Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 18:15 28 Mar 2024
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Passengers pleaded with knifeman during attack
* Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Formal end to carrying coffins by BR (link)

Train RunningCancelled
16:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:48 Reading to Gatwick Airport
17:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street
18:04 Bristol Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood
18:04 Bedwyn to Newbury
18:08 London Paddington to Frome
18:26 Newbury to Bedwyn
18:37 Westbury to Swindon
18:51 Filton Abbey Wood to Bristol Temple Meads
18:55 Bedwyn to Newbury
19:24 Newbury to Bedwyn
19:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:55 Bedwyn to Newbury
20:13 Swindon to Westbury
20:16 Frome to Westbury
20:49 Newbury to Bedwyn
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
21:16 Bedwyn to Newbury
Short Run
14:49 Plymouth to Cardiff Central
15:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
15:15 Plymouth to London Paddington
15:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
15:42 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
16:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
16:35 London Paddington to Plymouth
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:20 Reading to Gatwick Airport
17:30 London Paddington to Taunton
17:30 Warminster to Bristol Temple Meads
17:36 Swindon to Westbury
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:18 Newbury to London Paddington
19:06 London Paddington to Bedwyn
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
Delayed
13:59 Cardiff Central to Penzance
14:15 Penzance to London Paddington
14:36 London Paddington to Paignton
15:03 London Paddington to Penzance
16:03 London Paddington to Penzance
Additional 17:17 Exeter St Davids to Penzance
Additional 17:26 Castle Cary to Penzance
17:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
17:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 18:25 Shalford to Reading
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 18:17:39 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[133] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[132] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[53] Return of the BRUTE?
[44] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[41] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[32] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Brunel Statue  (Read 1960 times)
johnneyw
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2257


From station to station, back to Bristol city....


View Profile
« on: October 02, 2021, 22:25:59 »

I don't often use the main entrance at Temple Meads but had occasion to a day or two ago and couldn't help noticing that there is now a statue of Brunel on a plinth towards the top of the Station Approach.  Is this something quite new?  I'm a little surprised that I had heard nothing about the statue until chancing upon it.
Sorry, no pics....I had my camera in my pocket but must have taken leave of my senses!
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2021, 03:14:45 »

It's been recently moved to this new location.

From Network Rail:
Quote
Brunel returns to Bristol Temple Meads
28th September 2021


Mr Brunel now stands outside the very building he designed – which formed part of the original GWR (Great Western Railway) terminus station building at Bristol Temple Meads.

The statue of Mr Brunel was originally presented to Bristol by the Bristol and West Building Society. It was created by John Doubleday and first unveiled in the city on 26 May 1982. It was then moved from its original site at Broad Quay in 2006, the bicentenary of Brunel’s birth and was most recently located outside the offices of Osborne Clarke in Temple Quay.

Not only is the statue now fittingly located outside Brunel’s iconic station building at Bristol Temple Meads, but it is bookended by another statue of Brunel, by the same artist, located at London Paddington station at the Eastern end of his great railway.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s legacy is synonymous with the city of Bristol. One of the most versatile and audacious engineers of the 19th century, his winning designs include the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain, the world’s first iron-hulled, screw propeller-driven steamship now docked in Bristol.

Brunel’s contribution to the railway cannot be understated. He was responsible for the construction of a network of tunnels, bridges and viaducts for the Great Western Railway (GWR).

In 1833, Brunel was appointed GWR’s chief engineer and began work on the line that would link Bristol with London. In addition to viaducts at Hanwell and Chippenham, the Maidenhead Bridge and the Box Tunnel, Bristol Temple Meads station was among his most impressive achievements.

When Bristol Temple Meads’ railway opened in 1841, it transformed the city of Bristol making business and leisure travel easier and cheaper via the railway and created jobs for thousands of people.

Today, Network Rail is continuing Brunel’s legacy. Through the Bristol Rail Regeneration programme, Network Rail is investing in the railway in Bristol and Bristol Temple Meads station, to ensure it is fit for 21st century rail travel and to support the millions of passengers who use the station and railway in Bristol every year.

Andy Phillips, Network Rail station manager – Reading Station and Bristol Temple Meads Station, said: “We are delighted to have rehomed the statue of Mr Brunel to the location of one his finest accomplishments, Bristol Temple Meads station.

“The statue is spectacular and is accompanied by a wall plaque which tells the story of Brunel and his original station. It is fitting that passengers entering and leaving the station via station approach road will be able to enjoy the statue and understand the history of Bristol Temple Meads and the role Isambard Kingdom Brunel played in shaping the railway we know today.”

Tim Bryan, Director of the Brunel Institute at Brunel’s SS Great Britain said: “It is wonderful to see the relocated statue greeting passengers and Bristol people at Temple Meads. Brunel’s iconic GWR terminus remains as an enduring symbol of Bristol’s rich railway heritage and the connectivity, creativity and innovation of the city, which continues to inspire future generations of engineers and entrepreneurs.”

Chris Curling, Deputy Lieutenant for Bristol who unveiled the statue, said: “There can be no more appropriate a location for this magnificent statue of Brunel than immediately outside the very building which he designed and built as the first full-scale railway terminus, and which became the template for railway stations across the world.”
« Last Edit: October 03, 2021, 03:24:44 by bignosemac » Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
johnneyw
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2257


From station to station, back to Bristol city....


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2021, 11:08:05 »

Thanks for that BNM.  So it is a very recent addition then.  I thought that there was something a little familiar about it in the back of my mind.
It's found a very appropriate home but.....just a suggestion....once the inside of Temple Meads is refurbed, might it be even better to place it somewhere in the station, as with the Betjeman statue in St Pancras or Paddington in er, Paddington?
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2021, 15:23:10 »

When I lived in Bristol I often walked past this statue when it was on Temple Back East. I did wonder at the time why it was in a relatively out of the way location, next to a non-descript solicitor's office building.

When I was looking into its history for this thread I learnt that Osborne Clarke were Brunel's and the (original) Great Western Railway's solicitors. Instrumental in the development of the GWR (Great Western Railway).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Clarke

Always learning.
Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
Hal
Full Member
***
Posts: 89


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2021, 16:35:46 »

Brunel’s contribution to the railway cannot be understated.

Do they mean "overstated"?
Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2021, 19:24:07 »

Brunel’s contribution to the railway cannot be understated.

Do they mean "overstated"?

Yes, if they want to be understood, since that's the idiomatic usage. But there is a way of reading that so it's correct, with "cannot" understood as an instruction. In the same way that "you cannot park there" also means "you should not park there", and "...should not be understated" does make sense. But only if you view "cannot"  in that unusual way, of course.
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2021, 12:36:17 »

Here's me with the other John Doubleday, Bristol & West Building Society commissioned Brunel statue, at Paddington.

Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
bobm
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 9809



View Profile
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2021, 14:40:16 »

Four chins now?
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page