The celebration of the centenary of the Great Western Railway last Week calls attention to the remarkable young engineer responsible for its construction." Isambard Kingdom Brunel was of the immature age of 27 when he was appointed engineer, in 188%, of the projected railway: Four years before that he had sent in designs for the construction of the Clifton suspension bridge, the second of which was accepted, and, though work on the bridge was commenced during his lifetime, lack of funds held up Its completion which did not take place until after his death, though his original plans were closely adhered to. In connection with the Great Western Railway his work was hindered by the confiiet_with hostile" landowners "and short sighted critics, but he showed himself equal to the occasion and proved himself not only an excellent engineer but a mast persuasive negotiator. Among his engineering triumphs on the railway are. the Hanwell viaduct, the Maidenhead Bridge and the Box tunnel, in his days the longest in the world. He resigned office as engineer to the line in 1844. In addition to his a tivities as a railway engineer, Brunel took a leading part in. the development of ocean steam navigation, As rly as a hundred years ago he sug: gested to the directors of the railway that they "should make it longer, and have a steamboat to go from Bristol to New York and call it the Great Western" The project was taken up and the vessel built at Bristol under his supervision and to his design. "During its building a controversy arose as to the practicability of the scheme and one of his opponents, a Dr. D, Lardner, produced Agures conclusively proving that the voyage could not_be made, That view was very widely accepted, but the work went on, and, in 1838, the was accomplished.
wed by his first effort then built a larger ship the Great Britain which was the first large iron steam: ship, the largest ship afloat at the time and the first large vessel in which a screw propeller was us She made her first voyage from Liverpool to New York in 1845, the following year was run on the rocks in Dundrum Bay on the coast of Treland, stayed there for a year after which she was salved and employed in the Australian trade. His. third effort was the Great Easiern his real conception of a "great ship." Immense difficulties in' construction caused delays from time to time, but in 1858 the gigantic ship—for those days—was got. afloat after. several abortive attempts to launch ity Eight days after she left on her frst to, in 1889 Brunel worn out by over work and worry died in his house in Westminster.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.