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Great Western Coffee Shop > Sideshoots - associated subjects > The Lighter Side > Emma Joan and the light at the end of the Box tunnel
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Author Topic: Emma Joan and the light at the end of the Box tunnel  (Read 1559 times)
Bmblbzzz
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« on: April 05, 2020, 14:02:40 »
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For more than two centuries, railway enthusiasts, engineers and scientists have tried to solve the mystery of Box tunnel, near Bath.

They have combed the history books, done the maths and carried out practical experiments to try to work out whether its creator, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, really did design the two-mile tunnel so that the rising sun shone right through it on his birthday, 9 April.

But now a new theory has emerged from a retired engineer and physicist who has reassessed the science, had a fresh look at the Brunel family tree and concluded that in fact the great railway builder might have designed the tunnel so that the phenomenon occurred not on his birthday but on that of a little-known sister – 6 April.

Peter Maggs, who has been working on the puzzle for more than 30 years, said he had a “eureka moment” when he discovered that Brunel’s sister, Emma Joan, was born on 6 April.

Continues...
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/05/new-twist-in-mystery-of-brunels-birthday-sunrise
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Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
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« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2020, 16:13:25 »
Sunrise is 06:32am,could some one put a special from Bath to Chippenham about the same time.

Visibilty forecast is "very good"
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smokey
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« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2020, 15:55:03 »
Beware of the light at the end of the Tunnel It could be a train coming! Grin
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Clan Line
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« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2020, 20:46:01 »
Quote from: smokey on April 10, 2020, 15:55:03
Beware of the light at the end of the Tunnel It could be a train coming! Grin

Some years ago I went "wrong side" from Bathampton up to Thingley - I remember thinking then that the driver must have been hoping that the spot of light he could see in the distance was the tunnel mouth and not another train coming the other way !!
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Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2025, 16:58:58 »
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For more than two centuries, railway enthusiasts, engineers and scientists have tried to solve the mystery of Box tunnel, near Bath.

Nonsense: Box Tunnel didn't open until June 1841.  Roll Eyes
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William Huskisson MP▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: Stop, Look, Listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
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