"Darwin told us where we came from, but it was Brunel who took us where we wanted to go," Jeremy Clarkson. And in the 1800s Swindon, Chippenham and Corsham were all, at least, on the way… on the Great Western Railway. Today, there are over 9,000 miles of single track railway owned by the GWR system but a century ago not even an inch of it had been laid. But in 1835 all of that was about to change when a 27-year-old engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was given the task of laying the first stretch of 'God's Wonderful Railway' between London and Bristol.
Swindon built on a ham sandwich For GWR's first monumental stretch of railway line, Brunel was on the hunt for the flattest route, level all the way, that would be the fastest route between London and the west. Later to be nicknamed 'Brunel's Billiard Table', the route was due to follow a straight line (virtually) from Paddington right through the centre of Swindon. Swindon it seems was about to be put on the map and, thanks to a ham sandwich, about to be changed forever:
 | | Swindon Engine House |
"Daniel Gooch and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were driving along looking for this space to build the locomotive repair works," says Felicity Ball the curator at STEAM. "They knew they needed somewhere along the line but they couldn't make a decision. "So, eating their lunch while they were on the move Brunel apparently stood up with half a ham sandwich in his hand threw it out of the carriage and said: 'Where ever this sandwich lands we'll build our locomotive repair facility.' And it landed at Swindon." Rumours that Swindon's industrial heritage is based on a spot of wanton littering aside the more accepted explanation is based on Swindon's location: "Swindon was a convenient half-way point between Bristol and London," says Felicity. "The steep gradients meant that the locomotives had to stop to load up on coal and water, there was the availability of land in the area and of course the canal. So supposedly Daniel Gooch chose Swindon for that very purpose." So Swindon was chosen and, in 1841, Swindon's Railway Works were constructed on the same magnificent scale as was coming to be expected from Brunel. Covering over 300 acres, 73 of which were under cover, the works employed over 40,000 workers and dominated the economy of the peaceful market town: "The works began to expand quite rapidly," says Felicity "and because Swindon was only a very small agricultural holding, people were needed to work in the works. So GWR knew that it had to attract people to Swindon and had to accommodate people. So they began to build what is known as the Railway village." The Railway Village was a small company town, designed by Brunel, and built from the Cotswold stone blasted out of Box Hill during the boring of Box Tunnel (a few miles down the line): "Brunel actually described them as very unimposing buildings but in terms of industrial design they are actually beautiful and now they're a wonderful legacy for Swindon to have,” says Felicity. All trains go to Chippenham The next stop on the Billiard Table Railway was the sleepy market town of Chippenham where, in 1841, a nine arch viaduct was built to carry Brunel's Great Western Railway over the town:
 | | Viaduct 1846 - Courtesy Chippenham Town |
"This really was Chippenham being brought kicking and screaming into the industrial revolution," says Mike Stone the Museum and Heritage Centre curator. "Even after this famous viaduct had been built, the roads were still just mud. Animals walked to and fro from the market whilst above was this fantastic new structure with all these wonderful steam trains going overhead.” And for several years, after the viaduct was built, Chippenham was the place all Great Western's trains ended up after heading out of London. That is until the line's most imposing feature was built. The World's longest tunnel As the railway had been steadily advancing away from London to the east, the western Bristol-Bath section had also been making its way west. And on June, 1840 was officially opened. By that stage over 115 miles of track had been laid. But it was the last 24 miles, linking up the two ends of the GWR, which would prove to be the most difficult because the final stretch was blocked by Box Hill. To make matters worse, sceptics were claiming that it would be practically impossible to bore a tunnel through the hill: "The valley afforded the most direct approach to Box Hill," says Local Historian Joe James. "And it was Brunel's intention to penetrate this massive rock with a tunnel, perfectly straight and nearly two miles long." For Brunel, Box Tunnel proved to be the most difficult engineering problem that he would have to face when building the London to Bristol line: "He started on this project in the late 1830s," says Martin Yallop co-ordinator of Corsham Tourist Information and Heritage Centre. "His intention was to blast through Box Hill and drive a tunnel right through.
 | | Exterior of Box tunnel |
"But he had a number of problems. The project was already overrunning, before he'd even started it. And it went way over budget because of the amount of explosives he needed to get through the local limestone." In fact the cost of driving the tunnel through Box Hill was costing, on average, £100 per yard. Plus the original 1,500 navvies, brought in to work on the tunnel, just weren't enough: "He had to draught in a number of experts and extra workers, around 4,000, to help finish the project," says Martin Yallop. "And it wasn't just the tunnel itself. There is in fact a very long and deep cutting up to the tunnel from the Chippenham side which runs to about 2.5 miles. All of that had to be dug by hand and all the spoil had to be carted away by horse and cart." For five years, over 4,000 navvies working 300 horses shifted 30 million bricks from the brickyards in Chippenham and blasted their way through the two mile stretch of Box Hill. Getting through over a ton of gunpowder and a ton of candles every week the work was, to say the least, hazardous: "It was certainly very dangerous," says local historian Joe James. "There were over 131 casualties and 100 men were killed. A navvy would hold a 20lb drum of gunpowder under his arm and he would shake some into the hole. Their only form of light, in that tunnel, was a candle and if he moved a candle so that it caught a spattering than there could be tragedy."
 | | Interior of Box tunnel |
But, by the end of June 1841 Brunel's greatest engineering work was complete and the first train was able to make its way through the World's longest tunnel of the time. But with rumours that it would both stifle and deafen anyone on board the train other arrangements had to be made for some passengers: "GWR were forced to lay on a stagecoach from Box to Corsham for those too nervous to travel this part of the journey by train," says Olive Currant whose husband worked for 30 years as a ganger on the line. "When it was first built the Victorians would get off at Corsham and come down in their ponies and traps and get on at the Box end. They were frightened because they thought it was too narrow." Two hundred years on and the Box Tunnel, still as a straight as a rifle barrel, still holds a bit of an unknown... For anyone living in Wiltshire it's well known that once a year on Brunel's Birthday, at dawn, the sunrise can be spotted at the other end of the tunnel: "April 9th is Brunel's birthday," says Andy Quinn DCSA – Quarry Manager, "and if you stand at the western end and look through the tunnel at dawn you can actually see the sun rise through the eastern end. It was engineered perfectly straight." With no photographic evidence though... we're still to be convinced. You can listen to Top Hat & Rails - Brunel's Wiltshire Story by Gerry Hughes on BBC Radio Wiltshire and BBC Radio Swindon at 9.00 am on Sunday April 9th and again on Friday April 14th at 1.00 pm. Or you can listen by clicking on the link above. | 
