mozzer models Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Just seen this link to an item regarding Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his Vacuum railway in Devon project. Seems that an underground reservoir linked to the Brunel project has been found and the Environment Department is saying that it is significant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-44099898 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2018 Just seen this link to an item regarding Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his Vacuum railway in Devon project. Seems that an underground reservoir linked to the Brunel project has been found and the Environment Department is saying that it is significant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-44099898 A confused bit of reporting First it is the underground water supply for the pumping engine, then it is a vacuum chamber! Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2018 To be fair, the BBC is quoting the DofE saying it is a vacuum chamber. Is it really significant? A water reservoir, unused for 150+ years, no useful purpose for it today, just a hole in the ground. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimble Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 is it any more significant than that bridge built by Brunel over the GW main line that's giving them clearance problems?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2018 (edited) Brunel himself would certainly not have allowed newly-rediscovered crumbling remnants of a redundant technology to stand in the way of any of his own projects. John Edited May 14, 2018 by Dunsignalling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2018 Brunel himself would certainly not have allowed newly-rediscovered crumbling remnants of a redundant technology to stand in the way of any of his own projects. And is that to his credit or not? Keeping everything is impractical, bulldozing through everything because it's convenient to is undesirable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2018 (edited) And is that to his credit or not? Keeping everything is impractical, bulldozing through everything because it's convenient to is undesirable. Agreed, but Brunel's Atmospheric system was a dead-end, at least given the materials available to him at the time, so whilst the find may be "significant", it doesn't carry the importance of a game-changer such as Stephenson's 'Rocket'. At 32m long, I doubt that all of this chamber constitutes an obstruction unless it runs along the proposed piece of road. So, record it, photograph it, laser-scan it, even preserve a section that's not in the way; whatever, then move on. John Edited May 14, 2018 by Dunsignalling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 To be fair, the BBC is quoting the DofE saying it is a vacuum chamber. Is it really significant? A water reservoir, unused for 150+ years, no useful purpose for it today, just a hole in the ground. And if it's a vacuum chamber then there's nothing in it? Seriously though, if it's really a vacuum chamber then it would be pretty unusual I guess. How was it kept airtight and did the structure allow extra strength against implosion? If dead-end technologies weren't of interest then nobody would have preserved the hovertrain or attempted to re-create a Baby Deltic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2018 Whilst this structure may well be unique, I wonder what purpose it can serve for the future? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2018 (edited) And if it's a vacuum chamber then there's nothing in it? Seriously though, if it's really a vacuum chamber then it would be pretty unusual I guess. How was it kept airtight and did the structure allow extra strength against implosion? If dead-end technologies weren't of interest then nobody would have preserved the hovertrain or attempted to re-create a Baby Deltic. Yes, but you can move those around. I'm rather doubtful that even IKB could make a safe, air-tight vacuum chamber out of bricks, too, so its probably just an underground reservoir for the nearby pumping station. John Edited May 14, 2018 by Dunsignalling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Network Rail and the DFT have both claimed it, they see it as a viable alternative to wiring the mainline in the Southwest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejames Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 you might not want to preserve it long term but there is probably a case for a survey involving an industrial archeologist and railway historian to see if there is anything to be learned about Brunel's plans for this unusual form of moving the trains. mike j Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2018 Was it a water supply for a condenser attached to the pumping engine? Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2018 Whilst this structure may well be unique, I wonder what purpose it can serve for the future? Beer reservoir for the nearby pub? Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium rab Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2018 Network Rail and the DFT have both claimed it, they see it as a viable alternative to wiring the mainline in the Southwest The DfT will never get anywhere with it, they're full of rats! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ramblin Rich Posted May 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2018 Despite living only a few miles away, I wasn't aware there is/was a road widening scheme in Starcross! There is some works going on in the car park alongside the road beside the old atmospheric railway pumping house in Starcross, there does appear to be a large box structure uncovered there which must be the chamber in question. I assume the plan is to resite the wall between the road and car park area and thus widen the road along that part. The really narrow bit further along can't be adjusted due to the next building having a listed portico, but having the area by the car park wider would at least allow traffic past each other if queues develop. I might try to go along & have a look tomorrow. Although it's interesting historically, it would be a shame to scrap the road scheme altogether. I hope some compromise can be reached. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 What do you do with a Brunellian hole in the ground? Put a fence around it and charge admission perhaps but is it worth the disruption of road improvement which Starcross can certainly do with. Its not like they found a buried B&E locomotive which could have been interesting and maybe even restoring. But then there would be nowhere to run it! Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted May 15, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 15, 2018 Its not like they found a buried B&E locomotive which could have been interesting and maybe even restoring. But then there would be nowhere to run it! Brian. Didcot? Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Gough Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 The DfT will never get anywhere with it, they're full of rats! That's no way to describe a team of hard-working civil servants. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium rab Posted May 15, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) That's no way to describe a team of hard-working civil servants.Sorry I was only going by some of the commentsI'd read on RMWeb, should have known better than to believe everything I read on the Internet Edited May 15, 2018 by rab 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Didcot? Keith Of course! Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Brunel himself would certainly not have allowed newly-rediscovered crumbling remnants of a redundant technology to stand in the way of any of his own projects. John Indeed. Many of those whose achievements we now celebrate and whose works we attempt to preserve were guilty of acts we would now regard as incomprehensible historical, cultural and/or environmental vandalism on a staggering scale. Funny old world ain't it?. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 (edited) It sounds to me far more interesting than that arch thing at Euston everyone now seems to regret knocking down and dumping in a river. Edited May 16, 2018 by Edwin_m Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted May 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2018 The DfT will never get anywhere with it, they're full of rats! I think rats were part of Brunel’s problem. The leather flaps of the tube in which the piston ran were coated with tallow to make a seal. The rat population simply loved the stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted May 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2018 It may be "interesting" while everybody is scurrying around trying to work out exactly what it was used for and how, if it was a vacuum chamber of some sort, it was made to work. However, I can't see it becoming a long-term attraction, be it for tourists, academics or railway enthusiasts. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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