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97-616: Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross ) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster . It is the terminus of the Southeastern Main Lines to Dover via Ashford and Hastings via Tunbridge Wells . All trains are operated by Southeastern , which provides the majority of commuter and regional services to south-east London and Kent . It
194-433: A candidate at the renowned engineering school École Polytechnique , but as a foreigner, he was deemed ineligible for entry. Brunel subsequently studied under the prominent master clockmaker and horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet , who praised Brunel's potential in letters to his father. In late 1822, having completed his apprenticeship, Brunel returned to England. Brunel worked for several years as an assistant engineer on
291-668: A deep-level tube line on the west side of the station in the late 19th century, which opened on 10 March 1906 with a new station in Trafalgar Square and an interchange with the District Railway's station. The link between Charing Cross and Euston was finally built by the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (now part of the Northern line ) as a deep-level tube line in 1906 which opened its station under
388-537: A double deck road / rail bridge, and a new Charing Cross station built to the east of the old one. The SR approved the idea as it would allow them to expand the station. Two years later, a proposal appeared again to build just a road bridge and relocate the station south of the Thames, as it was significantly cheaper. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin urged the SR to accept the proposal, as "a matter of national importance", but
485-598: A fire aboard the ship as she was returning from fitting out in London. As the fire delayed the launch several days, the Great Western missed its opportunity to claim the title as the first ship to cross the Atlantic under steam power alone. Even with a four-day head start , the competing Sirius arrived only one day earlier, having virtually exhausted its coal supply. In contrast, the Great Western crossing of
582-642: A grade II listed monument in 2007) and at Starcross . A section of the pipe, without the leather covers, is preserved at the Didcot Railway Centre . In 2017, inventor Max Schlienger unveiled a working model of an updated atmospheric railroad at his vineyard in the Northern California town of Ukiah. Brunel had proposed extending its transport network by boat from Bristol across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City before
679-542: A happy childhood, despite the family's constant money worries, with his father acting as his teacher during his early years. His father taught him drawing and observational techniques from the age of four, and Brunel had learned Euclidean geometry by eight. During this time, he learned to speak French fluently and the basic principles of engineering. He was encouraged to draw interesting buildings and identify any faults in their structure, and like his father he demonstrated an aptitude for mathematics and mechanics. When Brunel
776-411: A large six-bladed propeller into his design for the 322-foot (98 m) Great Britain , which was launched in 1843. Great Britain is considered the first modern ship, being built of metal rather than wood, powered by an engine rather than wind or oars, and driven by propeller rather than paddle wheel. She was the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Her maiden voyage
873-585: A larger ship would take proportionately less fuel than a smaller ship. To test this theory, Brunel offered his services for free to the Great Western Steamship Company, which appointed him to its building committee and entrusted him with designing its first ship, the Great Western . When it was built, the Great Western was the longest ship in the world at 236 ft (72 m) with a 250-foot (76 m) keel . The ship
970-473: A line west from London Bridge . Later in the year, the SER secretary Samuel Smiles looked for potential routes and decided the best location would be on the site of the former Hungerford Market adjacent to The Strand , and that the line should be directly connected to Waterloo , allowing a link with London and South Western Railway services. The Charing Cross Railway Company was formed in 1859 in order to build
1067-610: A major means of transport for goods. This influenced Brunel's involvement in railway engineering, including railway bridge engineering. In 1833, before the Thames Tunnel was complete, Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway , one of the wonders of Victorian Britain, running from London to Bristol and later Exeter . The company was founded at a public meeting in Bristol in 1833, and
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#17327827506021164-417: A ridge and furrow roof. The curve of the original roof design can still be seen on the interior brickwork. The station was partially re-opened on 19 March 1906. The old booking offices were demolished and the various rooms on the ground floor were rearranged. A new 58-by-22-foot (17.7 m × 6.7 m) booking hall was constructed, along with a separate ladies' waiting-room. The additional remedial work
