19th century Britain experienced a revolution. It came to be known as the Industrial Revolution, but in truth it was much far more wide ranging than that. Society experienced a revolution. The country suddenly became a lot smaller as both transport and communication links brought the nation together.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was at the heart of it. So was his friend, Robert Stephenson, along with his father, George. But it was started by a Cornishman who died in poverty.
The start of the modern railway age is usually marked by the opening in 1825 of the Stockton & Darlington line. However, the first recorded use of a “railway train” occurred in a very unexpected place. In 1804, Richard Trevethick’s High-pressure steam engine first ran from the Pennydarren Ironworks in Merthyr to the Cardiff Canal, and the Cornish Genius officially began the “Age of Steam”.
Trevethick had tried to use the train at the Coalbrookdale pit in 1802, as a means of transferring the carts of coal to the canal without using horses. However, the heavy engine put so much pressure on the Cast Iron rails, thay they snapped. He gave up on the idea, and gave the train away.
Years later, when George Stephenson was designing the Stockton to Darlington line, he insisted that the tracks be made of Wrought iron, which was much tougher and yet more flexible than cast iron. Instead of snapping under pressure, it would bend. It was also easier to join together smoothly, creating a smoother ride for the carriages which were to run upon it.
George Stephenson began designing railway locomotives in 1812. By 1825, “Locomotion” became the first engine to carry passengers, on the 9 mile stretch of the Stockton to Darlington railway. In 1830, the Liverpool and Manchester railway was opened. George Stephenson's bright yellow locomotive, “Rocket” had won a competition at the famous Rainhill trials, which demonstrated it’s speed and reliability ahead of it’s rivals, “Blucher” and “Novelty”.
Rocket was revolutionary in design. It’s multitube boiler, which sat in the middle of the water rather than just heating it from below, was far more efficient than previous engines. It’s blast pipe exhaust dealt comfortably with the release of pressure, and the pistons were connected directly to the driving wheels at a 45 degree angle, which avoided any jarring motion of a traditional up-and-down piston. Rocket could also travel at over 30 miles per hour, and became the standard bearer for all future locomotives.
In 1823, George Stephenson’s son, Robert, set up his own business to design and build Locomotives. He went on to design the majority of the railways and locomotives which spread like wildfire across Britain over the next fifty years.
The first long distance lines were opened in the first years of Queen Victoria's reign, the London and Birmingham railway in 1838, part of Brunel's London to Bristol route the same year. A railway boom and mania followed during the 1840s, with promoters and speculators planning lines all over Britain. Within 20 years of the first train journey between Stockton and Darlington, 2441 miles of railway were open and 30 million passengers were being carried.
The spread of the railways has one major impact which we take for granted today – Standard time. In 1840, midday was simply whenever the sun was at its highest, whether you were in Edinburgh or London. This meant that 10am in the morning could be as much as 20 minutes out from one end of the country to the other, making it extremely difficult to set railway timetables. The government passed an act to Standardise time and from 1847 everyone in Britain was “on time”.
Expansion of the rail network was rapid and continuous. By 1900, 18,680 miles were in use and over 1100 million passengers were being carried, along with huge quantities of freight.
At the same time as these developments, another genius set about leaving his mark on the 19th century. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in 1806, the son of French engineer Marc Isambard Brunel, himself something of a genius. At the age of 16, Isambard began working with his father on the famous Rotherhithe tunnel, under the Thames. Shortly afterwards he turned his attention to designing a bridge across the Avon valley in Bristol. He won a competition which was judged by the great Thomas Telford, who had earlier designed the Menai bridge, connecting Anglesey to North Wales.
Whilst in Bristol, as the bridge building begain to slow, he became aware of rapidly developing railways, and saw his chance to build his very own railway. His plan was to design the fastest railway line in Britain, connecting the businesses of Bristol with the money men of London. He was appointed Chief Engineer of the Great Western Railway in 1833.
Brunel planned a flat, wide rail, which would accommodate large locomotives capable of high speeds. His route was easily planned; turn south towards Bath then across the Thames to Reading and into Paddington. He also knew the size of the track he wanted – 7 foot wide. This was in contrast to the width of track being used by the father and son combination of George and Robert Stephenson, the Geordie geniuses. They advocated the use of 4ft 8ins, simply because it was the gauge of the tramways supplying the colliery in which George had once worked.
However, to Brunel’s dismay, the British Government intervened and in 1846 passed a law which set the 4ft 8in gauge as the standard gauge for all railways in Britain. It eventually became the standard gauge around 90% of the world. By 1892, broad gauge rails had been wiped from the face of Britain.
Despite this, the rail link which Brunel had created from Bristol to London was a huge success. The sweeping curves and the comparitively flat track meant that high speeds could be maintained throughout the journey, and the route included some of the greatest engineering feats of the Victorian age. His tunnel at Box Hill, was the longest tunnel in the world at the time, and the grand facades at the entrance showed the Brunel could add style to some considerable substance. And his bridge over the River Thames at Maidenhead contained the largest spanning arch ever seen.
In 1837, Daniel Gooch, was brought in by the Railway Executive as Chief Mechanical Engineer to design locomotives which would complement this railway. Brunel envisoned wide carriages to provide luxurious conditions for the passengers, whilst speeding along his broad gauge rails. As a result, Gooch designed his famous “Firefly” class engines, with it 2-2-2 wheel formation. By 1840 he had decided to locate the building yards for his fleet of engines in Swindon, where it was to remain for 150 years.
Brunel’s active mind soon turned away from the railways, and he set his focus of Trans-Atlantic travel. In 1836, his latest creation, the Great Western steamship was built, at a length of 236ft. It’s immense size did not hinder it’s progress, and it was soon making return journeys to New York every month, whereas previous ships had taken a month just to reach New York.
But this was not enough for Brunel. He soon went about designing a ship which could comfortably travel back and forth to the colonies in Australia. In 1843, the Great Britain was launched, a ship much larger than the Great Western, at 322ft long. Again Brunel tried something new - it was Propeller driven, as opposed to the the traditional paddle steamers of the time. This gave it extra power and made the journeys shorter, setting the standing for future cross-world navigation.
In 1855, Brunel designed the striking Royal Albert Bridge, over the River Tamar at Saltash near Plymouth, which is as breathtaking in it’s extravagance today as it was then.
Again, Brunel did not rest on his laurels. He sought to overcome the problem of long-distance voyages which were hindered by the need to re-fuel mid-journey. No ships were able to travel to Australia without refuelling, which added to the overrall journey time. In 1859, the Great Eastern was launched. Unthinkable at the time, it was twice the size of the Great Britain, at 692ft, and was designed to carry enough fuel to make it to Australia in one un-interrupted trip.
However, it was a commercial flop and in 1865 was sold to the American businessman Cyrus Field who took advantage of it’s large hull to store and lay telegraph cables along the entire bed of the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, the Chief Engineer of the telegraph project was Brunel’s former associate, Daniel Gooch. In 1866 the first telegram was sent between New York and London, and once again Brunel’s inventions had (somewhat unwittingly) proven to bring the people of the world that little bit closer.
Brunel was a genius, a forward thinker and passionate speaker, who threw himself whole heartedly into every project. Unfortunately, this approach to his work was ultimately his undoing, and he worked himself into an early grave, never seeing his life’s work, the Clifton suspension bridge, come to fruition. It was completed 5 years after his death.
Ironically, both Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel died in 1859.
