Comments on Dark Roasted Blend: The Last Victorian Leviathan Steam Ship

Brunel was one of, if not the best British enginee...

2008-10-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Brunel was one of, if not the best British engineer. Many of his designs are still in existence today. If he had his way the gauge of railways would have been wider, that's what he planned for the Great Western Railway. Also on the GWR, over the river Thames is a flat arched bridge which nobody thought could be built.

On a related note I live about 1/4 mile from where the Great Eastern was built and some of the slipway still remains.

Another unusual pneumatic railway was trialled by ...

2008-08-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

Another unusual pneumatic railway was trialled by a man called Alfred Beach, in New York, 1870.
An article on it can be seen here, and a series of better pictures are viewable here.

Soubriquet - thank you for good words; you're welc...

2008-08-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Soubriquet - thank you for good words; you're welcome to submit similar articles, if you want.

As for unrealized atmospheric railway - RATS!..

Oh, and, by the way... Brunel's atmospheric railwa...

2008-08-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Oh, and, by the way... Brunel's atmospheric railway, a further problem with the leather seals was the fact that they had to be kept lubricated in order to remain flexible and seal well, this was done with animal derived greases, which led to them being an irresistable target for rats. Failure of the vacuum seal stopped the train, so although the concept was viable, the system failed due to the lack of a suitable flexible sealing material.

Avi, thanks for all your effort in producing Dark ...

2008-08-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Avi, thanks for all your effort in producing Dark Roasted, it's always full of fascinating things and great pictures, I hope you keep on doing this.

Great read!

2008-08-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

Great read!

Really enjoyed this piece... I was surprised thoug...

2008-08-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Really enjoyed this piece... I was surprised though, that there was no mention of his broad gauge Great Western Railway. Brunel also made plans for an above ground pneumatic railroad. Compressed air was to be carried beneath the railbed in leather tubes. A piston attached to the railway carriages would then fit into this tube, much in the manner that a cable car has a grip that reaches below the rails, and engages the cable. The problem with this scheme it that the leather tube was not sufficiently airtight to be effective. If Brunel had access to todays modern materials, maybe he could have pulled it off.

Thank you guys for great info. Jeremy Clarkson lin...

2008-08-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you guys for great info. Jeremy Clarkson link was especially entertaining.

Brunel's "atmospheric railway" (the one in Devon) ...

2008-08-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

Brunel's "atmospheric railway" (the one in Devon) failed because he couldn't seal the slot along the tube. Rubber wasn't available at that time so the seal was made of leather. When the iron tube rusted in the damp air, the iron reacted with the tannin in the leather and destroyed the seal. But in the brief time it worked, apparently it worked quite nicely. (Source: Routledge, R, "Discoveries and Inventions of the 19th Century)

The same book also has an item on the Crystal Palace atmospheric passenger railway, or "shuttle" as we would call it today, though it claims the tube was under Hyde Park, not in Sydenham where the Crystal Palace ended up.

I think I read somewhere that the ship also had a ...

2008-08-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

I think I read somewhere that the ship also had a huge ballroom that was gimbled to always stay level even in rough seas. However, it ended up lurching around so much that the ended up locking it into place...

You can also see Jeremy Clarkson's documentary mov...

2008-08-06T03:59:00.000-07:00

You can also see Jeremy Clarkson's documentary movie about Brunel ( and the "Great Eastern") on youtube. Keywords- Clarkson Brunel.