scott118
Member
Happy birthday fella. 210 today..
He'd be too busy gazing from one end of Box tunnel to the other (from west to east) at dawn.Wonder what he would have made of the delays to the electrification of his railway system then? and what he would have made of Network Rail?
He'd be too busy gazing from one end of Box tunnel to the other (from west to east) at dawn.
Didn't an episode of QI prove that couldn't happen?
Wonder what he would have made of the delays to the electrification of his railway system then? and what he would have made of Network Rail?
Wonder what he would have made of the delays to the electrification of his railway system then? and what he would have made of Network Rail?
Subject's a bit too broad to guage his thoughts on the matter
Wonder what he would have made of the delays to the electrification of his railway system then?
He would wonder why it took until July 2009 for the scheme to be authorised when the technology and its benefits have been well known for decades. He would then wonder why on earth time is being wasted listening to the concerns of people in places like Bath and Goring.
Or even to gauge them....:roll:
Wonder what he would have made of the delays to the electrification of his railway system then? and what he would have made of Network Rail?
Protestors wearing anti-capitalism masks would be outside the GWR offices in Reading on daily basis campaigning against his plans for a massive underground pump-storage hydro-electric facility in the Chilterns
He would no doubt vigorously attack the lefties who feel that the state can do a better job at running the railway than he could and would have electrified the core route to Bristol and Birmingham in the 50s...
how can we tell what a man from a different age would make of our world today. That is before we even talk about the railway system which functions in a very different environment.
Would a man like him who was clearly ahead of his time ( even if he picked the wrong gauge ) be messing about with an old technology like railways? Would he not be on the very cutting edge of technology?
Dead right - we've almost no idea how someone from the past would think about today. We might make guesses about what a person with the ability and character of Brunel, with a 21st-century knowledge, would try to do. NASA; Silicon Valley mixed with advanced biochemistry....?
But if he was "ahead of his time". what time do you think he belonged to?
Or, none of the above.
Brunel was an engineer, in an age where the future was simply pushing the physical boundaries of what could be constructed, and where. A truly brilliant mind, but a very different one to the scientists and computer whizzes of today. Technology now is so very different; we don't have engineers who think in terms of steel and brick, we have computers which give them measurements from which to order their precision made components. I think it very unlikely that Brunel would find a niche for any of today's specialist fields, not here in the UK at least.
Having said all of that, I can't help but think of that Brunelian mix of bonkers and genius when I look at a hovercraft
Or, none of the above.
Brunel was an engineer, in an age where the future was simply pushing the physical boundaries of what could be constructed, and where. A truly brilliant mind, but a very different one to the scientists and computer whizzes of today. Technology now is so very different; we don't have engineers who think in terms of steel and brick, we have computers which give them measurements from which to order their precision made components. I think it very unlikely that Brunel would find a niche for any of today's specialist fields, not here in the UK at least.
Having said all of that, I can't help but think of that Brunelian mix of bonkers and genius when I look at a hovercraft
Actually Beeching's period was just when Gerry Fiennes was General Manager of the WR at Paddington, and if you read his book you find that not only does he make several references to following in noble footsteps, but launched all sorts of higher speed service initiatives which was the start of moving the service from occasional expresses to a regular interval, higher speed operation, which Brunel would doubtless have supported.One thing he would note is how the GWR has hardly changed (barring Dr Beeching) since his time
Actually Beeching's period was just when Gerry Fiennes was General Manager of the WR at Paddington, and if you read his book you find that not only does he make several references to following in noble footsteps, but launched all sorts of higher speed service initiatives which was the start of moving the service from occasional expresses to a regular interval, higher speed operation, which Brunel would doubtless have supported.
Regarding Box Tunnel, has nobody yet stood at the west end at sunrise on April 9 and seen whether the sun really does shine through. It must be about 60 years since someone first wrote in a train magazine's letters page that they thought it was possible.
Brunel was an engineer, in an age where the future was simply pushing the physical boundaries of what could be constructed, and where.
A truly brilliant mind, but a very different one to the scientists and computer whizzes of today. Technology now is so very different; we don't have engineers who think in terms of steel and brick, we have computers which give them measurements from which to order their precision made components. I think it very unlikely that Brunel would find a niche for any of today's specialist fields, not here in the UK at least.
But if he was "ahead of his time". what time do you think he belonged to?