Brunel’s First Railway Journey? Tim Bryan

Tim Bryan

Director of the Brunel Institute at the SS Great Britain in Bristol

Tim Bryan, describes an intriguing souvenir of I.K.Brunel’s first journey by Train.

The first mention in Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s diary of what was to become the Great Western Railway appeared on 21st February 1833 as a marginal reference noted ‘B.R.’, initials that then referred to the ‘Bristol Railway’. Less than a month later, at the age of only 27, Brunel was appointed as engineer of a new railway between Bristol and London that would not only define his career but would also be one of the most significant railway developments of the Victorian era.

On the face of it, Brunel would have seemed an unlikely candidate for the job given he had very little direct experience of railway engineering, and his appointment, given the size and importance of the project showed some considerable confidence on the part of the Bristol directors who chose him. Of course, in 1833 railway development was still in its infancy, and so the pool of engineers from which the new railway company might have drawn suitable candidates was necessarily not that large; Brunel biographer L.T.C Rolt noted that other candidates for the job were ‘not very formidable’.

Brunel did however have the support of some influential Bristol men including Nicholas Roch, who introduced him to the committee set up to promote the railway, and its chairman Thomas Guppy, who would become a close friend and supporter of Isambard. One cannot however underestimate Brunel’s charisma and powers of persuasion, characteristics that would serve him well throughout his career; he was able to convince the committee that he would survey only one route rather than a number of different costed designs, saying he would design a railway that was the best not the cheapest. Having gained this concession, and undoubtedly confident he could do the job, he was however forced to accept the position on the understanding that a local surveyor W.H Townsend would assist him with the survey of the route.

Despite his relative inexperience in railway engineering, a fascinating survival in the National Brunel Collection at the Brunel Institute of the SS Great Britain Trust reveals that some of his grand vision for railway travel had been formed almost two years before his appointment to the GWR job in 1833.

In December 1831, Brunel had yet to truly make his mark and was still searching for the commission that would launch his career after his near-fatal accident at the Thames Tunnel, and the abandonment of that project.

He travelled around the country extensively during this period and spent time in the north of England, meeting with the promotors of a project to build a new Dock at Monkwearmouth in late November 1831. Brunel’s tour then took him

Brunel's personal notebook (undated). The engineer has written his distinctive signature noting that the Liverpool & Manchester carriage was 'going 25'. (By courtesy of the Brunel Institute – a collaboration of the SS Great Britain Trust and University of Bristol)

Liverpool Crown Street Station looking east, as seen on a LNWR postcard. Trains were worked by gravity to Edge Hill, so no locomotive is attached to the carriages in the departure platform on the left of picture. (Authors Collection)