Sonning Cutting

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Sonning Cutting (1846)

The Sonning Cutting is a section of the Great Western Railway from Isambard Kingdom Brunel .

Geographical location

The cut is east of Reading Railway Station and west of Twyford near Sonning in Berkshire , England . He cuts through a hill. The incision is longer than 1.5 km and up to 20 m deep. It shortens the connection between Twyford and Reading.

The Sonning Cutting with its steep slopes is now a popular place to watch trains.

Construction and widening

The original plan for the route stipulated that the route to Sonning Hill bypass and should run north locally Sonning over. However, objections from the residents led to the fact that the route circumvented the place, for which a cut had to be dug in the hill.

The cut was dug by hand without the use of machines and the overburden was removed by carts and horse-drawn carts. The construction took two years, in the course of which several workers were killed during the construction.

The line was opened on March 30, 1840. After the end of broad-gauge operation in 1892, the incision was expanded to four lanes and at the same time the angles with which the hill is cut on both sides, flattened, which made a considerable redesign of the system necessary.

Railway accident

On December 24, 1841, a railway accident occurred at Sunning Cutting when a train crashed into a landslide caused by heavy rain. Nine travelers died . The accident caused William Ewart Gladstone , President of the Board of Trade (1843-1845) to introduce regulations to improve rail safety.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Building the Great Western Railway. ( Memento of October 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on atschool.eduweb.co.uk (Reading History Trail, English)
  2. ^ Sonning Cutting. ( Memento from September 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) on networkrail.co.uk (English)

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 41.5 "  N , 0 ° 54 ′ 51.3"  W.