| The great task of building the Great Western Railway began in November 1835 with the foundations of the viaduct over the River Brent, near Hanwell station in London. Brunel designed it with eight arches, each 72 feet wide, whose elegant semi-elliptical shape was to be used in many of his other railway bridges. For this first large bridge he seems to have received help from his father, Marc Isambard Brunel, himself one of the most celebrated engineers of the age. The tapered supports (piers) were given a distinctly Egyptian character, reflecting the widespread interest in Egyptology at the time, and perhaps also Brunel’s determination that his railway would compare with the achievements of the ancient world. |
|
