The Thames Tunnel: 18 Years, Six Floods, One Machine

In 1825, Marc Brunel and his son Isambard began digging a tunnel under the River Thames, using a new iron "shield". It took eighteen years, at least six floods and at least six lives. The story from museum records and the listing texts: how the shield worked, the floods, the long pause, and why trains still run through it today. Chapters 0:00 The flood of 1828 0:23 The plan and the shield 1:00 Sinking the shaft 1:19 The river breaks in 1:42 Seven years stopped 2:01 Finished at last 2:16 From foot tunnel to railway 2:47 The shield lives on Sources Thames Tunnel list entry 1242119 (Historic England text, mirror) — https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/... Tunnel Shaft — https://thebrunelmuseum.com/visiting-... 1828 Tunnel Flood — https://thebrunelmuseum.com/1828-tunn... Four views of the Tunnelling Shield — https://thebrunelmuseum.com/collectio... Thames Tunnel Archive — https://thebrunelmuseum.com/online/th... The Thames Tunnel: Marc Brunel's engineering marvel — https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/colle... Thames Tunnel — https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Thames_... Thames Tunnel — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_... The Thames Tunnel (online exhibition) — https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/the-librar... Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Thames Tunnel flooding (plaque) — https://www.londonremembers.com/memor... Inside the Thames Tunnel, 1830 — https://www.bristoldockyards.org/coll... Tunnelling shield — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnell... Windrush line — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrus... James Greathead and tunnels under London — https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collection... Image credits (no attribution required) Other images and footage: public domain archives and Pexels (no attribution required). Attribution required Lars Plougmann from United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Z22, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Silvester & Co., CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Matt Brown, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Z22, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Martyn Pattison, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) MyrtleGal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) unknown, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Music: original, made for this channel. Narration: synthetic voice (Kokoro).