Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (Born 9.4.1806)
The GWR and Box Tunnel Connection
1830 - Won a competition for his design of the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon, construction was started a year later and eventually completed as a memorial to him after his death.
1833 - Was appointed Chief Engineer of the Great Western Railway
1835 - Initial survey of the proposed GWR route began in September and work commenced on the Box tunnel almost exactly twelve months later.
By May of 1841 only the Chippenham to Bath section of the London to Bristol route remained to be done but this was acknowledged as being the hardest link to forge. This section included much deep cutting and embankments, another crossing of the River Avon at Bath, viaducts at Chippenham and Bath, the diversion of the Kennet and Avon Canal, but, above all there was that 'monstrous and extraordinary, most dangerous and impracticable tunnel at Box' still to be completed. The tunnel was almost two miles long and by far the greatest railway tunnel of its day. The planned incline of 1:100 also caused much head scratching by the pundits of the day.
Work had started in September 1836 with the sinking of eight 28 foot diameter access shafts, one by the Bradford/Colerne road being some 300 feet deep. For two and a half years the works consumed a ton of gunpowder and a ton of candles each week. Men and horses provided labour and many pumps were necessary to maintain acceptable water levels but in November 1837 water overcame the pumps, filled the tunnel and rose 56 feet up the shafts.
Imagine the conditions in the tunnels, working in the dark apart from the spluttering candles, the fumes and noise resulting from the constant blasting operations, the wet and the dirt, also remember that modern health and safety regulations were yet to come.
The tunnel was projected to finish in August 1840 but as this date began to slip Brunel poured in all his resources with some 4000 men and 300 horses working round the clock. Imagine how the local inhabitants viewed the comings and goings of such a crowd. Every available bed in the neighbouring villages and hamlets was occupied and these beds were seldom allowed to go cold! There was no local police force and the off duty drunken navvies (navigators) were 'controlled' by their foreman.
In June 1841 the great tunnel was opened at a cost of £6,500,000, this being well over twice the original estimate. On the last day of the month a decorated train pulled out of Paddington and arrived at Bristol some four hours later but many people were highly suspicious of 'high speed' train travel and especially of the unimaginable dangers of passing through a two mile unlit tunnel.
Discussions had started in June 1839 on the location of the GWR locomotive depot and repair facility and despite the rival claims of Didcot and Reading it was decided the site should be in the fields below the small market town of Swindon where the Cheltenham Railway joined the main line, the rail gradients being an important factor in this decision.
Two final points of interest:
a) remember that the gauge of the Brunel railway was 7 feet and our modern rail gauge is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches dates from around 1846, and,
b) it is reputed that at sunrise on the 9 April, Brunel's birthday, the sun shines right through his tunnel.
After completion of the Box tunnel it is believed several of the now unemployed stonemasons stayed in the area and used their skills by mining the stone for building purposes and hence starting a new local industry.
Thanks to Corsham Tourist Information and Heritage Centre for this information.
