Industrial Revolution heralded a new age of steel and railways, such that Britain’s Imperial Century of Dominance flourished over the Empire. The revolution required factories and transport systems to process the imported raw materials, and to export the finished products. A new smelting coal method came when steel inventor Henry Bessemer’s patented a design for the first inexpensive mass production of steel. He removed impurities from iron by oxidation! Steel rails lasted 10+ times longer than the old iron rails, so that more powerful locomotives could pull longer trains.
Swindon Museum of the Great Western Railway
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The steam engine freed machines from the limitations of water power, meaning factories could be built in the cities! Country workers flooded in, searching for jobs and causing cities to flourish. Producing the wrought iron needed for train-tracks luckily dropped costs, allowing the steam train to haul coal and deliver raw materials to factory doors.
Now, consider Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59) born in Portsmouth, son of French engineer Marc Brunel. Isambard was sent to France to study, then back in Britain where Dad Marc ensured the lad received a good education in engineering principles.
The first steam-assisted crossing of the Atlantic had taken place in 1819, when SS Savannah sailed from Georgia USA to Liverpool. So later Brunel had to persuade his directors that a transatlantic shipping line would be a natural extension to their railway services.
The first public steam-hauled railway, Stockton & Darlington, opened 1825 and the first inter-city railway was soon opened, connecting Liverpool and Manchester. With this new demand for steam power came a greater demand for coal; mines were deepened and production boomed.
In 1825, Isambard became an assistant engineer creating the under-river Thames Tunnel. He was an energetic leader, but workers died and Brunel himself almost died when the Thames Tunnel was partially flooded in Jan 1828. He was hospitalised in Brighton, taking months to recover. Tunnel-work ground to a standstill and the project wasn’t resumed for some years, but Brunel’s experience was vital.
In 1829 Isambard went to Bristol for a design competition for a Clifton Suspension Bridge over River Avon. His design was chosen, but the project was halted by the 1831 Bristol Riots. His skills WERE noted and in 1833, he became chief engineer for the Bristol Railway project and immediately set to work.
Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1830, and married Mary Elizabeth Horsley, daughter of musician William Horsley in Kensington Church in 1836. Their marriage produced 3 happy children.
The Great Western Railway project was conceived by Bristol merchants to ensure their city remained the second most important English port, and the chief one for American trade. The Thames Tunnel (1825) experience had encouraged the Great Western authorities to appoint Brunel as chief engineer of their Great Western Railway in 1833.
After a 1835 Act of Parliament, work began with Brunel taking on the surveying role, insisting on the new broad gauge railway lines (2.1 ms) to increase speeds. NB that the Birmingham-Gloucester Railway had already been built with a standard gauge (1.6 ms).
The first section of the new track from Paddington to Maidenhead was opened in June 1838, incorporating impressive structures. The route was extended, ending in Bristol in June 1841. En route many bridges, viaducts and tunnels were constructed eg Bristol’s neo-Gothic Temple Meads railway station and the Chepstow suspension bridge over the Wye.
Britain’s government knew that to operate a successful trade empire, they’d have to ensure fast, reliable and regular shipping. Earlier developments in shipbuilding, like the invention of the screw propeller in 1835, had improved speed. Brunel envisaged an interconnected travel network by which people could travel the length of the country, before crossing the Atlantic to New York. Thus he needed ships that were capable of covering the distance AND carrying people comfortably.
The SS Great Western was to be the biggest ship in the world then. Aside from a few early mishaps (including Brunel himself being injured during an engine-room fire), the ship made its maiden voyage to New York. The SS Great Britain was a wrought iron, screw propelled, ocean-going steamship built in 1843 in Bristol, supervised by Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Co. A long and heavy ship, she was designed initially for the Trans-Atlantic luxury passenger trade. Launched in 1845, it was designed for speed and comfort, made from metal not wood, powered by an engine not wind, and driven by a propeller not paddle wheels.