1261-427: A series of steamships including the first purpose-built transatlantic steamship , and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Though Brunel's projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering firsts, including assisting his father in
1358-618: A series of technical achievements— viaducts such as the one in Ivybridge , specially designed stations, and tunnels including the Box Tunnel , which was the longest railway tunnel in the world at that time. With the opening of the Box Tunnel, the line from London to Bristol was complete and ready for trains on 30 June 1841. The initial group of locomotives ordered by Brunel to his own specifications proved unsatisfactory, apart from
1455-617: A shortage of funding caused by a banking crisis . The scheme was revived with the London Central Railway , that proposed to link Charing Cross to Euston and St Pancras , but was again abandoned in 1874. The first underground railway to serve Charing Cross was the District Railway (now the District line ), which opened its station at Charing Cross on 30 May 1870. In 1884, bills were submitted to parliament by
1552-479: A train ferry across the Hamoaze —the estuary of the tidal Tamar , Tavy and Lynher . The bridge (of bowstring girder or tied arch construction) consists of two main spans of 455 ft (139 m), 100 ft (30 m) above mean high spring tide , plus 17 much shorter approach spans. Opened by Prince Albert on 2 May 1859, it was completed in the year of Brunel's death. Several of Brunel's bridges over
1649-516: A year, from 1847 (experimental service began in September; operations from February 1848) to 10 September 1848. Deterioration of the valve due to the reaction of tannin and iron oxide has been cited as the last straw that sank the project, as the continuous valve began to tear from its rivets over most of its length, and the estimated replacement cost of £25,000 was considered prohibitive. The system never managed to prove itself. The accounts of
1746-728: Is close to the Embankment Pier , providing river services along the River Thames . The railway leads directly out onto Hungerford Bridge and across the river towards the London Borough of Lambeth . The station code is CHX. It is one of twenty stations in Great Britain that are managed by Network Rail and is the 15th busiest station in the country . A number of key bus routes run in the area, and are designated "Trafalgar Square for Charing Cross". The station
1843-595: Is connected to Charing Cross Underground station and is near to Embankment Underground station and Embankment Pier . The station was originally opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1864. It takes its name from its proximity to the road junction Charing Cross , the notional "centre of London" from which distances from the city are measured. During the 19th century the station became the main London terminus for continental traffic via boat trains , and served several prestigious international services. It
1940-428: Is served by two London Underground stations, both within walking distance of the mainline terminal and sited at each end: Charing Cross (to the north), and Embankment (to the south). Both stations have an Oyster Out of Station Interchange , which allows passengers to change lines while still being charged as a single journey. Numerous proposals for underground connections for the mainline station were considered in
2037-548: The Big Four grouping. The line was electrified in 1926 to cater for suburban services. The lighter load of multiple-unit electric trains was found to put far less strain on the bridge, and so traffic was redesigned so that local services ran on the older section, with mainline services using the 1887 extension. In 1926, the Royal Commission on Cross River Traffic proposed that Hungerford Bridge should be replaced by
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#17327827506022134-604: The Charing Cross and Euston Railway and the London Central Subway for sub-surface underground lines between Charing Cross and Euston and Charing Cross and King's Cross respectively and by the King's Cross, Charing Cross and Waterloo Subway for a deep-level railway linking the three terminals in its name. None of the three plans proceeded. The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (now the Bakerloo line ) constructed
2231-730: The East London Line now incorporated into the London Overground . Brunel is perhaps best remembered for designs for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol , begun in 1831. The bridge was built to designs based on Brunel's, but with significant changes. Spanning over 702 ft (214 m), and nominally 249 ft (76 m) above the River Avon , it had the longest span of any bridge in
2328-576: The Marlborough Downs —an area with no significant towns, though it offered potential connections to Oxford and Gloucester —and then to follow the Thames Valley into London. His decision to use broad gauge for the line was controversial in that almost all British railways to date had used standard gauge . Brunel said that this was nothing more than a carry-over from the mine railways that George Stephenson had worked on prior to making
2425-546: The North Star locomotive , and 20-year-old Daniel Gooch (later Sir Daniel) was appointed as Superintendent of Locomotive Engines . Brunel and Gooch chose to locate their locomotive works at the village of Swindon , at the point where the gradual ascent from London turned into the steeper descent to the Avon valley at Bath . After Brunel's death, the decision was taken that standard gauge should be used for all railways in
