The Severn Tunnel: Its Construction and Difficulties, 1872-1887

Costing at the time £1.8 million to complete, the Severn Tunnel was a Victorian engineering triumph, and for over a century it remained the longest rail tunnel in Britain. Construction had begun in 1873 but came to a standstill after the workings were inundated by water in 1879. An accomplished civil engineering contractor, Thomas Andrew Walker (1828–89) had worked on railways in Canada, Russia and Africa as well as on London's new underground lines; he was therefore well qualified to compl...