List of structures built by Thomas Brassey explained

Thomas Brassey (7 November 1805  - 8 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building a large portion of the world's railways in the 19th century. For some of these constructions he was the sole contractor but he usually worked in partnership with other contractors, particularly Peto and Betts.

Railways and associated structures

Brassey arranged the building of over 8500miles of railway tracks. By 1847 he had built one third of the railways in the United Kingdom and by the time of his death he had built one in twenty of the miles of railway in the world. He also built structures associated with railways - bridges, stations, etc. - and non-railway related structures. The following is an incomplete list of his projects. For the British railways the dates given are the date of the relevant Act of Parliament; for railways elsewhere and for other structures the date given is the date of the contract.

Railway lines

United Kingdom

1830s
RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Grand Junction Railway (part) 1833100NaN0
London and Southampton Railway (part)1834360NaN0
Chester and Crewe Railway1837110NaN0
Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway (part)183770NaN0
Sheffield and Manchester Railway1837190NaN0
1840s
RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway1844700NaN0
Colchester and Ipswich Railway1844160NaN0
Chester and Holyhead Railway1844310NaN0
Ipswich and Bury Railway1845270NaN0
Kendal and Windermere Railway1845120NaN0
Trent Valley Railway1845500NaN0
Caledonian Railway (First contract)18451250NaN0
Clydesdale Junction Railway1845150NaN0
North Wales Mineral Extension Railway184550NaN0
Scottish Midland Junction Railway1845330NaN0
Scottish Central Railway1845470NaN0
Haughley and Norwich Railway1845330NaN0
Shrewsbury and Chester Railway1846350NaN0
Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway1846300NaN0
North Staffordshire Railway1846480NaN0
Buckinghamshire Railway 1846400NaN0
Mineral Line (Wales)18466.50NaN0
Great Northern Railway1846750NaN0
Royston and Hitchin Railway1846130NaN0
Shepreth Extension Railway184650NaN0
Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway1846510NaN0
Denny Branches18463.50NaN0
Birkenhead and Chester Junction Railway184717.50NaN0
Leicester and Hitchin Railway184762.50NaN0
Hooton and Parkgate Railway184750NaN0
Richmond and Windsor Railway1847150NaN0
London and Southampton Railway Loop line184770NaN0
Shrewsbury Extension Railway184730NaN0
Blackwall Extension Railway18471.750NaN0
Oswestry Branch Railway184820NaN0
1850s
RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
North and South-Western Junction Railway185140NaN0
Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway1851300NaN0
Harleston and Beccles Railway1851130NaN0
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway1852500NaN0
Warrington and Stockport Railway1853120NaN0
Bideford Extension185360NaN0
Crystal Palace and West-end Railway185350NaN0
Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway185332.50NaN0
Portsmouth Direct Railway1853330NaN0
Worcester and Hereford Railway1853260NaN0
Severn Valley Railway1853420NaN0
Coalbrookdale Railway185350NaN0
Woodford and Loughton Railway18537.50NaN0
East Suffolk Railway1854630NaN0
Inverness and Nairn Railway1854160NaN0
Leominster and Kington Railway1854140NaN0
Salisbury and Yeovil Railway1854400NaN0
Stokes Bay Pier and Branch Railway185520NaN0
Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway1856400NaN0
Leatherhead, Epsom and Wimbledon Railway1856100NaN0
1857100NaN0
Portpatrick Railway1857170NaN0
Knighton Railway1858120NaN0
Woofferton and Tenbury Railway185950NaN0
Wenlock Railway185940NaN0
Nuneaton and Hinckley Railway185950NaN0
South Staffordshire Railway186140NaN0
Llangollen Railway185960NaN0
185980NaN0
West London Railway (Extension)185990NaN0
Tendring Hundred Railway185930NaN0
1860s
RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Ashchurch and Evesham Railway1862110NaN0
Epping and Ongar Railway1859130NaN0
South Leicester Railway1860100NaN0
Tenbury and Bewdley Railway1860150NaN0
Llangollen and Corwen Railway1860100NaN0
Cannock Chase Railway 186030NaN0
Disley and Hayfield Railway18603.50NaN0
Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway1863110NaN0
Wenlock and Craven Arms Railway1861140NaN0
Ludlow and Clee Hill Railway1861160NaN0
Dunmow Railway1864190NaN0
Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway1861360NaN0
Moreton Hampstead Railway1862120NaN0
Wellington and Market Drayton Railway1862160NaN0
Bala and Dolgelly Railway1862180NaN0
Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway186340NaN0
Evesham and Redditch Railway1863180NaN0
Kensington and Richmond Railway (and Spurs)186470NaN0
Silverdale Railway1864130NaN0
Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway186570NaN0
East London Railway18652.50NaN0
Hull and Doncaster Railway1864-9150NaN0
Unknown dates
RailwayLength
mileskilometres
North Devon Railway470NaN0
Woodbridge Extension Railway100NaN0
Kingston Extension Railway40NaN0
Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge Railway480NaN0
Chertsey Extension Railway30NaN0
London and Bedford Railway500NaN0
Runcorn Branch Railway90NaN0
Sirhowy Railway20NaN0
Arpley Branch Railway, Warrington1.50NaN0
Ebbw Vale Railway20NaN0
Hereford Loop Railway20NaN0
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway930NaN0
Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilson Railway110NaN0