2522-480: The River Thames in the case of a road-only replacement. The station was bombed several times during World War II , and was rebuilt afterwards, re-opening in 1951. In the late 1980s, the station complex was redesigned by Terry Farrell and rebuilt to accommodate a modern office block, now known as Embankment Place. Charing Cross station is located at the western end of the Strand in the City of Westminster , east of Trafalgar Square and northeast of Whitehall . It
2619-911: The Royal Albert Bridge spanning the River Tamar at Saltash near Plymouth , Somerset Bridge (an unusual laminated timber-framed bridge near Bridgwater ), the Windsor Railway Bridge , and the Maidenhead Railway Bridge over the Thames in Berkshire . This last was the flattest, widest brick arch bridge in the world and is still carrying main line trains to the west, even though today's trains are about ten times heavier than in Brunel's time. Throughout his railway building career, but particularly on
2716-588: The SS ; Great Western (1838), the SS Great Britain (1843), and the SS Great Eastern (1859). In 2002, Brunel was placed second in a BBC public poll to determine the " 100 Greatest Britons ". In 2006, the bicentenary of his birth, a major programme of events celebrated his life and work under the name Brunel 200 . Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Britain Street, Portsea , Portsmouth , Hampshire , where his father
2813-567: The South Devon and Cornwall Railways where economy was needed and there were many valleys to cross, Brunel made extensive use of wood for the construction of substantial viaducts; these have had to be replaced over the years as their primary material, Kyanised Baltic Pine, became uneconomical to obtain. Brunel designed the Royal Albert Bridge in 1855 for the Cornwall Railway, after Parliament rejected his original plan for
2910-710: The South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR), which took over operations at Charing Cross. Contemporary with the Charing Cross Hotel was a replica of the Eleanor Cross in Red Mansfield stone, also designed by Edward Middleton Barry , that was erected in the station forecourt. It was based on the original Whitehall Cross built in 1291, that had been demolished in 1647 by order of Parliament. Distances in London are officially measured from
3007-459: The Teredo [Shipworm] suggested to Mr. Brunel his method of tunnelling the Thames." The composition of the riverbed at Rotherhithe was often little more than waterlogged sediment and loose gravel. An ingenious tunnelling shield designed by Marc Brunel helped protect workers from cave-ins, but two incidents of severe flooding halted work for long periods, killing several workers and badly injuring
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3104-420: The 20th century. Like many of Brunel's ambitious projects, the ship soon ran over budget and behind schedule in the face of a series of technical problems. The ship has been portrayed as a white elephant , but it has been argued by David P. Billington that in this case, Brunel's failure was principally one of economics—his ships were simply years ahead of their time. His vision and engineering innovations made
3201-621: The Admiralty included, the experiments were judged by Brunel to be a failure on the grounds of fuel economy alone, and were discontinued after 1834. In 1865, the East London Railway Company purchased the Thames Tunnel for £200,000, and four years later the first trains passed through it. Subsequently, the tunnel became part of the London Underground system, and it remains in use today, originally as part of
3298-513: The Atlantic took 15 days and five hours, and the ship arrived at her destination with a third of its coal still remaining, demonstrating that Brunel's calculations were correct. The Great Western had proved the viability of commercial transatlantic steamship service, which led the Great Western Steamboat Company to use her in regular service between Bristol and New York from 1838 to 1846. She made 64 crossings, and
3395-599: The Great Western Railway might be demolished because the line is to be electrified, and there is inadequate clearance for overhead wires. Buckinghamshire County Council is negotiating to have further options pursued, in order that all nine of the remaining historic bridges on the line can be saved. When the Cornwall Railway company constructed a railway line between Plymouth and Truro , opening in 1859, and extended it to Falmouth in 1863, on
3492-465: The Great Western Railway opened in 1835. The Great Western Steamship Company was formed by Thomas Guppy for that purpose. It was widely disputed whether it would be commercially viable for a ship powered purely by steam to make such long journeys. Technological developments in the early 1830s—including the invention of the surface condenser , which allowed boilers to run on salt water without stopping to be cleaned—made longer journeys more possible, but it
