The life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer

by Isambard Brunel

The broad gauge is therefore now confined to the district for which it was originally intended. Even in this district there are many points of contact with the narrow gauge; but the inconveniences of break of gauge are by no means so important as they were in the north, and do not, at present at least, menace the continued existence of Mr. Brunel’s design.

CHAPTER VI.
THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM.
A.D. 1840—1848. ÆTATIS 35—43.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS—THE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY—DESCRIPTION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM—HISTORY OF ITS INTRODUCTION PRIOR TO 1844—REPORT BY MR. BRUNEL, RECOMMENDING ITS ADOPTION ON THE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY (AUGUST 19, 1844)—EXAMINATION OF THIS REPORT—MR. BRUNEL’S EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS, 1845—HISTORY OF THE APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM ON THE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY, 1844-1848—REPORT ON STATE OF WORKS (AUGUST 28, 1847)—REPORT ON CAUSES OF FAILURE (AUGUST 19, 1848)—ABANDONMENT OF THE SYSTEM, SEPTEMBER 1848—NOTE—COMPARISON OF STATIONARY AND LOCOMOTIVE POWER.

IN the year 1844 Mr. Brunel recommended the adoption of the Atmospheric System of propulsion on the South Devon Railway, a line of 52 miles in length, which he was then constructing between Exeter and Plymouth. This system had, under the management of Messrs. Clegg and Samuda, been in operation with success on the Dalkey line for some time before Mr. Brunel adopted their apparatus on the South Devon Railway. After it had been in use on the South Devon for about twelve months, it was abandoned, and the railway worked throughout by locomotives.

It is therefore as important as it is interesting to examine the causes of the failure of the Atmospheric System, and to consider the reasons which induced Mr. Brunel in the first instance to adopt it, and afterwards to recommend its abandonment.

Up to about the year 1843, the cost of railways, which was in a great measure due to the conditions imposed by the limited capabilities of the locomotive, had prevented their construction, except in cases where they would secure a large traffic, and at the same time traverse what was then considered a practicable country.

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 hitherto 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, passed 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-shore, by Dawlish, to Teignmouth; being protected by a sea-wall for the greater part of the distance, and passing 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—21½ 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.