The Early History Of Railway Tunnels

Author : Hubert Pragnell
Publisher : Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN 13 : 9781399049405
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Early History of Railway Tunnels written by Hubert Pragnell and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2024-08-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To the early railway traveller, the prospect of travelling to places in hours rather than days hitherto was an inviting prospect, however a journey was not without its fears as well as excitement. To some, the prospect of travelling through a tunnel without carriage lighting, with smoke permeating the compartment and the confined noise was a horror of the new age. What might happen if we broke down or crashed into another train in the darkness? To others it was exciting, with the light from the footplate flickering against the tunnel walls or spotting the occasional glimpses of light from a ventilation shaft. To the directors of early railway companies, planning a route was governed by expense and the most direct way. Avoiding hills could add miles but tunnelling through them could involve vast expense as the Great Western Railway found at Box and the London and Birmingham at Kilsby. Creating a cutting as an alternative was also costly not only in labour and time, but also in compensation for landowners, who opposed railways on visual and social grounds having seen their land divided by canals. Construction involved millions of bricks or blocks of stone for sufficiently thick walls to withstand collapse. However, the entrance barely seen from the carriage window might be an impressive Italianate arch as at Primrose Hill, or a castellated portal worthy of the Middle Ages as at Bramhope. This book sets out to tell the story of tunnelling in Britain up to about 1870, when it was a question of burrowing through earth and rock with spade and explosive powder, with the constant danger of collapse or flooding leading to injury and death. It uses contemporary accounts, from the dangers of railway travel by Dickens to the excitement of being drawn through the Liverpool Wapping Tunnel by the young composer Mendelssoln. It includes descriptions from early railway company guide books, newspapers and diaries. It also includes numerous photographs and colored architectural elevations from railway archives.

Author : Hubert Pragnell
Publisher : Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN 13 : 1399049445
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Early History of Railway Tunnels written by Hubert Pragnell and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2024-08-30 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To the early railway traveller, the prospect of travelling to places in hours rather than days hitherto was an inviting prospect, however a journey was not without its fears as well as excitement. To some, the prospect of travelling through a tunnel without carriage lighting, with smoke permeating the compartment and the confined noise was a horror of the new age. What might happen if we broke down or crashed into another train in the darkness? To others it was exciting, with the light from the footplate flickering against the tunnel walls or spotting the occasional glimpses of light from a ventilation shaft. To the directors of early railway companies, planning a route was governed by expense and the most direct way. Avoiding hills could add miles but tunnelling through them could involve vast expense as the Great Western Railway found at Box and the London and Birmingham at Kilsby. Creating a cutting as an alternative was also costly not only in labour and time, but also in compensation for landowners, who opposed railways on visual and social grounds having seen their land divided by canals. Construction involved millions of bricks or blocks of stone for sufficiently thick walls to withstand collapse. However, the entrance barely seen from the carriage window might be an impressive Italianate arch as at Primrose Hill, or a castellated portal worthy of the Middle Ages as at Bramhope. This book sets out to tell the story of tunnelling in Britain up to about 1870, when it was a question of burrowing through earth and rock with spade and explosive powder, with the constant danger of collapse or flooding leading to injury and death. It uses contemporary accounts, from the dangers of railway travel by Dickens to the excitement of being drawn through the Liverpool Wapping Tunnel by the young composer Mendelssoln. It includes descriptions from early railway company guide books, newspapers and diaries. It also includes numerous photographs and colored architectural elevations from railway archives.

Author : Terry Gourvish
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134165447
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Official History of Britain and the Channel Tunnel written by Terry Gourvish and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-09-27 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and using hitherto untapped British Government records, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the successful project of 1986-94. This is a vivid portrayal of the complexities of quadripartite decision-making (two countries, plus the public and private sectors), revealing new insights into the role of the British and French Governments in the process. This important book, written by Britain’s leading transport historian, will be essential reading for all those interested in PPPs, British and European economic history and international relations. The building of the Channel Tunnel has been one of Europe’s major projects and a testimony to British-French and public-private sector collaboration. However, Eurotunnel’s current financial crisis provides a sobering backcloth for an examination of the British Government’s long-term flirtation with the project, and, in particular, the earlier Tunnel project in the 1960s and early 1970s, which was abandoned by the British Government in 1975.

Author : Nicholas Faith
Publisher : Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN 13 : 9781526712998
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The History of the Channel Tunnel written by Nicholas Faith and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2018-06-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Channel Tunnel, has been one of histories most protracted and at times acrimonious, construction projects. From the paranoia of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when there was a fear that foreign hordes would rush through the tunnel and invade Britain, to the lethargic attempts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its a miracle, that this great feat of Engineering, was ever constructed at all. Nicholas Faith, has delved into the archives and researched the fascinating truth about this project, that took so long to authorise and construct. The author has found material in the archives, both in Britain and abroad, that has not been previously published or seen, outside a closed group of people.

Author : Patrick Beaver
Publisher : Carol Publishing Corporation
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A History of Tunnels written by Patrick Beaver and published by Carol Publishing Corporation. This book was released on 1973 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Graeme Pole
Publisher : Mountain Vision Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0994916159
Total Pages : 145 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Spiral Tunnels and the Big Hill – An Illustrated Railway History written by Graeme Pole and published by Mountain Vision Publishing. This book was released on 2024-01-18 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built through the Rockies in 1884 it laid track straight down the west slope of Kicking Horse Pass. Dropping 1,140 feet in 7.1 railway miles, this section of railway was a construction worker’s horror and a railroader’s nightmare that soon became known as the Big Hill. Intended to be temporary, the 4.5 percent grade, more than 3 miles long, saw use for 25 years until completion of the Spiral Tunnels in 1909. The two tunnels – unique in North America – loop over themselves, doubling the length of track and halving the grade. Incorporating more than 100 photographs, The Spiral Tunnels and the Big Hill – An Illustrated Railway History describes the construction of the CPR and recounts the tales of daring, defiance, and disaster on the second-steepest mainline track ever operated in North America. Maps and diagrams reveal how the Spiral Tunnels create a safer grade for trains. The text provides up-to-date descriptions of today’s locomotives and explains the many challenges of operating trains on mountain grades. A Canadian bestseller for three decades, this revised edition will be informative reading for railfans, for travellers in the Rockies, and for those with an interest in Canadian history.

Author : Rosa Matheson
Publisher : History Press
ISBN 13 : 9780750969963
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Terror in the Tunnels written by Rosa Matheson and published by History Press. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The exciting early days of the railways were tempered with danger, as the Victorian concept of health and safety was rather different to ours. Going 'into the dark' was a frightening experience and tunneling under the ground and under water was a death-defying activity in nineteenth-century Britain - many workers and travellers paid the ultimate price. Flooding, collapses and explosions, as well as malodorous air and illness, were just some of the challenges workers faced in order to make tunnels passable. Even once the tunnels had been completed, accidents were still frequent, whether collisions, derailments or fires. In this fascinating history, Rosa Matheson explores the grim past of Britain's well-known and lesser-known railway tunnel disasters, and how their 'terror' led to a safer future.

Author : Charles Albi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Moffat Tunnel written by Charles Albi and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Barbara Elizabeth Bundy
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The History of Rail Tunnels on the Alaska Railroad written by Barbara Elizabeth Bundy and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Matthew Wright
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781877327520
Total Pages : 135 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Trains, Tunnels, Bridges written by Matthew Wright and published by . This book was released on 2013-08 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: