Skip to main content

Valley of Chilterns

Great Western Railway
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Roads & RailsEra: 1830-1839DateCreated: 1838Temple Meads StationBristolZip: BS1Country: UKWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Great-Western-Railway/Creator: Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

In the early 1830s, the merchants of Bristol, long dissatisfied with their communication with London, began to wonder if the new railroad technology might be a solution to their problem. The Bristol Chamber of Commerce, the Merchant Adventurers and other local industrial bodies formed a committee in 1833 to discuss the ambitious proposal of laying a railway to London. Matters progressed swiftly. Money was advanced and the search for a first-class engineer to guide the effort.

 

YearAdded:
2005
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Ingy The Wingy (CC BY-ND 2.0)Image Caption: Great Western Railway lower quadrant semaphore signals; 1952Era_date_from: 1838
Subscribe to Valley of Chilterns

Innovations

Great Western Railway

In the early 1830s, the merchants of Bristol, long dissatisfied with their communication with London, began to wonder if the new railroad technology might be a solution to their problem. The Bristol Chamber of Commerce, the Merchant Adventurers and other local industrial bodies formed a…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.