3589-406: The Great Western Railway. The Didcot Railway Centre has a reconstructed segment of 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) track as designed by Brunel and working steam locomotives in the same gauge. Parts of society viewed the railways more negatively. Some landowners felt the railways were a threat to amenities or property values and others requested tunnels on their land so
3686-581: The River Avon to survey the bank of the river for the route. Brunel even designed the Royal Hotel in Bath which opened in 1846 opposite the railway station. Brunel made two controversial decisions: to use a broad gauge of 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) for the track, which he believed would offer superior running at high speeds; and to take a route that passed north of
3783-603: The River Thames. On 25 October 1913, two trains collided in thick fog at Waterloo junction, killing three people. On 31 July 1925, there was a minor side-on collision near platform 2. In May 1927, a trunk was deposited in Charing Cross station's cloakroom that contained the five severed body parts of Minnie Alice Bonati. She was later identified as having been murdered in Rochester Row by John Robinson, who
3880-482: The SDR for 1848 suggest that atmospheric traction cost 3s 1d (three shillings and one penny) per mile compared to 1s 4d/mile for conventional steam power (because of the many operating issues associated with the atmospheric, few of which were solved during its working life, the actual cost efficiency proved impossible to calculate). Several South Devon Railway engine houses still stand, including that at Totnes (scheduled as
3977-548: The SECR went to Parliament asking for an act to strengthen the bridge in 1916, Burns suggested the station was in the wrong place and should be rebuilt on the south side of the Thames. The following year, an act was passed to reconstruct the bridge, with strict conditions about its appearance and a ban on enlarging the station building itself. Ownership of Charing Cross passed to the Southern Railway (SR) in 1923 following
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4074-553: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 227615653 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:32:30 GMT Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( / ˈ ɪ z ə m b ɑːr d ˈ k ɪ ŋ d ə m b r uː ˈ n ɛ l / IZZ -əm-bard KING -dəm broo- NELL ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859)
4171-418: The advice of Brunel, they constructed the river crossings in the form of wooden viaducts, 42 in total , consisting of timber deck spans supported by fans of timber bracing built on masonry piers. This unusual method of construction substantially reduced the first cost of construction compared to an all-masonry structure, but at the cost of more expensive maintenance. In 1934 the last of Brunel's timber viaducts
4268-414: The air from a pipe placed in the centre of the track. The section from Exeter to Newton (now Newton Abbot ) was completed on this principle, and trains ran at approximately 68 miles per hour (109 km/h). Pumping stations with distinctive square chimneys were sited at two-mile intervals. Fifteen-inch (381 mm) pipes were used on the level portions, and 22-inch (559 mm) pipes were intended for
4365-401: The bill failed in 1930 after the select committee did not accept building a new Charing Cross on the south bank. The proposal was formally rejected in 1936 by the London & Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee, which revived the double-deck bridge option. The plans were all abandoned following the outbreak of World War II . Charing Cross sustained substantial damage in air-raids during
4462-471: The bridge finished, although his colleagues and admirers at the Institution of Civil Engineers felt it would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds and to amend the design. Work recommenced in 1862, three years after Brunel's death, and was completed in 1864. In 2011, it was suggested, by historian and biographer Adrian Vaughan, that Brunel did not design the bridge, as eventually built, as
4559-446: The building of large-scale, propeller-driven, all-metal steamships a practical reality, but the prevailing economic and industrial conditions meant that it would be several decades before transoceanic steamship travel emerged as a viable industry. Great Eastern was built at John Scott Russell 's Napier Yard in London, and after two trial trips in 1859, set forth on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 17 June 1860. Though
4656-501: The building of the first tunnel under a navigable river (the River Thames ) and the development of the SS Great Britain , the first propeller-driven, ocean-going iron ship, which, when launched in 1843, was the largest ship ever built. On the GWR, Brunel set standards for a well-built railway, using careful surveys to minimise gradients and curves. This necessitated expensive construction techniques, new bridges, new viaducts, and
4753-505: The country. At the original Welsh terminus of the Great Western railway at Neyland , sections of the broad gauge rails are used as handrails at the quayside, and information boards there depict various aspects of Brunel's life. There is also a larger-than-life bronze statue of him holding a steamship in one hand and a locomotive in the other. The statue has been replaced after an earlier theft. The present London Paddington station
