Brunel's Famous Viaducts.

The recent demolition of the last of the old timber viaducts on the Great Western Railway of England is an affair of interest for railwaymen the world over. It was Isambard Brunel, the first Chief Engineer of the line, who was responsible for these famous structures, although his most striking achievement was the building of the wonderful Saltash Bridge, near Plymouth.

For carrying the Great Western Railway across the deep valleys of Devon and Cornwall, Brunel constructed large numbers of wooden viaducts. Between Plymouth and Falmouth there were actually forty-two such viaducts on a stretch of sixty-five miles of track. By degrees, Brunel's timber viaducts have been replaced by structures of steel and stone, and recently the last of the wooden viaducts was demolished near Truro. Most of the timber viaducts were built of yellow pine, and it is remarkable for how many years this timber remained in sound condition. Nowadays, however, suitable wood is difficult and costly to obtain, hence the change-over to steel and masonry.

Portions of Brunel's old timber viaducts are wisely being preserved by the Great Western Railway as historical exhibits. Railwaymen from every clime have from time to time inspected with intense interest the wooden viaducts of the West Country, and the demolition of the last of these splendid structures comes as a landmark in the history of the “Iron Way.”