Thank you, Paul and your glamorous assistant for another perfect ten minutes away from this pandemic. Enjoyed watching your attempt to create the London to Bristol mainline. Stay safe and well, you two!👍🏼

Say what you will about Brunel and his idiosyncracies, you've got to love a man in a BIG hat.

Thanks for the engaging style and the work that went into the video. As a retired lecturer from Dionysius Lardner's alma mater, Trinity College Dublin, I've always had a quiet liking for that man's mixture of Irish brilliance and eccentricity. Also, as his biography shows, he was quite a lad. At risk of sounding as pedantic as he, I mention that standard gauge is not 4ft 8ins as mentioned in the video and in some comments. It is 4ft 8½ins. I'm sure Brunel would want such precision. Cheers, and keep healthy - preferably by doing things like this video to enrich the lives of others during these times.

Thanks guys for that fascinating video. Given that IKB's birthday was 09 April, this was a timely and wonderful tribute to his immense talent. Keep well and stay safe. Cheers, Pete A :) :) :)

A very simple bit of physics. 120 mph is 53.6 metres per second. That means every Kg of train has 1,436 Joules of kinetic energy. The drop over the length of the tunnel is 29.5 metres, which means there is 290 Joules of potential energy going begging. So that would mean that each Kg of train would have had to have 1,146 Joules of kinetic energy on entry to the tunnel. That means the train would have had to be travelling at 47.9 metres per second on entry, or 107 mph. So, neglecting air resistance, the train would already have to be travelling at 107 mph before it entered the tunnel, and that's without considering air resistance at all. I'm pretty sure that, speedy as they might be, those broad gauge trains weren't travelling at 107 mph. Of course, there may have been a lot longer length of track at 1:100 than Box Hill alone. However, to be travelling at 53.6 metres per second from requires a descent of 146.4 metres, which means a track length of 14.6 km. Of course, that's cheating a bit as that's from a dead stop, not the normal speed of a train. However, as the kinetic energy goes up to the square of velocity, then the kinetic energy gain is non-linear with speed and this misses out the critical factor or air resistance. In any event, as LTC Rolt mentions in his biography, Brunel won this particular argument.

If Brunel's broad gauge had won against the current accepted standard gauge, we'd have had a much more efficient train network, with comfy wide seats in the carriages.

Brunel could demonstrate a sharp tongue back in his day, like calling Stephenson's gauge the "coal waggon gauge."

I so enjoy you two. Merry Christmas.

Finally caught up on the videos over the last few episodes. Sorry about that. Like the diversification in topics under lockdown. Keep it up.

Fascinating! You two certainly kept me entertained. Can't wait for the next one.

IKB was a genuis, But let us not forget his dad. Marc Brunel: Inventor of the block pulley making machine. Digger of the First tunnel under the Thames( still in use today).

Another, but different and interesting video Paul and Rebecca. Brunel was a brilliant engineer, he could turn his hand to most things. Many early engineers made mistakes, even the Stevenson family. Their bridge over the River Dee at Chester collapsed, but they are known as the fathers of railways. Yet, Sir Thomas Bouch was a great engineer, but after the Tay Bridge Disaster, his name was mud! He built many bridges that didn't collapse, the Belah viaduct was amazing! The Victorian engineers were building things that had never been tried before, so a few mistakes were made.

Very interesting. Enjoying the additional format.

Great video guys - your works are really well researched and orchestrated and always a pleasure to watch 👍🏻

Fascinating, thank you! And I like the fun style too - good teamwork :) WB

That sure was a great video! Can't wait for next Wed. Thank you.

Simply love you two wonderful people. I have been watching your stuff for a while now without subscribing but have made amends. I live in Ireland and cycle everywhere. Where I live there are a lot of disused railway structures and you have given me the stimulation to go and cycle them out. Again love all your videos and how you two lovely people present them. Big fan here in Ireland.

Thanks guys nice one for making the effort!

Another great video, presented in a positive, entertaining way for these challenging times. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.👍

Great research and cleverly presented. I really enjoyed this. thankyou

Love your stay at home videos!!

Practical experimentation, gotta love it!!!!! Great stuff!!!

Good stuff, enjoyable & informative - thanks!

Another fine tale, thank you!

I absolutely loved this ! Cheers from California

Excellent! puts a different take on IKB and I thought I had seen it all with all the documentaries there have been. Looking forward to the next one Oh the suspense...

Very interesting Paul, never heard of the bloke before so quite enlightening. Rebecca was rather amusing as well. Keep it up , all the best

Thanks both. :)

Brunel, THE man that put the great in Great Britain. Another cracking video, thank you both.

Enjoyed that thank you

Excellent! puts a different take on IKB , A engaging style and the work that went into the video.well done

Thanks for posting. What an awesome story. 👍🇦🇺

Great stuff, really enjoyed it.

I guessed that was a toy box beside you!!. Excellent video again keep em coming. And STAY SAFE!!

Some interesting stuff with an amusing presentation. Loved it, my vote stayed with Brunel. 👍👍😎🎩

Great vid - very interesting! fair play to that Nils guy - knows his stuff!