4850-563: The decades after its opening. Almost as soon as work was complete on the station, the SER wanted to build a connection from Charing Cross to the railway terminals further north. Soon after Charing Cross station opened, the North Western and Charing Cross Railway Act was passed, a joint act between the SER and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) that proposed a shallow sub-surface line to Euston . The scheme collapsed in 1866 due to
4947-418: The design of the roof, even though the cause of the failure was attributed to a faulty weld in a tie rod. Though the SECR believed the roof had a lifespan of at least forty more years, they decided not to repair it but to replace it entirely. A travelling timber gantry had to be constructed to take the remainder of the station roof down safely. The replacement was a utilitarian post and girder structure supporting
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#17327827506025044-598: The extension, and the SER paid £300,000 (now £38,000,000) in capital to help build this. The line towards Charing Cross was expensive to build as it traversed a heavily built-up area, which was exacerbated in 1862 when the company chose to upgrade the two running lines to three, and doubled the capacity over the bridge to four tracks. The bridge replaced the original suspension bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel which opened in 1845. Work began in June 1860 and took around three years. The old suspension bridge remained open until
5141-478: The forecourt of the mainline station on 22 June 1907. Originally, Embankment tube station was called Charing Cross, while the present Charing Cross tube station was the separate Trafalgar Square (Bakerloo line) and Strand (Northern line) stations. The two northern stations were combined under the current name when connected by the development of the Jubilee line . New below ground passageways were constructed linking
5238-407: The ground varying up to 30 feet (9 m). The space underneath the line was used as wine cellars . The roof above the tracks is a single 164-foot (50 m) wide great arch, rising to 102 feet (31 m) at its highest point. The station was built by Lucas Brothers . Charing Cross station opened on 11 January 1864. The Charing Cross Railway was absorbed into the SER on 1 September, shortly after
5335-423: The later changes to its design were substantial. His views reflected a sentiment stated fifty-two years earlier by Tom Rolt in his 1959 book Brunel. Re-engineering of suspension chains recovered from an earlier suspension bridge was one of many reasons given why Brunel's design could not be followed exactly. Hungerford Bridge , a suspension footbridge across the Thames near Charing Cross Station in London,
5432-524: The main terminus of all SER services instead of London Bridge, including boat trains to Continental Europe. Along with Victoria, it became the main departure point from London to abroad, and was called "the Gates of the World" by Percy Fitzgerald . Thomas Cook established a travel office on the corner of the station forecourt. The SER route became the shortest from London to Dover after a diversion at Sevenoaks
5529-719: The monument and have a virtual conversation with Oscar Wilde . Charing Cross is referenced in numerous Sherlock Holmes stories. In The Adventure of the Abbey Grange , Holmes and Watson catch a train from the station towards the fictional Abbey Grange in Kent, while in The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez , they travel to Chatham from the station. Notes Citations Sources London station group Too Many Requests If you report this error to
5626-400: The new bridge was suitable to carry foot traffic. A trial run over the new line took place on 1 December 1863. The station was designed by Sir John Hawkshaw , and featured a single span wrought iron roof, 510 feet (155 m) long and 164 feet (50 m) wide, arching over the six platforms on its relatively cramped site. It was built on a brick arched viaduct, the level of the rails above
5723-481: The night of 10/11 May, leading to the station's closure again. On 18 June 1944, a bomb took out a span of the bridge. Normal operation did not resume until 4 December. Following the war, the hotel received extensive repairs in 1951. This consisted of a whole new set of top floors, while the mansard roof of the upper floors of the hotel was rebuilt in a plain neo-Georgian white brick. The booking hall and ticket offices were modernised in 1974. Electronic ticket printing
5820-671: The original retaining side walls of the station which once supported it remain in near complete condition. The works were completed in November 1990. Most of the Embankment Place complex is office space, with a selection of restaurants on the ground floor. The station has six platforms. All trains call at Waterloo East and London Bridge . All services at London Charing Cross are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 , 376 , 377 , 465 , 466 and 707 EMUs . The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: The station
