The Birth of the Great Western Railway
Extracts from the diary and correspondence of George Henry Gibbs
The Great Western Railway was a magnificent enterprise, and in itself sums up the grandeur, the dynamism and self-confidence of early Victorian England. Designed from the outset to span the whole of southern England from the Thames to the Bristol Channel, it was laid out with an unparalleled amplitude to Brunel's broad gauge, and provided the first regular express trains any- where in the world. The construction of the railway was no easy matter, however, and the early history of the Company was stormy, the directors receiving fierce criticism from their shareholders. This diary was written by one of those directors. First published obscurely sixty years ago and most of it very little known, it is here introduced with a full commentary by Professor Jack Simmons. As a document in railway history Gibbs' diary
is of great value and importance, for it shows us at first hand the difficulties and risks that the early entrepreneurs ran, the challenges they had to meet and the strains and pressures under which they worked. Almost everything had to be worked out from first principles: safety precautions, the handling and maintenance of the temperamental early locomotives, the train service the Company was to provide. In his diary Gibbs emerges as a distinct personality - shrewd, level-headed, loyal to Brunel and determined to get the railway built in accordance with his controversial ideas; all this in the face of recurring illness, which killed him only two years after the diary ends. This volume provides both useful evidence on the development of the railways, and a quiet and convincing self-portrait of an early Victorian business-man. It is illustrated with a portrait of Gibbs and six pictures of the railway and its equipment, mostly hitherto unpublished.
Hardback with dust jacket, 17x22cm, 96 pages, black & white illustrations
Condition: Good/Very Good with marks to EP
ISBN: 9780239001016
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