6 C O N T E X T 1 2 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 2 In the first of these, Mark Gaterell explains the influence in the 1830s of the visionary eccentric romantic painter John Martin on the London sewerage system developed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. Gaterell credits the great engineers of the Victorian era with developing and implementing projects of immense technical complexity and significance. It might seem fanciful to suggest that Martin’s almost messianic art of the 1820s portrayed the fate that would befall Londoners in cholera epidemics of the 1830s and 1860s. But the author considers that Martin’s artistic interests, his radical political stance and likely knowledge of the early campaigns regarding the poor water quality of the Thames, and the huge interdisciplinary exchanges that characterised the scientific and social scene of London at the time, made him well placed to foresee many of the problems to come. A number of Martin’s suggestions implemented after his death, including his idea of grand sewers running parallel with the Thames, are a tribute to the way in which he transcended the boundaries of art, architecture and engineering. In another paper,William Thomas Day recounts the history of maintenance and repair of the Menai Suspension Bridge up to 1938, when this complex engineering marvel was reconstructed by Dorman Long to carry the full spectrum of modern road traffic. Extreme local weather placed substantial demands on the original construction, but when completed in 1826 the bridge had the longest span in the world. It was a triumph for Thomas Telford, but he was not entirely happy with it following damage in high winds. Additional damage was suffered in 1836 and 1839 when the deck was virtually wrecked by a hurricane. The replacement timber deck survived until 1893, when a new steel deck was installed. Further repairs and modifications were re-evaluated in 1922 when it was recognised that the weight restrictions and carriageway width severely limited the use of the bridge. The robustness and durability of Telford’s original design, and his careful attention to detail, explain why replacement and repair could be accommodated. This is well illustrated in the reproduction of number of elegant contemporary engineering drawings of the structures and repair solutions. A third paper describes the ambitious construction of the 670-metre wide Kiev suspension bridge across the freeflowing River Dnieper by the British engineer Charles Blacker Vignoles for Tzar Nicholas I of Russia, commenced in 1846 and completed in 1853. A final paper by Matteo Porrino of ENSA in Strasbourg describes the development in 1896 in Budapest of the first continental underground electric railway. The urban 1871 development plan for the city was based on concentric rings and several large radial routes. These made implementation using a shallow buried track quite straightforward. In the 1970s complete reconstruction was carried out because of increases in traffic and construction of the underground network. In 1994-6 the railway was entirely refurbished. After more than a century, the project remains a delightful and perfectly integrated part of Budapest’s transport system. The theme of railways carries across to TheVictorian (No 39, March 2012), in particular the challenges of modernising the railways while conserving their heritage. Fifty years on from the demolition of the Euston Arch (and battles over St Pancras Chambers), it could be argued that it was Victorian railway architecture that defined the early Victorian Society. The rail network now comprises an immensely diverse stock of 380 listed stations, 60 listed signal boxes, 250 other lineside buildings, huge numbers of buildings of local townscape interest, and 43,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, of which over 600 are listed. All this on a system which carries almost four million people every weekday. Responding to passenger needs and government initiatives relating to capacity enhancement will lead to significant changes to a large number of stations. They will have enlarged circulation routes, lifts, longer and wider platforms, and improved information systems and security measures – all in accordance with the railway regulations, codes and national standards, irrespective of heritage considerations. One heritage concern is the recent National Rail Operating Strategy. This will see the majority of existing signal boxes replaced by a small number of signalling centres (see the article by Andy Savage on p31 of this issue of Context). To address the high level of redundancy of boxes, Network Rail proposes early collaboration with heritage organisations to achieve the best outcome for all the parties – but without undue delay or maintenance liabilities on the company. It will be interesting to see where the balance of the heritage and operational considerations comes to rest. In the latest edition of C20, the magazine of the Twentieth Century Society (Winter 2012), the director Catherine Croft spotlights the MP for Blackpool North, Paul Maynard. Proud of his membership of the society, he has expressed concern in the House of Commons about the possible increased threat to 20th century buildings from the proposed National Planning Policy Framework, in all its ambiguous brevity. Maynard suggested that fellow MPs should not dismiss as ‘concrete eyesores in our constituencies’ buildings that are ‘fashionably unfashionable’ and which might well be the heritage of the future. He urged them to see beyond their own immediate ‘aesthetic impressions’ and
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