Brunel's Beginnings
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The image on this page is a stamp proposal with the famous image of Brunel in front of the anchor chain of his final work, the ship Great Eastern.
Brunel's beginnings in engineering were 32 years earlier, when he was aged just 21. He joined his father Marc on the project to build a tunnel under the River Thames linking Rotherhithe and Limehouse in London. Although Marc was Chief Engineer, the project was slow and dangerous. Exhausted with stress and illness, in 1827 Marc handed the day-to-day running of the project to his son.
Despite young Brunel's undoubted talents, this first project was fraught with problems. During the building the tunnel collapsed twice, the second time seriously injuring Isambard. He later displayed the showmanship and flair which became his trademark, by hosting a banquet in the tunnel to restore confidence in the tunnel.
The Thames Tunnel was eventually completed in 1843 and is now part of the London Underground system as part of the East London line.
Brunel's first major commission in his own right was to build a suspension bridge across the Avon river gorge at Clifton. He won a design competition and work begain in 1831. However, the bridge was underfunded and work was abandoned in 1843 with just the towers completed...