Memorial day - 33

The subject of today's Memorial Day blog is one of my lifelong heroes. Its difficult to put into context his achievements. It took thousands of NASA scientists, engineers and managers to get a man to the moon - just imagine if that had been achieved by one man.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel achieved the equivalent of that in the development of the railway system in Victorian Britain.

In 1826, aged 20 he was appointed chief assistant engineer on his father’s project constructing the Thames Tunnel which runs between Rotherhithe and Wapping. Which is still one of the main road traffic crossings downstream of London.

But his greatest engineering achievement was the construction of the Great Western Railway - the mighty GWR. He was appointed chief engineer in 1833, to build a railway to connect London to Bristol and South Wales. He designed Paddington station as the terminus in London - a temple to the power of steam.

He was also jolly good at designing bridges the most iconic being the Clifton Suspension Bridge which spans the Avon Gorge.

If that wasn’t enough in 1837 he designed and built the Great Western, the largest steamship in the world. This was followed in 1843 by the even larger Great Britain, the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. She did the return trip to New York in 29 days compared to the average time of 2 months for sailing ships.

Its worth taking time to Google Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( isn’t that a great sounding name) and read about him. Many monuments have been erected in his memory, the one photographed is located at the junction of Temple Place, City of Westminster, and Victoria Embankment.

He achieved so much, but there is still one striking fact he was born 9 April 1806 and died 15th September 1859. He died just aged 53, but in his 33 years working life accomplished so much.