On my gosh, when she quibbles with you did the quiet little "broad gauge" I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of the chair. Well done, as always!

Well I really enjoyed that, thanks so much. Do stay safe

I learn something new about the UK in every vid on this channel

Hi Paul and Rebecca I really look forward to your video's 🤜🏻🤛🏻 As your are one of my favourites I subscribe to. Keep up the great work you pair 🙂🍻🥂👍🏻

Brunel: Absolute genius...

I am pretty sure Brunel was closely involved in the Floating Harbour in Bristol. One of its secrets was a huge set of sluice gates that were periodically opened to flush out the silts under the surface of the Floating Harbour. Perhaps they still are??? I think they vent into a relief channel.

Back in the 1970s with my Institute of Highway & Traffic Engineers society (Devon Branch) we visited Brunel's tubular railway bridge in Plymouth over the River Tamar. We walked over the top of the bridge hanging on to a fixed handrail - then climbed down and came back through the inside of the structure - at the centre point there was a "Visitor's Book" which we all signed along with past VIPs. I'm currently looking for some photos I took of this memorable occasion!

Thank you this is a fascinating video. Earleir today I was walking our dog and I was trying to remmember who had mis calculated the speed of a train in Box Hill tunnel.

hey paul and rebecca , another great interesting and at times funny video lol , :)

Brilliant as ever. Wrote one of my A level papers on Brunel and his broad gauge. One of the conclusions being that the extra stability that the broad gauge gave would have meant that the HSTs would have been faster

I’m not sure if I’m more impressed by your science or the vast collection of trains 😂

Grand stuff again, and you ain't letting some pesky lockdown stopping you making some interesting videos.

Brilliant !!!!!! I broad gauge would have helped with social distancing.

That was great! :D Love the Flying Scotsman reference since I got to see it. Here in the States. In the 60's... yeah, I'm old. ;)

only just started watching......when i was 14 i was at a special school in Bath and we had Outdoor Pursuits 2 full afternoons a week. Our OP teacher was a guy called Charlie who'd been a tank commander in the 70's and he would take us down Box stone mines regularly and we would map them out...it was his little obsession...as well as trying to find a way in to the legendary military supply depot that's supposed to be still down there, complete with vehicles and equipment left over from the second world war. We would occasionally use what was called "The Cathedral", a brick lined hole in some old lady's back garden and we used to abseil down there....about 20 feet down the brick lined shaft opened up like a funnel and you could let go of the rope and free abseil for about 200 feet before you hit the ground! (It was called the cathedral because when you stood on the floor and looked up it looked like.........a cathedral! lol.........right gonna actually watch the video...best wishes and take care

Very interesting! I'd never heard of Lardner before.

When I was a driver in England I found Box tunnel a very spooky place. Statistical wise I seem to remember you had a better chance of surviving the western front than surviving building the tunnel, could be wrong 🍺🇳🇿

Cool! Nice wooden train collection :-)

Brunel was a fantastic engineer, great speaker and self publicist. His financial credibility was minimal and many people regretted the day they got involved. He left great legacy which out weighs the negative history.

Big love for Rebecca's Brunel scepticism here 👍

Rumour has it that before building Box tunnel Brunel visited Tyler Hill tunnel in Canterbury, on Stephenson's Canterbury to Whitstable railway, to see how a tunnel on a gradient was built.

There are other factors in the gradient issue. In the old days, there was plenty of friction in the axle boxes. Now we have roller bearings. As a train driver I know there is a big difference. I often drive trains on gradients from a stop and not apply power and still need to stop speeding. With old axle boxes, this would less likely be the case.

You need to visit Box tunnel, especially the east portal that has 2 entrances, the 2nd one being to the underground station and siding.

Brunel : widely respected (despite his flaws) and an engineering genius of almost mythological proportions. Lardener: Who?? Says it all really...

Great vid. Like Rebecca's sweater.

Nils ... rhymes with pills ... Niles ... rhymes with miles.

Take care both

Babbage's cowcatcher made all the difference!

👏👏❤️😁Nice one x

The world we live in would be very different today were it not, indirectly perhaps, for Dionysius Lardner. He gave a young bookbinder a job at the Royal Society; that young bookbinder was one Michael Faraday.

While IKB was perhaps not the "gentleman" many people think, his engineering legacy is immense. While the broad gauge issue has, pretty much, been settled, it's interesting to imagine how different a broad gauge network would be today. Remember, of course, that if the UK *had* opted for broad gauge, the decision would have changed railway history *worldwide* and not just here. While many of Brunel's contemporaries made major contributions and helped to shape the future, few have a legacy as near-perfect as the London - Bristol "billiard table" which is still in everyday use in the 21st century. And, far more importantly, IK had the biggest *HAT* 🎩 Cheers for now, Dougie.

Very entertaining, thank you. Although Rebecca really should get those two holes in her jumper fixed........!