5917-754: The original site of the cross, now the statue of Charles I facing Whitehall , and not from this replica. The cross deteriorated over time until it was in such a vulnerable condition that it was placed on English Heritage 's "Heritage At Risk Register" in 2008. A ten-month project to repair and restore the cross was completed in August 2010. This work included recreating and attaching almost 100 missing ornamental features including heraldic shields, an angel, pinnacles, crockets and finials; securing weak or fractured masonry with stainless steel pins and rods and re-attaching decorative items which had previously been removed after becoming loose. After opening, Charing Cross became
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#17327827506026014-455: The platforms so that an interchange could be made. The Northern line's Strand station was temporarily closed from 1974 to enable new escalators to be installed and it reopened along with the opening of the Jubilee line on 1 May 1979. The Jubilee line platforms were closed on 20 November 1999, following the extension of the Jubilee line where it was diverted to Westminster and onwards south of
6111-482: The project to create a tunnel under London's River Thames between Rotherhithe and Wapping , with tunnellers driving a horizontal shaft from one side of the river to the other under the most difficult and dangerous conditions. The project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company and Brunel's father, Marc, was the chief engineer. The American Naturalist said, "It is stated also that the operations of
6208-530: The railway could not be seen. Though unsuccessful, another of Brunel's uses of technical innovations was the atmospheric railway , the extension of the Great Western Railway (GWR) southward from Exeter towards Plymouth , technically the South Devon Railway (SDR), though supported by the GWR. Instead of using locomotives , the trains were moved by Clegg and Samuda's patented system of atmospheric ( vacuum ) traction, whereby stationary pumps sucked
6305-434: The roof emitted a loud noise, which was when someone noticed that one of the main tie rods had broken and was hanging down. Part of the roof began to sag and the western wall began to crack. It was another 12 minutes before the collapse occurred, which enabled trains and platforms to be evacuated and incoming trains to be held back. The roof, girders and debris fell across four passenger trains, blocking all tracks. The part of
6402-541: The sick and wounded towards Charing Cross and hence to hospitals around the country. Over the course of the war, 283 journeys departed from the station. On 26 December 1918, shortly after the war, the US President Woodrow Wilson met King George V at Charing Cross. Commercial cross-Channel services resumed to Ostend on 18 January 1919, Boulogne on 3 February and Calais on 8 January 1920, but by this time, Victoria had been expanded to accommodate
6499-557: The station opened. The Charing Cross Hotel , designed by Edward Middleton Barry , and built by Lucas Brothers , opened on 15 May 1865 and gave the station an ornate frontage in the French Renaissance style. It had 250 bedrooms spread over seven floors and extended along Villiers Street as well as the front of the Strand. The public rooms had balconies overlooking the main station concourse. It quickly became popular and
6596-409: The steeper gradients. The technology required the use of leather flaps to seal the vacuum pipes. The natural oils were drawn out of the leather by the vacuum, making the leather vulnerable to water, rotting it and breaking the fibres when it froze during the winter of 1847. It had to be kept supple with tallow , which is attractive to rats . The flaps were eaten, and vacuum operation lasted less than
6693-454: The strict wartime immigration and customs checks, and Charing Cross ceased to be important as an international terminal. A 70-foot (21 m) length of the original roof structure, comprising the two end bays at the south of the station, and part of the western wall collapsed at 3:57 p.m. on 5 December 1905. A gang of men were employed at the time in repairing, glazing and painting the section of roof which fell. Shortly after 3:45 p.m,
6790-485: The two-mile-long (3.2 km) Box Tunnel . One controversial feature was the " broad gauge " of 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ), instead of what was later to be known as " standard gauge " of 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ). He astonished Britain by proposing to extend the GWR westward to North America by building steam-powered, iron-hulled ships. He designed and built three ships that revolutionised naval engineering:
6887-423: The war. On 8 October 1940, a train was hit during a daylight raid on Whitehall. On the evening of 16/17 April 1941, the hotel was damaged by fire and explosives, four trains caught fire and there were several fires on the bridge. A 28 long hundredweight (3,100 lb; 1,400 kg) parachute mine landed next to platform 4. The station was closed to repair the damage and defuse the mine. A further raid took place on
6984-710: The western wall that fell had crashed through the wall and roof of the neighbouring Royal Avenue Theatre (now the Playhouse Theatre ) in Northumberland Avenue , which was being reconstructed at the time. Six people died (two workmen on the roof, a W.H. Smith bookstall vendor and three workmen on the Royal Avenue Theatre site). At the Board Of Trade Inquiry into the accident, expert witnesses expressed doubts about
