was built for the Great Western Railway. Already the constructors of the longest railway tunnel in the world, the Box Tunnel, they decided to create an even longer tunnel to link Wales with their rail network.
The Need for a Tunnel
In the 1860's the Welsh coal-mining industry expanded rapidly. With new pits opening it became essential to find an economic method of moving the coal from the pits to the docks and main industrial areas of the UK.
The obstacle to this was the River Severn. A broad river, prone to high and variable tides, severe flooding and the tidal surge known as the Severn Bore, it was wide and unpredictable. With the second highest tides in the world to contend with, as well as ships and docks to avoid, it was not going to be simple to overcome.
A railway link had to be established to move the coal. Bridges were considered, but the supports across the estuary would create a hazard for shipping, particularly in morning or evening mists.
Proposing a tunnel
Tunnels were considered a risk, especially since the most famous engineer with experience of long railway tunnels and underwater tunnelling was no longer available. Isambard Kingdom Brunel died in 1859, but his influence lived on.
Charles Richardson, who had worked with the Little Giant on the Thames Tunnel and Box Tunnel projects, proposed a plan for a railway tunnel under the river. It was greeted with some scepticism, and it was only due to another of Brunel's associates that the scheme progressed. Daniel Gooch had been the chief locomotive engineer for the Great Western Railway, and was now its chairman. He reviewed the scheme and cautiously agreed to it. John Hawkshaw, another distinguished tunnel engineer, also reviewed the scheme and believed it practical.
With their support permission for the tunnel was passed in 1872 and construction began.
Construction Problems
Not surprisingly, the greatest problem faced by the tunnel was water. When the initial shaft was dug the workers enountered a spring which had to be damed and diverted. Then they began to dig out, under the river.
Although the tunnel was through solid sound rock, rather than the sandy clay that had given so many problems with the Thames tunnel, cracks and fissures in the stone allowed water to enter, sometimes in great quantities. This could result in flooding, but progress was being made.
Surprisingly it was not the Severn that lead to the disatrous flooding in 1879. Instead as they dug forward the workers encountered an underground body of water of such size that it flooded the tunnel. Work halted abruptly with the entire tunnel flooded.
A New Engineer
Sir John Hawkshaw was appointed to take over the project. With the aid of two large steam engines he reduced the water pressure so that divers could go down and begin to seal the tunnel with Portland cement - a new compound whose underwater properties made it ideal. The water they had accidentally tapped was named "The Great Spring."
Finally in 1881, the last door was closed, the brickwork complete and "The Great Spring" was isolated. Work on the tunnel could begin again in earnest.
By 1883 the tunnel was almost complete. The men were understandably nervous of flooding and flase alarms slowed the work. It was towards the end of the year that there was another setback, when the diverted Great Spring once again broke through into the tunnel. This was barely under control when a gale sweeping in in October drove a tidal wave over the tunnel entrance, flooding it and the workers' cottages on the land above. Once again the remainder of the year was spent sealing the tunnel and removing the water.
The tunnel was finally completed in 1885, and in September of that year Sir Daniel Gooch inspected the tunnel on a Great Western train. However further pressure problems with the Great Spring resulted in a new pumping house being added that year to permanently remove the springwater that threatened to flood the tunnel. In 1886, the tunnel was finally opened for traffic.
The Modern Day
Still in use today, in 2006 it seemed that despite the tunnel's illustrious history it would be the victim of rail cuts. A local pressure group was formed and campaigned successfully. After the change in governments in 2010 the Department of Transport gave assurances that the tunnel services would be protected, and further services are being added from December 2011.
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Bridges
The Great Western Railway was designed to be as flat and level as possible to improve speed and performance. It also gave a much smoother ride for passengers. In counties like Cornwall this meant that many viaducts were built, usually of wood, to bridge valleys, rivers, and height differentials.
Along with these wooden viaducts, Brunel also built the great bridge that links Cornwall to the rest of the country, a critical piece of rail infrastructure even in the modern age.
Royal Albert Bridge
The Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash was one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's last engineering feats. Opened in 1859, he died the same year.
Also called the Saltash Bridge or the Tamar Bridge, the Royal Albert Railway Bridge is often seen as a monument to him, the last of his great railway bridges and the last he personally saw completed.
