The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-01-23
THE SEVERN TUNNEL.
An Oriface Twenty-Six Feet Wide and
Five Miles Long.

1.-Two ADeS Long
Overcoming what at one time seemed
almost overwhelming difficulties the
Great Western Railway Company and
the engineers, Sir John Hawkshaw and
Mr.. Richardson, assc with Mr.. d.
Walker, the CONTRACT !, nave at length
completed the prodigious work of driv-
ing four miles and quarter of tunnel be-
meath the mouth of the Severn, and have
thus connected South Wales directly
with the Great Western Railway Com
pany's system on the Worcestershire
side of the river. They have by this
means reduced the distance from Lon
don to Cardiff by thirteen miles, and
the time occupied in going from Bris-
toll to Cardiff to one and a quarter
hours. Recently Sir Daniel Gooch
and the staff of the works, with several
ladies, including Lady Gooch, the
whole numbering forty passengers,
were conveyed through the tunnel from
end 80 end in a train of saloon car
:'iages. They took half an hour going
through to Pitning, where the tunnel
comes out on the English side of the
Severn, and eighteen minutes in the re-
turn journey to the Roggiett Station,
on the Monmouthshire side. The or
binary time to be occupied in pass
ing through the tunnel is esti-
mated at only ten minutes. The party,
both ladies and gentlemen, thoroughly
enjoyed the trip and found the atmos-
phere in the tunnel clear and the venti'
Lat Pie tuEiniEsab llss 'twenfy-six rect wide!
twenty feet high from the rails to the
crown of the arch inside the brick
work, and has double line of rails laid
ON longitudinal sleepers. More than
mile of it has been excavated through
the hard pennart sandstone and the
coal measures; half mile through con-
glomerate everything the pennant; hall
a mile in the shale Of the coal measures
with some beds of coal twelve inches
thick, and the rest was through the rec
mari of the new red sandstone. About
four and quarter miles of actual tun-
neling are beneath the bed of the river
and in the journey on Saturday the
whole of this was found as perfectly
dry as the floor of the room, the only
SIGN of water from leakage from the
once troublesome land springs being Oh
the MonmOuthshire side, near what Is
known as the Five Mile -Four Chain
Shaft. where the great spring wa;
tapped in 1888, when this part of the
works was flooded The leakage, how
ever, was very slight, and it will be cas-
ily stopped by calking and cement work
similar in character to the plan adopted
beneath the river. The cover or depth
of the strata between the river BET
and the crown of the tunnel has {
minimum of thirty feet. At this poin
there is always tifty-five feet of watel
{ over the tunnel even at low tide, whil
at high tide this is increased to no les
l than ninety-two feet Seventy-fiv'
[ millions Of brick have been used in lin
inc the tunnel throughout with staff
t ordshire or vitrifed brick set in cement
= This arched crown or wall has a thick
t ness of three feet in the deepest pant o
/. the work beneath the shoots, but as tn
. tunnel rises from the lowest point tn
: thickness is gradually reduced to tw
d feet and three inches; seven hundre
t thousand cubic yards of material hav
o been excavated, chiefly through rock
It and from commencement to finish tn
All Il, ny s. IS S,, u. s 4-1a nf
"a WORK mas IN ali Deea-ipnca- W5is L /
70 riod of twelve years, but the presei
contractor has been in possession c
u the work only five and half year
l. A powerful fan, forty feet in diameter
has to be erected to complete the vel
tilation, and some cutting on tn
n Worcestershire side, together with tn
junction with the main lines and tn
= doubling of portions of the line fror
u Pathway, have to be finished befor
" the tunnel will be opened for traffic
London Times.