7081-518: The world at the time of construction. Brunel submitted four designs to a committee headed by Thomas Telford , but Telford rejected all entries, proposing his own design instead. Vociferous opposition from the public forced the organising committee to hold a new competition, which was won by Brunel. Afterwards, Brunel wrote to his brother-in-law, the politician Benjamin Hawes : "Of all the wonderful feats I have performed, since I have been in this part of
7178-408: The world's first passenger railway. Brunel proved through both calculation and a series of trials that his broader gauge was the optimum size for providing both higher speeds and a stable and comfortable ride to passengers. In addition the wider gauge allowed for larger goods wagons and thus greater freight capacity. Drawing on Brunel's experience with the Thames Tunnel, the Great Western contained
7275-555: The world, I think yesterday I performed the most wonderful. I produced unanimity among 15 men who were all quarrelling about that most ticklish subject—taste". Work on the Clifton bridge started in 1831, but was suspended due to the Queen Square riots caused by the arrival of Sir Charles Wetherell in Clifton. The riots drove away investors, leaving no money for the project, and construction ceased. Brunel did not live to see
7372-402: The younger Brunel. The latter incident, in 1828, killed the two most senior miners, and Brunel himself narrowly escaped death. He was seriously injured and spent six months recuperating, during which time he began a design for a bridge in Bristol, which would later be completed as the Clifton Suspension Bridge . The event stopped work on the tunnel for several years. Though the Thames Tunnel
7469-555: Was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engineering giants", and "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution , [who] changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions". Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway (GWR),
7566-399: Was badly damaged by a roof collapse in 1905 and extensively rebuilt, subsequently becoming an important meeting point for military and government traffic during World War I . By this time, Charing Cross station was seen as out of date by some politicians and proposals were made to replace Hungerford Bridge with a road bridge or road/rail combination, with the station moving to the south bank of
7663-525: Was built in 1868, and by 1913 it was possible to travel from Charing Cross to Paris in six and a half hours. Owing to its international connections, Charing Cross played an important part in World War I as the main departure point for both the military and government towards the Western Front . All civilian and public boat services were suspended on 3 August 1914. Return journeys from Dover carried
7760-428: Was completed in 1913. By the late-19th century, Charing Cross was seen as being inconveniently placed. In 1889, the newly formed London County Council 's John Burns proposed that the station and its approach should be demolished, with a road bridge put in place. The idea gained support within the council as it would allow the Strand to be widened and put a road crossing over the Thames that could bypass Whitehall. When
7857-471: Was constructed mainly from wood, but Brunel added bolts and iron diagonal reinforcements to maintain the keel's strength. In addition to its steam-powered paddle wheels , the ship carried four masts for sails. The Great Western embarked on her maiden voyage from Avonmouth , Bristol, to New York on 8 April 1838 with 600 long tons (610,000 kg) of coal, cargo and seven passengers on board. Brunel himself missed this initial crossing, having been injured during
7954-603: Was convicted of the Charing Cross Trunk Murder , for which he was later executed. On 19 September 1928, a train formed of two 3SUB electric multiple units and a trailer set ran into the buffers. Sixty-eight people were injured, 45 of whom were treated at the Charing Cross Hospital . The Maggie Hambling statue A Conversation with Oscar Wilde is directly opposite the station. It was erected in 1998 and designed for people to sit on
8051-400: Was cutting-edge technology for her time: almost 700 ft (210 m) long, fitted out with the most luxurious appointments, and capable of carrying over 4,000 passengers. Great Eastern was designed to cruise non-stop from London to Sydney and back (since engineers of the time mistakenly believed that Australia had no coal reserves), and she remained the largest ship built until the start of
8148-425: Was designed by Brunel and opened in 1854. Examples of his designs for smaller stations on the Great Western and associated lines which survive in good condition include Mortimer , Charlbury and Bridgend (all Italianate ) and Culham ( Tudorbethan ). Surviving examples of wooden train sheds in his style are at Frome and Kingswear . The Swindon Steam Railway Museum has many artefacts from Brunel's time on
8245-497: Was dismantled and replaced by a masonry structure. Brunel's last major undertaking was the unique Three Bridges, London . Work began in 1856, and was completed in 1859. The three bridges in question are arranged to allow the routes of the Grand Junction Canal , Great Western and Brentford Railway , and Windmill Lane to cross each other. In the early part of Brunel's life, the use of railways began to take off as
