The Severn Tunnel
Lens image from freeclipartnow.com
Contents
- The Barrier of the River Severn
- The rail link
- Building the tunnel
- Completing the tunnel
- A full history
- More about the Severn Tunnel
- The River Severn
- Bloggers and Visitors to the Severn Tunnel
- The Great Western Railway
- Save Severn Tunnel
- Leave your feedback
- About the lensmaster
- More of Brunel's engineering projects
- Brunel's other tunnels
The Barrier of the River Severn
In the path of the railway
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.
The rail link
The politics of the tunnel
Tunnels were considered a risk, especially since the only 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.
Building the tunnel
Construction Problems
Severn Tunnel Flooded
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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.
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 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.
Completing the tunnel
Flood repair
The tunnel was finaly 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 to permanently remove the springwater that threatened to flood the tunnel. In 1886, the tunnel was finally opened for traffic.
A full history
Great Western.org
This has a full history of the build, including the heroism of Alexander Lambert, the lead diver.
More about the Severn Tunnel
Maps and articles
The Severn Tunnel on Google maps
The tunnel isn't marked on Googlemaps, but this view shows the Severn estuary, giving an idea of the distance they needed to cover.
More from Wikipedia
The Severn Tunnel () is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn.
The tunnel was built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) between 1873 and 1886, it is 4 miles 624 yd (7,008 m) long, although only 2¼ miles (3.62 km) of the tunnel are actually under the river. For well over 100 years it was the longest mainline railway tunnel within the UK, until the two major High Speed 1 tunnels (London East and West) were opened in 2007 as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
The River Severn
More from wikipedia
The River Severn (Welsh: Afon Hafren, Latin: Sabrina) is the longest river in Great Britain, at . It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales. It then flows through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, with the county towns of Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester on its banks. With an average discharge of 107 m³/s at Apperley, Gloucestershire, the Severn is England's greatest river in terms of water flow.
The river is usually considered to become the Severn Estuary after the Second Severn Crossing between Severn Beach, South Gloucestershire and Sudbrook, Monmouthshire. The river then discharges into the Bristol Channel which in turn discharges into the Celtic Sea and the wider Atlantic Ocean. The Severn's drainage basin area is , excluding the River Wye and Bristol Avon which flow into the Bristol Channel. The major tributaries to the Severn are the Vyrnwy, Teme, Warwickshire Avon and Stour.
Bloggers and Visitors to the Severn Tunnel
Views and opinions
- 42xx class no.5235. Severn Tunnel Junction shed. 26 April 1964 on ...
- 42xx class no.5235. Severn Tunnel Junction shed. 26 April 1964.
- 6024 King Edward I @ Severn Tunnel February 1995
- Perfect frosty but sunny conditions in Feb 1995 as King Edward I runs down to the Severn Tunnel on a mainline special to Cardiff. The dark shadows in the cutiing have now been sofened by some HDR processing. ...
- Hymek 7026 Severn Tunnel junction around 1976
- peter.brabham posted a photo: Hymek 7026 Severn Tunnel junction around 1976. Scanned off a very old Kodak Instamatic 127 negative taken around 1976 just before the last of the Hymek locos were withdrawn.
- Sightings & Gen :: RE: Pilning / Severn tunnel area
- Author: stopblock Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:38 pm (GMT 2) Topic Replies: 2 Its all part of the newport resignaling scheme Newport panel takes controll from the pilning loop. It will see plenty of trains over the christmas period as ...
The Great Western Railway
Brunel's broad gauge railway
The Great Western was a revolutionary railway for the time. Designed on a broad gauge with new steam engines capable of greater speed and reliability than anything both it set many engineering precendents and embodied the Age of Steam.-
Brunel's Great Western Railway
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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, and it was jo...
Save Severn Tunnel
Save Severn Tunnel
a commuter group trying to preserve services through the tunnel for the local people.
Leave your feedback
Have your say
Brunel's Great Western Railway set a number of precedents, longest tunnel, fastest train and more. Have you been through the Box tunnel or the Severn tunnel? Would you like to share your views?
Here's the place!
About the lensmaster
Tirial&Error Lensography
Lensmaster tirial has been a member since August 11 2008, has rated 195 lenses, favorited 7, and has created 239 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Dragon Cave - the online hatching game". See all my lenses
My Bio
Aviation, IT, History, Gaming, I'm interested in just about anything! I made the Squidoo Top 100 Club in June 2009.
For a full list of my lenses, see my Lensography. 
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More of Brunel's engineering projects
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