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READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 on pages 2 and 3.
Tunnelling under the Thames
The first tunnel ever to be built under a major river was the tunnel under London's
River Thames
At the beginning of the 19th century, the port of London was the busiest in the world.
Cargoes that had travelled thousands of miles and survived all the hazards of the sea
were unloaded on the banks of the Thames, only for their owners to discover that the
most frustrating portion of their journey lay ahead. Consignments intended for the
southern parts of Britain had to be lifted onto horse carts, pulled through the docks
and across London Bridge, built in the 12th century and as impractical as its early
date implies. By 1820, London Bridge had become the centre of the world's largest
traffic jam.
It was an intolerable situation, and it was clear that if private enterprise could build
another crossing closer to the docks, there would be good money to be made in tolls
paid by users. Another bridge was out of the question, as this would deny sailing
ships access to the city centre and ambitious men turned their thoughts to tunnelling
beneath the Thames instead. This was not such an obvious idea as it might appear.
Although increasing demand for coal had meant a great many tunnels had been dug
in mines in Britain, working methods remained primitive. Tunnels were dug by men
with simple tools, by candlelight. However, in 1807, a group of businessmen set
themselves up as the Thames Archway Company. Their ambition was to tunnel
below the Thames, but there was little to guide them as there had been no previous
attempt to do this. Their chief engineer was Richard Trevithick, designer of the
world's first high-pressure steam engine. His men made progress at the beginning,
but then things began to go disastrously wrong, with muddy soil pouring into the
tunnel. Eventually, the Thames Archway Company had had enough. Its funds were
exhausted, Trevithick was sick from exposure to the river water, and its efforts had
proved only that a passage under the river exceeded the limits of contemporary mining
technology.
At that time, the only machines used in mines were pumps. It took a man of genius to
recognise that a different sort of machine was needed, a machine that could prevent
the roof and walls of a tunnel from collapsing. This man was Marc Brunel, a
Frenchman who had become one of the most prominent engineers in Britain. Not
long after the failure of the Thames Archway Company, Brunel saw a rotten piece of
wood lying on the riverbank. Examining the wood through a magnifying glass, he
observed it was infested with something that looked like a worm. Brunel realised that
as it tunnelled through the wood, it would push chewed wood into its mouth and
digest it, then excrete a hard substance that lined the new tunnel. Brunel realised that
the worm's digging technique could be adapted to produce a new way of tunnelling.
His realisation led him to invent a device that has been used in one form or another in
most major tunnels built since – the tunnelling shield. It consisted of a heavy iron
frame that could be pushed forward a few inches at a time. The front of the frame
was made up of a series of iron frames that could be folded back to allow miners to
dig the ground ahead. Behind these frames was a wall consisting of a series of iron
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plates pressed against the tunnel face and supported on a set of horizontal wooden
planks, that would prevent the face from collapsing. It was a complex and rather
cumbersome machine and not easy to use, but it seemed that it would protect the
miners from the worst of the river's water. Brunel's team carefully examined earth
samples taken from beneath the riverbed, and subsequently decided to dig the tunnel
close to the muddy river bottom, where he could expect to find clay. This would be a
more solid and safe substance to dig through than the sand that was found deeper
down.
Brunel began work on his tunnel in 1825, but the problems of such an operation soon
became apparent. Although the shield itself worked well, water began to drip into the
tunnel. This was more of an annoyance than a danger while the pump was working,
but this machine proved unreliable and sometimes failed altogether. When the pump
broke down, work had to stop as the tunnel quickly flooded. There were occasions
when the miners had to abandon their tools and flee for their lives. Even when
Brunel's men were able to work, they had to run the constant risk of the pumps
failing. They also complained of frequent headaches and dizziness, caused by the
poor air quality. The air underground was dirty and stale, contaminated due to the
lack of an adequate ventilation system. There were lighting problems too. Illuminating
the tunnels by candlelight was a constant challenge. Lamps give off only a very weak
glow, and there were a number of accidents because the miners could not see what
they were doing. Lastly, a number of Brunel's miners walked off the job because they
could not tolerate the excessive temperatures that developed in the cramped
conditions underground.
Despite all these setbacks, the tunnel finally emerged on the opposite river bank on
August 12, 1841. Brunel's triumph, however, was only partial. The small payment per
person made by the thousands of visitors who flocked to see the marvel hardly paid
even a penny per foot of the tunnel's construction costs. Brunel had gone bankrupt
long before the project was completed, and the government loan he had required to
complete the project had to be paid back with interest. As a result, there was not
enough funding to make it accessible to horse-drawn vehicles, as intended. Instead,
the passageways were filled with souvenir sellers and entertainers. In the end, the
tunnel was closed two years later, used at night, before it was finally closed entirely
and fell into dereliction for decades.
It was only when the underground railway came to London in the 1880s that the
Thames Tunnel found and achieved a measure of real usefulness. It was bought in
1869 by the East London Railway, who found it to be in such excellent condition that
it was immediately pressed into service as a route for passenger trains heading east.
The tunnel became, and remains, part of the London Underground network.
