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Thomas Evans Blackwell
Thomas Evans Blackwell (28 July 1819 – 25 June 1863) was an English civil engineer. Life and career Born in Devizes, Wiltshire, Blackwell was the only son of John Blackwell (engineer), John Blackwell and Frances Cooper. He was baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Devizes on 1 October 1819. Blackwell was educated in mathematics by his godfather, Thomas Evans, who was vicar in Froxfield, Wiltshire. In , at the age of 17, Blackwell was employed as an apprentice to the Kennet and Avon Canal Company, a position arranged by his father who had been the company's superintending engineer since 1806. Upon his father's death in 1840, the 21-year-old Blackwell became the company's engineer. One of his first tasks was working with Isambard Kingdom Brunel when the canal was diverted to accommodate a cut (earthmoving), cut for the new Great Western Railway (GWR). Described as wikt:sagacious, sagacious, Blackwell foresaw the impact the railway system would have on the transporta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Blackwell (engineer)
Charles Blackwell (4 February 1843 – 29 December 1906) was an English civil engineer, primarily known for his railway engineering work in Canada and the United States. He came from a family of engineers; his father was Thomas Evans Blackwell and his grandfather was John Blackwell. Early life Blackwell was born at Foxhangers near Devizes, Wiltshire, on 4 February 1843. He emigrated to Canada in 1857 with his family when his father, Thomas Evans Blackwell, began employment as vice president of the Grand Trunk Railroad. Blackwell was educated at the High School of Montreal and later at McGill College. Career Blackwell's first employment was with the Grand Trunk Railroad under his father. He worked for the Intercolonial Railway between 1869 and 1876, supervising the company's repair shops in Moncton, New Brunswick. From 1876 he took a year's employment as resident engineer on the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway, before taking the same role at the Quebec Cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between Stephen of England and Empress Matilda, and again during the English Civil War when the Cavaliers lifted the siege at the Battle of Roundway Down. Devizes remained under Royalist control until 1645, when Oliver Cromwell attacked and forced the Royalists to surrender. The castle was Slighting, destroyed in 1648 on the orders of Parliament, and today little remains of it. From the 16th century Devizes became known for its textiles, and by the early 18th century it held the largest corn market in the West Country, constructing the Corn Exchange in 1857. In the 18th century, brewing, curing of tobacco, and Snuff (tobacco), snuff-making were established. The Wadworth Brewery was founded in the town in 1875. Standing at the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cut (earthmoving)
In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock from a relative rise along a route is removed. The term is also used in river management to speed a waterway's flow by short-cutting a meander. Cuts are typically used in road, rail, and canal construction to reduce the length and grade of a route. Cut and fill construction uses the spoils from cuts to fill in defiles to cost-effectively create relatively straight routes at steady grades. Cuts are used as alternatives to indirect routes, embankments, or viaducts. They also have the advantage of comparatively lower noise pollution than elevated or at-grade solutions. History The term ''cutting'' appears in the 19th century literature to designate rock cuts developed to moderate grades of railway lines. ''Railway Age's Comprehensive Railroad Dictionary'' defines a cut as "a passage cut for the roadway through an obstacle of rock or dirt." Creation Cuts can be created by multiple passes of a shovel, grader, scrap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Weighton Canal
The Market Weighton Canal ran from the Humber Estuary to its terminus near Market Weighton. It gained its Act of Parliament in 1772 and opened in 1782. The closest to Market Weighton was abandoned in 1900 and the right of navigation through Weighton lock was lost in 1971. However, as of 2002 the lock was passable and the canal usable up to the junction with the River Foulness where silt has made it impassable. Also there is no right of navigation under the M62 motorway bridge to the north of Newport. History The canal was conceived as part of a wider scheme to drain the low-lying land and fens between the River Humber and Market Weighton. Some of land were threatened by flooding, both from rain and from water flowing into the area from a larger catchment covering , including the East Yorkshire Wolds, which border the area to the east. Before the scheme, most of the lower area was marshland, while the upper area suffered from waterlogging, and was only suitable for grazing o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stourbridge Canal
The Stourbridge Canal is a canal in the West Midlands of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (at Stourton Junction, affording access to traffic from the River Severn) with the Dudley Canal, and hence, via the Birmingham Canal Navigations, to Birmingham and the Black Country. History The Stourbridge and Dudley canals were originally proposed as a single canal in 1775, with a primary purpose of carrying coal from Dudley to Stourbridge. Robert Whitworth had carried out a survey, which was approved at a meeting held in Stourbridge in February, at which the estimated cost was promised by subscribers. The chief promoter was Lord Dudley, but the bill was withdrawn from Parliament following fierce opposition from the Birmingham Canals. Two bills were presented in the autumn, one for each of the canals, with the details largely unchanged, and both became Acts of Parliament on 2 April 1776, despite continued opposition from Birmingham. The Act