GWR. Brunel Broad Gauge Coach.
basil | 2/23/2006 | 2:47 pmGWR Brunel Broad Gauge coach in a New Radnor farmyard 1954. Max.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1806-1859.
Advocat of broad gauge (7ft) he built 1000 miles of railway in England also in Ireland and Italy. He advised on railways Worldwide. He was also one of our most famous bridge designers. His last bridge was the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. The Clifton Suspension Bridge at Bristol was also designed by him but was not completed until after his death.
Three ships were built by Brunel, all three were the largest in the World at this time.
The Great Western, a paddle vessel, first to provide translantic service.
The Great Britain: First to be propelled with a screw propellor.
The Great Eastern: First vessel with a double hull.
The Lamp from the Last-Ever Train.
Do you have the lamp that glowed in the night –
The lamp from the last-ever train?
Such loss, such yearning, such sadness. I find
Is a haunting refrain.
*
Yes, I have the lamp that glowed at the end,
The end of the last-ever train.
It hung on a hook and it clings in my mind
Like a haunting refrain.
*
A carriage for well-wishers. My friend was there
On the last-ever train.
They sang all the way from Welshpool to Llanfair –
Such a haunting refrain.
*
And when the last journey was over and done,
My friend left the last-ever train
And carefully lifted the lamp from its hook
Not needed again.
He bore it away in the fold of his coat –
Still warm and aglow and aflame!
And it gleamed in his heart till he gave it to me.
Theres no need to tell you his name
For that man is all of us, guarding the lamp –
The lamp from the last-ever train.
Juliet Gowan. Flore 20th Oct. 2006
Reflections.
1956 Last train on the Welshpool and Llanfair railway at Welshpool. Max.