Great Western railway electrification, UK: data challenges and visual solutions

The inauguration of the Great Western Railway, the line connecting London and Bristol (United Kingdom, approximately 450 000 inhabitants), in 1840 changed part of the outskirts of Bristol to a major railway hub and home of many rail‐related activities. Due to these activities, an area behind the station in between the railway, the River Avon and the Bath road, known at the time as Temple Island, was restricted to rail uses (workshops, depots or goods, engines and carriage sheds) for more than 150 years, making it inaccessible and unattractive as the railway use decreased.The transformation of this area into a new neighborhood in the city center is one of the most important urban development projects currently being carried out in Bristol. The new St Philips footbridge spans the River Avon, contributing to accessibility to the site. The footbridge is an innovative solution to a complex crossing problem: the connection of two banks with a significant elevation difference, and development planned for only one of them in the immediate future. The design should be appropriate for the current site and the future scenario.The bridge is a 50m‐span and 4‐m wide steel beam with a forked geometry, seamlessly hosting a ramp for disabled and cyclists and a staircase to maximise functionality. The design approach to generate its shape was at the same time structural, aesthetical, and functional. Thanks to this holistic design approach, the bridge is compact, simple, elegant, and clearly legible for both footbridge and river path users.

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St. Philips Footbridge in Bristol

10.24904/footbridge2022.193 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Héctor Beade-Pereda ◽

Bogdan Barbulescu ◽

John McElhinney

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Transport Network ◽

Design Approach ◽

Steel Beam ◽

Development Projects ◽

Sustainable Transport ◽

Great Western Railway ◽

The City

In 1840, the inauguration of the Great Western Railway in South England connecting London and Bristol, changed part of the outskirts of Bristol to a major railway hub and home of many rail-related activities. An area behind the station in between the railway, the River Avon and the Bath road, known as Temple Island, became restricted to rail use (workshops, depots or sheds) for more than 150 years, making it inaccessible and unattractive as the railway use decreased. The transformation of this area into a new centrally located neighbourhood is one of the most important urban development projects currently planned in Bristol. The new St Philips footbridge spans the River Avon, contributing to accessibility to the site and increasing the sustainable transport network of the city. The bridge, a 50m-span and 4-m wide steel beam with a forked geometry, seamlessly hosts a ramp for disabled and cyclists and a staircase to maximise functionality. The design approach to generate its shape was at the same time structural, aesthetical, and functional, innovatively solving a complex crossing problem.

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J. M. W. Turner and the Great Western Railway, and John Everett Millais and an Ancient Oak

Further Adventures of the Celestial Sleuth ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-70320-6_10 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 305-330

Author(s):

Donald W. Olson

Keyword(s):

Great Western Railway

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George Frederick James Temple, 2 September 1901 - 30 January 1992

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society ◽

10.1098/rsbm.1994.0046 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 40 ◽

pp. 383-400 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Keyword(s):

Elementary School ◽

Mathematics Teachers ◽

Scientific Activity ◽

Research Assistant ◽

Birkbeck College ◽

The Third ◽

Part Time ◽

Great Western Railway ◽

One Year ◽

Physics Department

George Temple was born in London on 2 September 1901. There is no record of any previous scientific activity in his family; his father James Temple and his mother Frances ( née Compton) were country folk from Oxfordshire, although by the time George was born James was working for the Great Western Railway at Paddington Station. George himself stressed his good fortune in having three teachers of mathematics of outstanding ability, the first two being Ray Gilbert (who taught George briefly at Northfields Elementary School) and P. G. Goodall (at Ealing County School). James Temple’s death meant that George had to leave Ealing School after less than five years to seek employment. Within a year of leaving, however, he had enrolled as an evening student at Birkbeck College. He decided to study science rather than his other love, classics, and so met the third of his inspiring mathematics teachers, C. V. Coates. George was a student for only one year, 1918-19, after which Professor Albert Griffiths made him his part-time research assistant in physics, an appointment that freed George from his post at the Prudential Assurance Company, though with a cut in salary. It was at this time that he became a Catholic, and his strong faith informed the rest of his life. He had many close Dominican friends and learnt to value the theology of St Thomas highly. He took the General Honours B.Sc. in 1922 and became Steward in the Physics Department for two years.

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