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READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 on pages 2 and 3.
Tunnelling under the Thames
The first tunnel ever to be built under a major river was the tunnel under London's
River Thames
At the beginning of the 19th century, the port of London was the busiest in the world.
Cargoes that had travelled thousands of miles and survived all the hazards of the sea
were unloaded on the banks of the Thames, only for their owners to discover that the
most frustrating portion of their journey lay ahead. Consignments intended for the
southern parts of Britain had to be lifted onto horse carts, pulled through the docks
and across London Bridge, built in the 12th century and as impractical as its early
date implies. By 1820, London Bridge had become the centre of the world's largest
traffic jam.
It was an intolerable situation, and it was clear that if private enterprise could build
another crossing closer to the docks, there would be good money to be made in tolls
paid by users. Another bridge was out of the question, as this would deny sailing
ships access to the city centre and ambitious men turned their thoughts to tunnelling
beneath the Thames instead. This was not such an obvious idea as it might appear.
Although increasing demand for coal had meant a great many tunnels had been dug
in mines in Britain, working methods remained primitive. Tunnels were dug by men
with simple tools, by candlelight. However, in 1807, a group of businessmen set
themselves up as the Thames Archway Company. Their ambition was to tunnel
below the Thames, but there was little to guide them as there had been no previous
attempt to do this. Their chief engineer was Richard Trevithick, designer of the
world's first high-pressure steam engine. His men made progress at the beginning,
but then things began to go disastrously wrong, with muddy soil pouring into the
tunnel. Eventually, the Thames Archway Company had had enough. Its funds were
exhausted, Trevithick was sick from exposure to the river water, and its efforts had
proved only that a passage under the river exceeded the limits of contemporary mining
technology.
At that time, the only machines used in mines were pumps. It took a man of genius to
recognise that a different sort of machine was needed, a machine that could prevent
the roof and walls of a tunnel from collapsing. This man was Marc Brunel, a
Frenchman who had become one of the most prominent engineers in Britain. Not
long after the failure of the Thames Archway Company, Brunel saw a rotten piece of
wood lying on the riverbank. Examining the wood through a magnifying glass, he
observed it was infested with something that looked like a worm. Brunel realised that
as it tunnelled through the wood, it would push chewed wood into its mouth and
digest it, then excrete a hard substance that lined the new tunnel. Brunel realised that
the worm's digging technique could be adapted to produce a new way of tunnelling.
His realisation led him to invent a device that has been used in one form or another in
most major tunnels built since – the tunnelling shield. It consisted of a heavy iron
frame that could be pushed forward a few inches at a time. The front of the frame
was made up of a series of iron frames that could be folded back to allow miners to
dig the ground ahead. Behind these frames was a wall consisting of a series of iron
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plates pressed against the tunnel face and supported on a set of horizontal wooden
planks, that would prevent the face from collapsing. It was a complex and rather
cumbersome machine and not easy to use, but it seemed that it would protect the
miners from the worst of the river's water. Brunel's team carefully examined earth
samples taken from beneath the riverbed, and subsequently decided to dig the tunnel
close to the muddy river bottom, where he could expect to find clay. This would be a
more solid and safe substance to dig through than the sand that was found deeper
down.
Brunel began work on his tunnel in 1825, but the problems of such an operation soon
became apparent. Although the shield itself worked well, water began to drip into the
tunnel. This was more of an annoyance than a danger while the pump was working,
but this machine proved unreliable and sometimes failed altogether. When the pump
broke down, work had to stop as the tunnel quickly flooded. There were occasions
when the miners had to abandon their tools and flee for their lives. Even when
Brunel's men were able to work, they had to run the constant risk of the pumps
failing. They also complained of frequent headaches and dizziness, caused by the
poor air quality. The air underground was dirty and stale, contaminated due to the
lack of an adequate ventilation system. There were lighting problems too. Illuminating
the tunnels by candlelight was a constant challenge. Lamps give off only a very weak
glow, and there were a number of accidents because the miners could not see what
they were doing. Lastly, a number of Brunel's miners walked off the job because they
could not tolerate the excessive temperatures that developed in the cramped
conditions underground.
Despite all these setbacks, the tunnel finally emerged on the opposite river bank on
August 12, 1841. Brunel's triumph, however, was only partial. The small payment per
person made by the thousands of visitors who flocked to see the marvel hardly paid
even a penny per foot of the tunnel's construction costs. Brunel had gone bankrupt
long before the project was completed, and the government loan he had required to
complete the project had to be paid back with interest. As a result, there was not
enough funding to make it accessible to horse-drawn vehicles, as intended. Instead,
the passageways were filled with souvenir sellers and entertainers. In the end, the
tunnel was closed two years later, used at night, before it was finally closed entirely
and fell into dereliction for decades.
It was only when the underground railway came to London in the 1880s that the
Thames Tunnel found and achieved a measure of real usefulness. It was bought in
1869 by the East London Railway, who found it to be in such excellent condition that
it was immediately pressed into service as a route for passenger trains heading east.
The tunnel became, and remains, part of the London Underground network.
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