The life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer Part 15

A curvature of one mile radius was regarded as the maximum generally admissible on a line where high speeds were aimed at, and auxiliary locomotives were required to work heavy gradients.

Nevertheless, by the growing wants of the public and the growing boldness of engineers, the railway system was gradually being forced into districts. .h.i.therto regarded as unsuitable for it; and no country was held to be impracticable where the gradients could be surmounted by the inconvenient and costly expedient of auxiliary power.

The south of Devon had for several years demanded railway accommodation, and at the period now under review, Mr. Brunel projected what was called the coast line. This line, while it best accommodated the population of the district, pa.s.sed through a very difficult country. If it was to be constructed at a moderate cost, curves of a quarter of a mile radius had to be admitted; and above 30 miles of its entire length traversed a district involving the adoption of gradients steeper than had been elsewhere used for such considerable distances. The Act for this railway was obtained in the Session of 1844.

The South Devon Railway, on leaving Exeter, crosses the flat country on the right bank of the river Exe, as far as Starcross, a village nearly opposite to Exmouth. From this point it runs down to the coast and along the sea-sh.o.r.e, by Dawlish, to Teignmouth; being protected by a sea-wall for the greater part of the distance, and pa.s.sing through several headlands by short tunnels. Beyond Teignmouth it follows the left bank of the river Teign, which it crosses a short distance before reaching the station at Newton Abbott. The portion of the line from Exeter to Newton--21 miles in length--is very nearly level, the steep inclines for which the railway is noted being west of Newton. Between Newton and Totness, for the first mile and a half the line is almost level, and in the next two miles it rises 200 feet, with gradients of 1 in 100, 1 in 60, and nearly a mile of 1 in 43. At the summit is a short tunnel; and thence the line descends 170 feet in a mile and three-quarters, with gradients of 1 in 40 and 1 in 43 for about three-quarters of a mile, and gradients of 1 in 57 and 1 in 88 for the rest of the incline. It then runs with more moderate gradients and about a mile and a half of level line to Totness.

From the valley of the Dart at Totness the line rises at once by a rapid ascent of 350 feet in four miles and a half, with gradients varying from 1 in 48 to 1 in 90, more than a mile and a half averaging 1 in 50.

Thence it runs, with easy up and down gradients, for a distance of 12 miles along the skirts of Dartmoor, crossing by lofty viaducts the deep valleys which penetrate the moor. It then descends to Plympton, in the valley of the Plym, falling 273 feet in a little more than two miles, with a gradient of 1 in 42. From Plympton the line for two miles is level, and then rises on an incline of 1 in 80 for a mile and a half, and descends by a similar gradient into the Plymouth station.

The main characteristics of the railway are that, while it traverses a very heavy country, its princ.i.p.al changes of level are concentrated into four long and steep inclines. These four inclines were intended to be worked by auxiliary power.

Hitherto on gradients of unusual steepness a stationary engine with rope traction had been generally regarded as the only available expedient; but the special difficulties by which this system was enc.u.mbered rendered it unsuitable for high-speed pa.s.senger traffic, and practically inapplicable to an extended line. It had, however, been very successfully employed by Mr. Robert Stephenson on the Blackwall Railway, a line of about 3 miles in length.

Messrs. Clegg and Samuda, the projectors of the Atmospheric System, which was another mode of using stationary power, had, previously to this period, laboured to attract the attention and win the favourable opinion of engineers and the general public.

It is desirable, before proceeding further, to give a brief description of this system of traction, upon the merits of which distinguished engineers entertained widely different opinions.

Between the two rails of the line of way was laid a cast-iron tube, which on the Croydon and Dalkey railways and the completed or level portion of the South Devon Railway was fifteen inches in diameter. On the inclines it was proposed to use a twenty-two inch tube.

