Waking the Dead: Bitton Train Graveyard

Bitton Train Graveyard can be found just outside Bristol city. The rusted remains found there are a fragmentary glimpse of another age, a lost time, when the singular vision of a man called Isambard Kingdom Brunel re-shaped the very landscape and cities of England.

For a chap who smoked up to 40 cigars a day, Brunel was an energetic man. He built ships, roads, bridges and, of course, he built railways.

From Wikipedia:

'Though Brunel's projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his short career, Brunel achieved many engineering 'firsts', including assisting in the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river and development of the first propeller-driven ocean-going iron ship, which was at the time also the largest ship ever built.'

The Bitton railway museum is part of the Avon Valley Railway line which ran from Bristol to Bath, which Brunel's work made possible. The following images were taken there. No cats or Scotsmen were harmed during photography.

Coil

Coupling

Crank

Berry

Time

Carriages

Engine

One mean pussy

More:

Brunel on Wikipedia

Brunel on the BBC

Avon Valley Railway

Artwork:

Photograph by damien - taken in Bitton Train Graveyard, Bristol, England. Manipulation by miss w. tod

Waking the Dead:

Full list of all articles in the Waking the Dead series

A really good record of times now past.

If you get a chance, the National Railway Museum in York is worth a visit. Old train carriages and engines are in really good nick.

I live down the road from Brunel's Wharncliffe Viaduct, it's very impressive but could do with a clean up:

http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=444