Brunel

Modern High Speed Rail (HSR) is regarded as being an independent railway dedicated solely for passengers and built to standards which allow trains to travel along its rails at speeds in excess of 300 kph (185 mph); thus enabling it to compete with short haul airlines. A case in point is the “Eurostar” service, between London (St Pancras) and Paris (Gare de Nord) that has a journey time of two and a quarter hours, via the Channel Tunnel, with the benefit to the traveller of going from city centre to city centre.

In the last six decades, many HSR services have come into being, commencing with the Japanese “Shinkansen” (a.k.a. Bullet Train) that was inaugurated in 1964, between Tokyo and Osaka, with an initial speed of 200 kph (125 mph). In the years since, the “Shinkansen” has been extended eastwards of Tokyo and westwards of Osaka with the services now travelling at speeds of 300 kph. This need for speed has been replicated in France, Germany, Spain and China, with Indonesia being the latest to join the club with its own brand of HSR called “Whoosh”, between Jakarta and Bandung, which was launched as recently as the 17th October 2023, to coincide with the “Chinese Belt and Road” Summit which took place in Beijing.

I could expand more on modern day HSR’s, and discuss the merits of the French TGV (Train a Grand Vitesse) or the German ICE (Inter City Express), but there is so much information out there that I...

The railways of Southern Africa have developed since the mid-nineteenth century and the earliest built were based on the proven technology of the railways of Great Britain. The first railway lines were begun in 1859 in Cape Town and Durban (for more information click here for “Ox-Wagon to Iron Horse”) and were laid to the gauge of 4ft-8½in (1435mm). Durban had the bragging rights for the first railway to be completed - the “Natal Railway” which opened to great celebration on the 26th June 1860, with its first train running from Market Square to the Point, a distance of a mere two miles (3.2 km). However, the Cape Town to Wellington Railway (CT &W) was a far more auspicious undertaking and it was opened throughout on the 4th November 1863. The next 37 years leading to the turn of the century, would see a network of railway lines running many hundreds of miles from the ports into the interior as direct consequence of the major discoveries of mineral wealth, most notably diamonds, gold and coal. However, the topography of South Africa would be a major problem for the railway builders and it was realised early on that a change to a narrower gauge, in order to better negotiate the climb up the escarpment to the Highveld, was needed. The consensus was that a gauge of no less than 42 inches (1 067mm) be implemented for future railway construction (i.e. after 1872), which would become known as the Cape Gauge...

Forty years ago at the 48th Academy Awards (1976) O.J. Simpson opened the envelope and announced that “GREAT” had won the Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film. The recipient was Bob Godfrey the film’s maker.

The movie “GREAT” is a classic of animation and in a mere 30 minutes tells the story of the most famous of all the Victorian engineers - Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Alas the film has been out of circulation for sometime and is briskly taken off “You Tube” whenever it is uploaded. I remember watching it at the Drive-In in 1977, as a “Short” and although I have forgotten what the Main Feature was, I still remember well watching “GREAT”.

Documentary Poster

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) is very much revered in Britain and the reverence borders on cult worship. The title of the book “BRUNEL - The Man Who Built the World” (by Steven Brindle, published in 2005) shows the measure of the esteem accorded to him.

On the 2002 BBC television series “GREAT BRITONS - The great debate”, the Top Ten Britons were chosen (as whittled down from 100). In the first episode Jeremy Clarkson (late of “Top Gear”) gave a compelling argument as to why Brunel should be the Greatest Briton of all time, saying that he was “The most prolific and talented engineer and innovator of them all”. When the votes of a poll (more a popularity contest)...