At intervals of about three miles along the line were erected stationary engines, working large air-pumps, by means of which air could be exhausted from the tube, and a partial vacuum created within it. A close-fitting piston was placed in one end of the tube, and the air being exhausted from it, the pressure of the external air on the surface of the piston which was towards the open end of the tube forced the piston through the tube towards the end where the air-pumps were working; so that if the piston were connected with a carriage running on the rails, it would draw the carriage with it. The connection between the piston and the carriage was arranged by Messrs. Clegg and Samuda in the following way:[62] Along the top of the tube was a slit about 2 inches wide; this slit was closed by a long flap of leather, which was strengthened with iron plates, and secured to the tube at one side of the slit. One edge of the leather thus formed a continuous hinge; the other edge, where it closed on the tube, was sealed with a composition of grease, to render it air-tight. This flap was known by the name of the longitudinal valve.

When the valve was closed, the air could be exhausted from the tube in front of the piston, and a partial vacuum formed. Behind the piston, the air being at atmospheric pressure both within and without the tube, there was no objection to opening the longitudinal valve; and a bar, extending downwards from the under side of the carriage, entered the slit obliquely under the opened valve, and was connected to the rear end of a frame about ten feet long, the front end of which carried the piston. To allow the bar to pa.s.s along the slit, the valve was opened on its hinge, being pressed upwards by a series of wheels carried by the moving piston-frame inside the tube. The valve closed again after the pa.s.sage of the train; and the tube was ready to be exhausted in preparation for the pa.s.sage of the next train.[63]

The Atmospheric System was first tried in 1840. An experimental tube was laid down at Wormwood Scrubs on part of the short line now incorporated into the West London Railway, and then known by the t.i.tle of the Bristol, Birmingham, and Thames Junction Railway. Its working was the subject of eager discussion among engineers.

In 1842 Sir Frederic Smith, R.E., and Professor Barlow, under an order from the Board of Trade, reported so favourably on the system with reference to the proposal for its application on the Dalkey branch of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, that it was adopted there. In 1843 Mr.

(afterwards Sir William) Cubitt determined to employ it on the Croydon Railway; and about the same time Mr. Robert Stephenson was desired by the Directors of the Chester and Holyhead Railway to report on the propriety of introducing it on that line.

Mr. Stephenson's report was based on a series of experiments on the working of the system at Dalkey. The view he took was adverse to its adoption, not only on the Chester and Holyhead, but on almost every railway whatsoever; and this on the ground that, though it was quite capable of being developed into a practical working system, yet on lines with ordinary gradients the atmospheric traction must be considerably more costly than locomotive traction, and on steep gradients than rope traction; in other words, that, as a mechanical appliance it was, though practicable, not economical.

Mr. Stephenson's report had no sooner appeared than the correctness of his conclusions was disputed on his giving evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, in the spring of 1844, on the Croydon and Epsom Railway Bill.

Mr. Brunel also was summoned as a witness. Previously to this time he had taken a great interest in the various attempts which had been made to introduce the Atmospheric System, and he had himself conducted experiments at Wormwood Scrubs and at Dalkey. As early as July 1840 he had considered its applicability to the Box Tunnel incline on the Great Western Railway. He had also considered it in reference to various projected lines; and in 1843 he recommended it for adoption in a long tunnel on one of the steep inclines of the Genoa and Turin Railway, the success of the system being then (he wrote) sufficient to justify its use on a part of the line protected from weather. It was not, however, applied on this railway.[64]

Mr. Brunel's views at this time are indicated in the following letter:--

April 8, 1844.

Any part I have taken in examining into the system has been purely from the desire which I always feel to forward good inventions; and when I have formed a decided opinion, no fear of the consequences ever prevents my expressing it. My great anxiety, however, is to see a line of railway and all its appurtenances made expressly for the Atmospheric System, and worked accordingly; until this is done the results will be comparatively unsatisfactory.

Although unwilling to express general opinions, Mr. Brunel spoke strongly before the Croydon and Epsom Railway Committee in favour of the advantages of the Atmospheric System under certain circ.u.mstances, and approved of its use on that line.

A few months later Mr. Brunel recommended the Directors of the South Devon Railway Company to adopt the Atmospheric System, and they resolved to act on his advice.

His report was as follows:--

August 19, 1844.

I have given much consideration to the question referred to me by you at your last meeting--namely, that of the advantage of the application of the Atmospheric System to the South Devon Railway.

The question is not new to me, as I have foreseen the possibility of its arising, and have frequently considered it.