allowed the promo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951. History Construction started in 1790; being watched over by the wealthy ironmasters of Merthyr Tydfil, including Richard Crawshay of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, the canal was thought up as a solution to the issue of transporting the goods (iron ore, coal and limestone) from the valleys to Cardiff, where they would be shipped around the world. Thomas Dadford was hired to inspect and plan a route for the canal and, with support from Lord Cardiff, the canal was authorised by Parliament on 9 June 1790. Almost £90,000 was raised in preparation of constructing the canal and would be linked to any works within four miles of the canal, through branch canals and linking railways. However, during the few miles approaching Cardiff, the canal suffered from severe water shortages, resulting in goods ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lydney Canal
The Lydney Canal is a one-mile canal in Gloucestershire that runs inland from the River Severn to Lydney. It was opened in 1813 to trans-ship iron and coal from the Forest of Dean. It was once connected by a horse-drawn tramroad to Pidcock's Canal which brought materials down to the wharves by tub-boat. In the 1960s imported wood was still being brought in by barge from Avonmouth. It remained in commercial use until the 1980s. The entrance to the canal consists of an outer tidal gate opening into a wide basin. From there a lock opens into the one-mile canal cut. Immediately above the lock, a pair of gates points the other way as protection against a high tidal flood in the estuary. There is one swing bridge across the canal. The docks were restored between 2003 and 2005, using money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and others, to create a marina and harbour area for seagoing yachts and motor boats. In 2015 the outer lock gates failed in the open position and are inoperable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severn And Wye Railway
The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and opened its line to Parkend in 1810. It was progressively extended northwards, and a second line, the ''Mineral Loop'' was opened to connect newly opened mineral workings. To facilitate transfer of traffic to the neighbouring South Wales Railway main line, the Severn and Wye Railway network was converted from a plateway to a locomotive-worked broad gauge edge railway, and then to a standard gauge railway. Extensions were made to Lydbrook, Cinderford and Coleford. The company's finances were dependent on the mineral industry of the Forest of Dean, and in 1879 economic difficulties caused it to amalgamate with the Severn Bridge Railway. In fact this resulted in a worsening of the situation, and the combined company sold its business to the Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crofton Pumping Station
Crofton Pumping Station, near the village of Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England, supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water. The steam-powered pumping station is preserved and operates on selected weekends. It contains an operational Boulton & Watt steam engine dating from 1812, making it the oldest working beam engine in the world in its original engine house and capable of doing the job for which it was installed. Description When the canal was built, no reliable water sources were available to fill the summit by normal gravitational means. However, a set of usable springs were found adjacent to the canal route about east of the summit pound, and about below it. Arrangements were made for these springs to feed the pound below lock 60 at Crofton Locks. Some years later a reservoir (Wilton Water) was created to improve the supply to this pound, and this can now be seen across the canal from the pumping station. Water from below lock 60 was taken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulton And Watt
Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the English manufacturer Matthew Boulton and the Scottish engineer James Watt, the firm had a major role in the Industrial Revolution and grew to be a major producer of steam engines in the 19th century. The engine partnership The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine. Initially the business was based at the Soho Manufactory near Boulton's Soho House on the southern edge of the then-rural parish of Handsworth. However most of the components for their engines were made by others, for example the cylinders by John Wilkinson. In 1795, they began to make steam engines themselves at their Soho Foundry in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claverton Pumping Station
Claverton Pumping Station in the village of Claverton, Somerset, Claverton, in the English county of Somerset, pumps water from the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal using power from the flow of the river. It is a Grade I listed building, having been upgraded from Grade II in 2019. The pumping station was built by John Rennie (engineer), John Rennie between 1809 and 1813 to overcome water supply problems on the canal. It uses a wide wooden Water wheel#Breastshot wheel, breastshot water wheel to drive two Boulton and Watt long cast iron rocking beams, which power lift pumps to raise water up to the canal. The pumping station has undergone several modifications since its initial construction, including revising the wheel into two sections each wide separated by a gap. The station's operational life ended in 1952, by which time its maintenance and repair had become uneconomical in the light of falling traffic on the canal. In the 1960s and 1970s rest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, west of London and southeast of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the "Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset. The city became a spa with the Latin name ' ("the waters of Sulis") 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
