Engineering Archive Network Rail

Network Rail inherited an archive of more than 5 million records, dating back to before the advent of the railways themselves.

    • The oldest document they have is from 1680, dealing with a plot of land which would later become Charing Cross Station and which was signed by the architect of St Pauls Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren.
    • The beauty of the architectural and engineering drawings by people such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Robert Stephenson, John Locke and others, is staggering and is  a powerful resource to remind us of the enormity of the achievements of our forebears.

See in particular the drawings of Brunel’s Box Bridge, an engineering task that was said to be both impossible and dangerous to do.

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