I shall a.s.sume, and I am not aware that it is disputed by anybody, that stationary power, if freed from the weight and friction of any medium of communication, such as a rope, must be cheaper, is more under command, and is susceptible of producing much higher speeds than locomotive power; and when it is considered that for high speeds, such as sixty miles per hour, the locomotive engine with its tender cannot weigh much less than half of the gross weight of the train, the advantage and economy of dispensing with the necessity of putting this great weight also in motion will be evident.

I must a.s.sume also that as a means of applying stationary power the Atmospheric System has been successful, and that, unless where under some very peculiar circ.u.mstances it is inapplicable, it is a good economical mode of applying stationary power.

I am aware that this opinion is directly opposed to that of Mr.

Robert Stephenson, who has written and published an elaborate statement of experiments and calculations founded upon them, the results of which support his opinion.

It does not seem to me that we can obtain the minute data required for the mathematical investigation of such a question, and that such calculations, dependent as they are upon an unattained precision in experiments, are as likely to lead you very far from the truth as not.

By the same mode M. Mallet and other French engineers have proved the success of the system; and by the same mode of investigation Dr. Lardner arrived at all those results regarding steam navigation and the speed to be attained on railways, which have since proved so erroneous.

Experience has led me to prefer what some may consider a more superficial, but what I should call a more general and broader view, and more capable of embracing all the conditions of the question--a practical view.

Having considered the subject for several years past, I have cautiously, and without any cause for a favourable bias, formed an opinion which subsequent experiments at Dalkey have fully proved to be correct; viz. that the mere mechanical difficulties can be overcome, and that the full effect of the partial vacuum produced by an air-pump can be communicated, without any loss or friction worth taking into consideration, to a piston attached to the train.

In this point of view the experiment at Dalkey has entirely succeeded. A system of machinery which even at the first attempt works without interruption and constantly for many months, may be considered practically to be free from any mechanical objection.

No locomotive line that I have been connected with has been equally free from accidents.

That which is true for one railway of two miles in length is equally true for a second or third, although they may be placed the one at the end of the other; the chances of an accident are only in the proportion of the number, or in other words, the length, a proportion which holds equally good with locomotives, except that a locomotive may be affected by the distance it has previously run, while a stationary engine and its pipes cannot in like manner be affected by the previous working of the neighbouring engine and pipes.

In my opinion the Atmospheric System is, so far as any stationary power can be, as applicable to a great length of line as it is to a short one.

Upon all these points I could advance many arguments and many proofs, but I shall content myself with saying that, as a professional man, I express a decided opinion that, as a mechanical contrivance, the Atmospheric apparatus has succeeded perfectly as an effective means of working trains by stationary power, whether on long or short lines, at higher velocity and with less chance of interruption than is now effected by locomotives.

I will now proceed to consider the question of the advantage of its application to the South Devon Railway.

It will simplify the discussion of the question very much if it is considered as a comparison between a double line worked by locomotives in the usual manner, and a single line of railway worked by stationary power, the only peculiarity of the present case being that upon four separate portions of the whole 52 miles stationary a.s.sistant power would under any circ.u.mstances have been used, these four inclines forming together one-fifth of the whole distance.

It is necessary to consider it as a question of a single line on account of the expense, the cost of the pipe for each line being about 3,500_l._ per mile.

An addition of 7,000_l._ per mile, or of about 330,000_l._, in the first construction could not be counterbalanced by any adequate advantage in the saving in the works on the South Devon Railway, and probably not by any subsequent economy or advantage in the working; but the system admits of the working with a single line, without danger of collision, certainly with less than upon a double locomotive line. And I believe also that, considering the absence of most of the causes of accidents, there will even be less liability of interruption and less delay in the average resulting from accidents than in the ordinary double locomotive railway.

By the modification of the gradients and by reducing the curves to 1,000 feet radius where any great advantage can be gained by so doing, and by constructing the cuttings, embankments, tunnels, and viaducts for a single line, a considerable saving may be effected in the first cost.

In the permanent way and ballasting, the reduction will be about one-half. I should propose to make the rails about 52 lbs. weight and the timber 12 6; the quant.i.ty of ballast would probably be rather more than half, but at the present prices of iron and timber the saving could not be less than 2,500_l._ per mile.