Great story telling. You need to diminish the amount of friction in your experiment... hot wheels track with the loco on that probably would have swung it, but great fun all the same. :D

Lardner “The Denigrated Sage of Early Railways” is the title of a paper given by Andrew Odlyzka at the 2018 “Early Main Line Railways conference in York. Andrew argues that whilst Lardner did make his mistakes, particularly about Atlantic steam ships he was remarkably accurate in other areas. In particular about railway technology, construction, passenger and revenue estimates. His 1846 paper in the Edinburgh Review “Railways at home and abroad” was remarkably accurate and comprehensive and he was also a strong advocate of more centralised control over the manic growth of railways in the 1840s although his warnings about the investment risk were not particularly clear. So not all bad although Rolt was a strong critic. Lardner is a fascinating subject and I think on balance unfairly tarred by his coming together with Brunel.

IKB - built the West country transport system pretty much single handedly.

Additionally, look out for something coming soon on the old Barry railway....once it's safe to venture out of any consequence, I'm planning photographics & a video to this effect with some of those interesting features I mentioned to you in previous comments. Won't be too long hopefully, in which case you're not necessarily so far from your next invariably enjoyable costa coffee !

Is this the same guy that wrote the almanack? I vaguely recall an article titled Old Dionysius's Almanack in an Ian Allan annual from 1968/9 interesting blog keep up the good work and stay safe. 🙂

Interesting story. If you have time to spare these days, maybe you could set up a track and use the toy trains to make a stop motion video of some sort. It could be a retelling of a famous train accident, or some other train related event. Or maybe a little history lesson about the development of railroads/locomotives using stop motion filming of the toy trains going by. One of the other channels I watch is called Engel's coach shop and he made a fun stop motion video of a brush and toy trucks cleaning up sawdust from the shop floor. You might like to watch a few of his videos as they are about old stuff. Cheers!

I was hoping this might be about the SSR...;-)

With that number of Brio trains I think you could be your own TOC! I propose PRB trains...

Wonder if there was days when Brunel wanted to punch Dionysius Lardner in the face? But to be fair he kind of did when he proved Dionysius Lardner wrong. it was a great video, love the banter back and forth, such a fan of Brunel and Rebecca... get out LOL (that did really make me laugh to be honest)

Interesting video thanks Paul. Just as a point of interest, before going ahead with the Box tunnel construction, Brunel visited Tyler Hill tunnel near Canterbury, (and my house), designed by George Stephenson, to test and prove that the trains would be safe working on the gradient. Construction of the majority of Box Tunnel was let to George Burge, a pioneering building contractor from Herne Bay. www.kentrail.org.uk/tyler_hill_tunnel.htm

The trouble with any of this we must know the speed entering the tunnel and then the speed down the gradient. Because all his calculations have worked out OK 👍🏻

Not long before this time it was widely believed that a person couldn't travel faster than about 30 mph without being asphyxiated due to air pressure or something.

@ 0.51, "YOU'RE BARRED!" lol. was it john smiths beer?

I’m very fortunate to have walked through the Box tunnel end to end, legally to 😂

Broad gauge gave hard ride and restricted curve radii

I like Brunnel.

Broad gauge gave better stability and faster running times only problem was the cost of the land.

This reminds me of early beliefs about the practicality of the parachute. There were those whose claimed that anyone falling through the air would be unable to breathe because the air would effectively be rushing past the person's face so fast so quickly that they wouldn't be able to breathe it in. They would therefore die of asphyxiation. Turned out to be nonsense of course but Lardneresque nonsense.

The preeminent railway engineer of the C19th was Robert Stevenson. Brunel was nowhere in comparison.

I see where Rebecca is coming from about Brunel, but his personal flaws do not detract from his engineering ability. If we measure greatness by perfection then there's only one person who would pass that test, and it's definitely not me!

Surely 4 foot eight and a half inches!

Interesting video today 🤔. Whatever Lardner says about Brunel, he looks just the part wearing his tall hat and massive chains behind him ⛓ 👨 ⛓ I wonder why Lardner wanted to prove him wrong, money perhaps? Stay safe, GWR

do you know what its a difficult call which is is the most delightfull railway wag vicky or rebecca ive decided they both are, i read a book that stated when brunel broad track track trains dsrailed they just came off tracks and did not fall over and traveled down emnbankments intoo fields like the titfield thunderbolt

@ 7:11 - Standard gauge is 4 foot 8 and a half inches - not 4'8".

What a fun video. Brunel rules… OK.

WOT!!!! No Thomas the Tank Engine? Scandalous!! ;)

Nice one - you may wish to look at IKB's sister who was regarded as better than all the family but remained obscure due to being a woman (one for Rebecca perhaps?) - All the best and keep safe.

Loved this video. I did not know that Brunel was such a d**k in his views on education, he is still my hero though. Never ever heard of Dionysius Lardner until you mentioned him, another flawed but interesting person.

Nice video, love IKB. I think Nils is pronounced “Neals”, as he is German.

And Rebecca........Brunel......ya can go off people ya know...lol

Is that your own personal Brio collection :D? I think I played with my kids set more than they did...

0:48. Rebecca the rebel :)