The need for a Bridge
In 1846 it was decided that Cornwall should be linked by rail with the rest of the UK's network. This however posed a problem in the shape of the River Tamar, which cut through the prospective route. Even at its narrowest point the River Tamar was over 1000 feet wide. In fact the total distance to be spanned was 1100ft, between Plymouth on one side and Saltash on the other.
Brunel's broad gauge railway was already running in Cornwall and had been slowly but eventually embraced by the locals, whose concerns about the weight of the railway on mines and timber viaducts were settled by experience. This also ensured that it would be Isambard Kingdom Brunel who built the new viaduct.
Designing the Bridge
Despite the range of timber viaducts he had already built through Cornwall and Devon, this span required something more. Brunel first considered a timber bridge, but rejected the idea as the gap between spans was too short - six seperate spans would be required.
Timber would not be strong enough. This bridge would need iron.
Originally Brunel designed a single span across the river, but the navy objected that it was too low for their ships to pass beneath and the design was rejected. Eventually he settled on the design we see today - two spans with a single central support mid-river. Each span was 455ft long, but this presented another problem as there was nowhere to anchor the supporting chains. The solution was self-supporting trusses, the graceful arcs that make the bridge instantly recogniseable today.
The Grand Opening
The bridge finally opened in May 1859 and public reaction in Cornwall was delight. The Royal Albert Bridge was part of the Cornwall Railway, a broad gauge railway that was part of the Great Western network. The bridge was the final step that connected the Cornish railway with the rest of the country. Built with only one track, as the funds to widen the bridge for a second were not available, Cornish farmers in particular benefited from the ability to ship their products cheaply and fast.
One sad note was that Brunel was not there to see it. Ill from the the stress of his last project, the Great Eastern, Brunel was already suffering the illness that would lead to the stroke that killed him. He saw the complete bridge only once, when a special train pulled him slowly across the bridge to allow him to examine his workmanship. In September 1959 he died.
The Gauge Change
When the change to narrow gauge was proposed, Cornwall was one of the last places in the country to switch. Slow to adopt the narow gauge railway, the Cornish held on to their broad gauge with fervor. Nonetheless in 1892 the Royal Albert Bridge, like the rest of the GWR, was finally converted to narrow gauge.
The Modern Day
Even today, over 150 years later, the bridge remains a critical piece of both infrastructure and history. Still carrying a single track, Saltash Bridge it remains one of Britain's major rail bridges.
Half a mile of single track on one of the busiest modern day lines caused some considerable congestion in the twentieth century and several ingenious methods of signalling were created to handle it. When the lines on both sides of the bridge were doubled this became even more important. Despite a speed restriction on trains (usually around 15mph) modern signalling equipment ensures that the Royal Albert Bridge now maintains a regular traffic flow.
It seems we should be grateful for the navy's requirements preventing a timber bridge being built, for while the Royal Albert Bridge remains, Brunel's timber viaducts have all been replaced and lost.
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Resources
“Isambard Kingdom Brunel” by LTC Rolt
“The Great Western Railway: 150 Glorious Years” by David St John Thomas (Editor)
Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org)
The Great Western Railway site: http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/
The Royal Albert Bridge site: http://www.royalalbertbridge.co.uk
Lenses:
http://www.squidoo.com/Great-Western_Railway
http://www.squidoo.com/royal-albert-bridge
http://www.squidoo.com/severn-tunnel
http://www.squidoo.com/box-tunnel
http://www.squidoo.com/brunel – an index of resouces about Brunel
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About the e-Book
These pieces were originally produced for a local school, and are available online for free distribution. Aimed at a younger audience, they are a brief introduction to engineering history which can then be built on and used for ideas for lesson plans and class projects.
With thanks to Ragged Angel for handling the formatting and upload of this e-book.
Ciamar Price (More on Smashwords)
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Other E-books
In This Series
"The Three Great Ships of Isambard Kingdom Brunel" is another summary book, covering Brunel's three legendary ships, the Great Western, Great Britain and Great Eastern. This is a series of free non-fiction books so see the other titles to find out what is available.
"Early Railways" Vol 2 of the Age of Engineering contains the story of the North Star engine, and Brunel's experiment with air pressure railway, 'firing' carrages down the track using air pressure and pistons.
Fiction
Ragged Angel also publishes a range of other titles, including games and fiction.
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