Brunel modernised shipbuilding. The steam engine was three storeys high and ran on 200 tons of seawater, stored in the huge boiler, powering the ship at 12 knots. The four decks had excellent cabins for 360 passengers, and had a large, lavish dining room. Plus there was accommodation for 120 crew. SS Great Britain also carried 1,200 tons of cargo, and equal amounts of coal. But her career was short lived, after running aground in Nth Ireland in 1846.
In 1854 the SS Great Eastern was being built large enough to be able to sail to Australia and India with c4,000 passengers. Brunel wanted to make long voyages economically and speedily by steam, which required enough coal aboard for the entire outward voyage. The construction process of the SS Great Eastern was a trying ordeal; it ran over-budget and over-time, and the ship builder John Scott Russell was tough.
The Great Western Railway project was conceived by Bristol merchants to ensure their city remained the second most important English port, and the chief one for American trade. The Thames Tunnel (1825) experience had encouraged the Great Western authorities to appoint Brunel as chief engineer of their Great Western Railway in 1833.
After a 1835 Act of Parliament, work began with Brunel taking on the surveying role, insisting on the new broad gauge railway lines (2.1 ms) to increase speeds. NB that the Birmingham-Gloucester Railway had already been built with a standard gauge (1.6 ms).
The first section of the new track from Paddington to Maidenhead was opened in June 1838, incorporating impressive structures. The route was extended, ending in Bristol in June 1841. En route many bridges, viaducts and tunnels were constructed eg Bristol’s neo-Gothic Temple Meads railway station and the Chepstow suspension bridge over the Wye.
Britain’s government knew that to operate a successful trade empire, they’d have to ensure fast, reliable and regular shipping. Earlier developments in shipbuilding, like the invention of the screw propeller in 1835, had improved speed. Brunel envisaged an interconnected travel network by which people could travel the length of the country, before crossing the Atlantic to New York. Thus he needed ships that were capable of covering the distance AND carrying people comfortably.
The SS Great Western was to be the biggest ship in the world then. Aside from a few early mishaps (including Brunel himself being injured during an engine-room fire), the ship made its maiden voyage to New York. The SS Great Britain was a wrought iron, screw propelled, ocean-going steamship built in 1843 in Bristol, supervised by Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Co. A long and heavy ship, she was designed initially for the Trans-Atlantic luxury passenger trade. Launched in 1845, it was designed for speed and comfort, made from metal not wood, powered by an engine not wind, and driven by a propeller not paddle wheels.
Brunel modernised shipbuilding. The steam engine was three storeys high and ran on 200 tons of seawater, stored in the huge boiler, powering the ship at 12 knots. The four decks had excellent cabins for 360 passengers, and had a large, lavish dining room. Plus there was accommodation for 120 crew. SS Great Britain also carried 1,200 tons of cargo, and equal amounts of coal. But her career was short lived, after running aground in Nth Ireland in 1846.
In 1854 the SS Great Eastern was being built large enough to be able to sail to Australia and India with c4,000 passengers. Brunel wanted to make long voyages economically and speedily by steam, which required enough coal aboard for the entire outward voyage. The construction process of the SS Great Eastern was a trying ordeal; it ran over-budget and over-time, and the ship builder John Scott Russell was tough.
Brunel launching the SS Great Eastern in Jan 1858
with John Scott Russell (L) and Lord Derby (R)
The maiden voyage to Weymouth in 1859 resulted in a boiler explosion killing six. SS Great Eastern’s 1st trans Atlantic voyage was in June 1860 (after Brunel died). It never fulfilled its goal of travelling to Australia, but the vessel successfully laid down the first transatlantic cables.
At 53 Brunel suffered a stroke in 1859, died and was buried with dad in the Kensal Green Cemetery. An ingenious mechanical mind, Brunel’s legacy lives on in his travel network: dockyards, railroads, bridges, ships.
Read Thought Co. by Robert McNamara.
At 53 Brunel suffered a stroke in 1859, died and was buried with dad in the Kensal Green Cemetery. An ingenious mechanical mind, Brunel’s legacy lives on in his travel network: dockyards, railroads, bridges, ships.
Read Thought Co. by Robert McNamara.
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