8342-667: Was eight, he was sent to Dr Morrell's boarding school in Hove , where he learned classics . His father, a Frenchman by birth, was determined that Brunel should have access to the high-quality education he had enjoyed in his youth in France. Accordingly, at the age of 14, the younger Brunel was enrolled first at the University of Caen , then at Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. When Brunel was 15, his father, who had accumulated debts of over £5,000,
8439-456: Was eventually completed during Marc Brunel's lifetime, his son had no further involvement with the tunnel proper, only using the abandoned works at Rotherhithe to further his abortive Gaz experiments. This was based on an idea of his father's and was intended to develop into an engine that ran on power generated from alternately heating and cooling carbon dioxide made from ammonium carbonate and sulphuric acid. Despite interest from several parties,
8536-482: Was first trialled at the station in 1983. In 1986, redevelopment began over most of the area above the platforms. The new buildings were named Embankment Place, a postmodern office and shopping complex designed by Terry Farrell and Partners . This development led to the replacement of almost the whole of the 1906 roof. The rear two spans of this structure – immediately adjacent to the existing concourse roof – were retained as part of an enlarged waiting area. In addition
8633-448: Was generally thought that a ship would not be able to carry enough fuel for the trip and have room for commercial cargo. Brunel applied the experimental evidence of Beaufoy and further developed the theory that the amount a ship could carry increased as the cube of its dimensions, whereas the amount of resistance a ship experienced from the water as it travelled increased by only a square of its dimensions. This would mean that moving
8730-573: Was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1835. It was Brunel's vision that passengers would be able to purchase one ticket at London Paddington and travel from London to New York, changing from the Great Western Railway to the Great Western steamship at the terminus in Neyland , West Wales. He surveyed the entire length of the route between London and Bristol himself, with the help of many including his solicitor Jeremiah Osborne of Bristol Law Firm Osborne Clarke who on one occasion rowed Brunel down
8827-483: Was made in August and September 1845, from Liverpool to New York. In 1846, she was run aground at Dundrum, County Down . She was salvaged and employed in the Australian service . She is currently fully preserved and open to the public in Bristol, UK. In 1852 Brunel turned to a third ship, larger than her predecessors, intended for voyages to India and Australia. The Great Eastern (originally dubbed Leviathan )
8924-527: Was opened in May 1845. Its central span was 676.5 feet (206.2 m), and its cost was £106,000. It was replaced by a new railway bridge in 1859, and the suspension chains were used to complete the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The Clifton Suspension Bridge still stands, and over 4 million vehicles traverse it every year. Brunel designed many bridges for his railway projects, including
9021-475: Was planned as the London terminus of the South Eastern Railway (SER). They had wanted to extend the line from Bricklayers Arms towards Hungerford Bridge, but a bill presented in 1846 was unsuccessful. In 1857, they proposed to Parliament that they would build a railway terminus in the West End , hoping to use Victoria , before reaching an agreement with the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway to build
9118-403: Was profitable, leading to a 90-bedroom annexe on the other side of Villiers Street opening in 1878. A bridge over the street connected the two parts of the hotel together. In 1887, Hungerford Bridge was widened to 48 feet 9 inches (14.86 m) in order to provide three more tracks into the station. On 1 January 1899, the SER merged with the London, Chatham & Dover Railway to form
9215-556: Was sent to a debtors' prison . After three months went by with no prospect of release, Marc Brunel let it be known that he was considering an offer from the Tsar of Russia . In August 1821, facing the prospect of losing a prominent engineer, the government relented and issued Marc £5,000 to clear his debts in exchange for his promise to remain in Britain. When Brunel completed his studies at Henri-IV in 1822, his father had him presented as
9312-493: Was the first ship to hold the Blue Riband with a crossing time of 13 days westbound and 12 days 6 hours eastbound. The service was commercially successful enough for a sister ship to be required, which Brunel was asked to design. Brunel had become convinced of the superiority of propeller -driven ships over paddle wheels. After tests conducted aboard the propeller-driven steamship Archimedes , he incorporated
9409-501: Was working on block-making machinery . He was named Isambard after his father, the French civil engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel , and Kingdom after his English mother, Sophia Kingdom . His mother's sister, Elizabeth Kingdom, was married to Thomas Mudge Jr, son of Thomas Mudge the horologist . He had two elder sisters, Sophia, the eldest child, and Emma. The whole family moved to London in 1808 for his father's work. Brunel had
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