Great Western Railway locomotives 4965 ‘Rood Ashton Hall’ (leading) and 5043 ‘Earl of Mount Edgcumbe’ double head a steam railtour over Thomas Brassey’s Penkridge Viaduct in Staffordshire. This was Brassey’s first major project in railway engineering, an opportunity given to him by the great George Stephenson. Brassey went on to take railways to Europe and the world, spreading trade and a rising standard of living across five continents.
Introduction
The Victorian railway engineer Thomas Brassey (1805-1870) is not the household name that he perhaps ought to be, chiefly because he worked through agents and alongside partners. Nonetheless, his knowledge and business acumen lies behind much of the rail network in Britain, and helped start the railway revolution from France to Australia.
THOMAS Brassey, son of a prosperous Cheshire farmer, began his career in road-building as an apprentice to surveyor William Lawton, on Thomas Telford’s Shrewsbury to Holyhead road. Brassey rose from apprentice to partner, and Lawton and Brassey relocated to Birkenhead to make road-building materials.
It was in supplying stone for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway’s Sankey Viaduct that Thomas met George Stephenson, who subsequently employed him for Penkridge Viaduct on the Grand Junction Railway, and Brassey worked with George and with George’s son Robert and protégé Joseph Locke, on projects from Southampton to Chester, Sheffield and Glasgow.
In 1841, Locke awarded Thomas a contract to help construct the Paris to Le Havre Railway, one of France’s first railway ventures. A feature was to be the Barentin viaduct, for which Brassey was required to use local materials, but it collapsed during construction. Brassey rebuilt it at his own expense, this time sourcing the materials himself.* More French railways followed, including the line from Orléans to Bordeaux.
Brassey’s rebuilt viaduct is in operation today, bearing the weight of a modern high-speed line. See a picture at Wikimedia Commmons.
Précis
Thomas Brassey was a Cheshire surveyor who began as a road-builder but went into railway construction at the suggestion of George Stephenson. In 1841, he was rewarded for his work on Penkridge Viaduct with a contract to work in France, where he demonstrated his superior engineering skills and knowledge of materials by rebuilding the collapsed Barentin Viaduct in Normandy. (59 / 60 words)
Thomas Brassey was a Cheshire surveyor who began as a road-builder but went into railway construction at the suggestion of George Stephenson. In 1841, he was rewarded for his work on Penkridge Viaduct with a contract to work in France, where he demonstrated his superior engineering skills and knowledge of materials by rebuilding the collapsed Barentin Viaduct in Normandy.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, because, despite, otherwise, ought, until, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Post Box : Ask Nicholas
Grok : Ask Grok
You are welcome to share your creativity with me, or ask for help with any of the exercises on Clay Lane. Write to me at this address:
See more at Post Box.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
