Show THE SEVERN TUNNEL an orideo twenty six feet aldo abd alte icons overcoming what at almost overwhelming tho grout western railway company and aliu engineers sir john and mr richardson associated with mr walker tho contractor have at length completed tho prodigious work of dair ins and a quarter of tunnel bo odath the mouth of alio severn and have tanu connected south wales with the great western railway com banys system on the Gloucester shire side ot tho river they have by this means reduced the distance from london to cardiff by thirteen mild and alio giroo occupied in go my from bristol to cardiff to ono and a quarter henrs recently sir daniel gooch and tho staff of ano borka several indic s including lady gooch the whole numbering forty passengers acro convoyed through rom end to end in a arnn of saloon carriages they took bialt nn hour going through to pilning Pil ning alio comes out on tho english sida 0 tho severn and minutes ih tho return journey to tins station on tho Monmouth shire side tho or binary birno lo 10 bo occupied in RASS ing through tho tunnel is asti at only ten minutes tho both ladies and gont thoroughly enjoyed tho trip and found tho atmos in the tunnel clear and tho ventilation admirable the is twenty six feel wide twenty deot high from alio llio rails to alio crown of the arch inside alif brick work and has a double line of rails laid on longitudinal sleepers more than a mile of it has been excavated through tho hard pennant and tho coal measures bialt a mile gli conglomerate overlying tho pennant bialt a mile in tho shalo of the coal with sonio beds of coil twelve inches thick and the rest was through the red mirl of the new red sandstone sands tono about four and n quarter miles of actual tunneling aro the bed of alo river and in tho journey on saturday tho aholo of this was found 01 perfectly dry as the bloor of tho room tho only sign of water from leakage from the troublesome land springs being on tho Monmouth shire side near what is known as tho five milo four chain shaft oliero alio great spring was tapped in when tins anit of alio works was flooded this leakage however was very slight and it will bo easily slopped by cement work similar in chara clor to the plan adopted beneath alic river tho cover or depth of alio strata between the ivr bed and tho crown of alie tunnel has n minimum of thirty feet at this point is always fatty five feet of water over tho tunnel can at low tide at high tido this is increased to less alian tivo feet seventy live millions of brick leavo been used in lining alio tunnel throughout with staffordshire ord shire or vitrified fied balck set in cement this crown or wall has a thickness of three feet in alio pait of tho work beneath the ashooh but as tho tunnel rises from the lowest point the thickness is gradually reduced to two feet and three inches sovan hundred thousand cubic yards of material have been excavated chirlly through rock and from to finish alio llio work has in all been spread over a period of twelve years but tho present contractor has been in cf the work only civo and a bialt years A powerful fan forty deot sn diameter lias to be eroded to complete tho ventilation ti and sonic cutting on alio Gloucester shire side together with the junction alio annin lines and alio doubling of portions of the line from patchway Patch way leavo to be before the tunnel will bo opened for traffic london times |