France

75 per cent of the total mileage, including:

RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Paris and Rouen Railway1841820NaN0
Orléans and Bordeaux Railway 18422940NaN0
Rouen and Le Havre Railway1843580NaN0
Amiens and Boulogne Railway1844530NaN0
Rouen and Dieppe Railway 1847310NaN0
Mantes and Caen Railway18521130NaN0
Le Mans and Mezidon Railway1852840NaN0
Lyons and Avignon Railway1852670NaN0
Sambre and Meuse Railway1853280NaN0
Caen to Cherbourg1855940NaN0
Dieppe Railway (laying second road)1860

Elsewhere in Europe

RailwayCountryDateLength
mileskilometres
Barcelona and Mataró RailwaySpain1848180NaN0
Prato and Pistoja Railway Italy1850100NaN0
Norwegian RailwayNorway1851560NaN0
Dutch Rhenish RailwayNetherlands1852 430NaN0
Turin and Novara RailwayItaly 1853600NaN0
Royal Danish RailwayDenmark1853750NaN0
Central Italian RailwayItaly 1854520NaN0
Turin and Susa RailwayItaly 1854340NaN0
Elizabeth and Linz RailwayAustria1856400NaN0
Bilbao and Miranda RailwaySpain 1858660NaN0
Victor Emmanuel RailwayItaly 1859730NaN0
Ivrea RailwayItaly 1859190NaN0
Jutland RailwayDenmark 18602700NaN0
Maremma and Leghorn RailwayItaly 18601380NaN0
Meridionale RailwayItaly 18631600NaN0
North Schleswig RailwayDenmark 1863700NaN0
Lemberg and Czernowitz RailwayAustrian Empire (now Ukraine)18641650NaN0
Viersen and Venlo RailwayNow in Germany to Netherlands1864110NaN0
Warsaw and Terespol RailwayPoland18651280NaN0
Kronprinz Rudolph Railway18672720NaN0
Czernowitz and Suczawa RailwayAustrian Empire (now Ukraine)1867600NaN0
Vorarlberg RailwayAustria 1870550NaN0
Suczawa and Jassy RailwayRomania18701350NaN0

Argentina

RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Central Argentine Railway18642470NaN0
La Boca and Barracas Railway186530NaN0

Australia

RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Great Northern, Great Eastern and Great Southern Railways, New South Wales1859540NaN0
Queensland Railway1863780NaN0

India

RailwayDateLength
mileskilometres
Eastern Bengal Railway18581120NaN0
Delhi Railway 18643040NaN0
Chord Railway18651470NaN0

Mauritius

Tunnels

TunnelLine & CountryDateLength
Shugborough TunnelTrent Valley Line, England18472331feet
Hausenstein TunnelBasel to Olten line, Switzerland18531.5miles
Bellegarde TunnelFrance 18542.5miles

Stations

Many hundreds, including:

StationDateNotes
Trent Valley Line Stations1847
Chester1848had the longest platforms in the country at the time of its opening
Caledonian Railway Stations and Maintenance1848
Shrewsbury1848
Salisbury1859
Nantwich

Viaducts and other structures

Many, including:

StructureDateLine
1837Grand Junction Railway
Malaunay Viaduct1844Paris to Le Havre railway
Mirville Viaduct1844Paris to Le Havre railway
Brantham Cutting, Manningtree1845
Austreberth Bridge 1847Paris to Le Havre railway
Cefn Mawr Viaduct1848Chester to Shrewsbury railway
Chirk Viaduct1859Chester to Shrewsbury railway
Welwyn (or Digswell) Viaduct

Bridges

Again a large number, including:

StructureDate
Bury Saint Edmunds Station Bridge1846
Richmond1848
Barnes1849
Coghines Bridge, Italy1855
Victoria Bridge, Worcestershire1861
Severn1861
Stonework for the Runcorn bridge1868
Kew1869

Non-railway projects

StructureDateNotes
Bromborough Road, Cheshire1834including Saughall Massie road bridge
Greenock Harbour1845
Birkenhead Docks1850
Victoria Docks, London1851over, with associated warehousing
Minories Warehouses1857
Ludlow Drainage1861
Metropolitan Mid Level Sewer, London186112miles
Rio Janeiro Drainage1862
Barrow Docks1863
Worm Drainage 1863
Letton Drainage1864
Dee Reclamation Works1865
Calcutta Waterworks 1865
Victoria Embankment, London1866
Nepean Bridge1869
Callao Docks, Peru1870

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of structures built by Thomas Brassey".

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