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[Rods2]

Fake news or not? I guess not, if you are one of the minority that thinks the Earth is a sphere rather than, as we all know, a disc.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/03/06/how-crossrail-was-affected-by-the-curvature-of-the-earth/

[tigers_gonads]

Even the Typhoon production line jigs are adjusted for the curvature of the earth to ensure parts fit 

[zirk]

All this modern day high tech stuff is amazing....

... thing is, they started building the London Underground back in the 1850's with Men with Picks, Axes and Donkeys to remove the rubble, mud and clay so that the first Tube Train could run in 1863 without fault, not sure they had all this high tech flangle dangle stuff back then let alone how to work out the curvature of the Earth.     

[biggriffin]

All this modern day high tech stuff is amazing....

... thing is, they started building the London Underground back in the 1850's with Men with Picks, Axes and Donkeys to remove the rubble, mud and clay so that the first Tube Train could run in 1863 without fault, not sure they had all this high tech flangle dangle stuff back then let alone how to work out the curvature of the Earth. 

In the oldern days they used string, to see how straight things were,  seem to have worked ok then,
We must know something different now days.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Surely you know that modern string has to have a curve to comply with EU regulations?   

[Mister Rog]

Fake news or not? I guess not, if you are one of the minority that thinks the Earth is a sphere rather than, as we all know, a disc.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/03/06/how-crossrail-was-affected-by-the-curvature-of-the-earth/

Totally fake.

What they actually did need to do was have large buffers at the end of the line to stop the trains falling off the edge of the world.

[Lizzie Zoom]

All this modern day high tech stuff is amazing....

... thing is, they started building the London Underground back in the 1850's with Men with Picks, Axes and Donkeys to remove the rubble, mud and clay so that the first Tube Train could run in 1863 without fault, not sure they had all this high tech flangle dangle stuff back then let alone how to work out the curvature of the Earth. 

The first underground tunnel under the Thames, and indeed the first one under any river in the World, was started in 1825 of a design by March Brunel.  His son, Isambard, became the director of operations and, after a number of floodings, tunnel collapses, with almost the loss of Isambard's life during one, it was completed in 1843.  During this construction, for the very first time, a moving 'shield" was used with men on different levels on it cutting away at the London mud and rock.  This was the forerunner of the modern mechanical shields, or cutting machines, as used to construct the Crossrail tunnels.

Brunel's Thames Tunnel, after proving to be a very popular walkway under the river from one side to the other, was sold to a railway company and in 1865 and used by trains as part of the new London Underground system.

As for accounting for the curvature of the earth being taken into account,  for all us sane people who do not believe the Earth is flat, it is purely common sense that this is so.  Someone like any of the 19th century engineers, first building the canals, then the railways, when surveying across vast lengths of countryside would have found it very obvious that in their sights the landscape was bending down and thus requiring allowance in their calculations when building tunnels.  However, when the Foulridge Tunnel was built on the Leeds to Liverpool canal between 1796 and 1801, the engineers did have problems lining up the bore of the tunnel to where they wanted to go.  This must be understandable though, as zirk implies, methods of construction was crude and without any of the modern technical devices of today!

[dave the builder]

Trains can go up hill and down hill ,so what ever that link is on about  is codswallop (i've not bothered reading it as it is obviously fake Information)
Also water finds it's own level , FLAT , like the earth 
Also,also  ,they should not be digging down too far anyway ,dig too far ,they could puncture the base of the earth disc 

[Rods2]

A couple of interesting and not well known facts are that most of the Victorian underground tunnels followed roads to reduce the danger of building collapse and many of the tunnels due to the restricted width of the roads were build one on top of the other, which is why at many underground stations, you have to use a small flight of stairs between the up and down lines.

[Lizzie Zoom]

A couple of interesting and not well known facts are that most of the Victorian underground tunnels followed roads to reduce the danger of building collapse and many of the tunnels due to the restricted width of the roads were build one on top of the other, which is why at many underground stations, you have to use a small flight of stairs between the up and down lines.

Not quite true, but nearly. The first underground from Paddington to Kings Cross was built using the cut and cover method, without tunnelling. That work started in 1860. East of Kings Cross it was tunnelled following the line of the underground River Trent. It opened in 1863. But the cut and cover method was not viable for the deeper tunnels, but naturally some did roughly follow, as much as they could, the roads above, but if you look at the underground maps and follow the routes it was not possible to keep them in line with the roads above when they crisis cross the Capital, as indeed all later tunnels could not.

From then on many deep tunnels were cut forming the other lines, which meant far less building and surface disturbance. The Brunel's had already proved how the lines could be built deep as they had tunnelled under the Thames, without lining up with roads, but of course no buildings involved. But, after all said and done before the building of Crossrail, it should be remembered that 45% of the London "underground" is in fact above ground.

The fact about some short connecting stairs at stations is because successive lines, built ever deeper, naturally crossed at some major interchange points, not because they had been built on top of one another due to surface road allignment.

[Lizzie Zoom]

..........and just to add that the other great Victorian engineering masterpiece in London was the building of the massive sewers to finally cope with the City's waste problem.

This was built extensively, if not totally, using the cut and cover system throughout with massive disruption as they dug up roads following the line of buildings without disturbing them. Some sections also incorporated long disappeared, covered over, underground rivers like The Fleet. The three main parts of this 100 mile long system was finally fully opened in 1870.

How magnificent the Victorian engineers were

[Lizzie Zoom]

For those interested, this is a spreadsheet that an enquirer got from TFL showing the depth below sea / ground level of all the sub-surface underground lines and their stations:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/144967/response/366374/attach/4/Station%20depths.xls?cookie_passthrough=1


Figures shown I believe are in feet, but are frankly confusing due to being measured to rail level. However, they give a rough idea of how deep each station is.  Still trying to work it out though as I know Hammersmith Station on the Northern line is rated the deepest at 58 metres! 
 

[Varche]

Shame we havent more Victorian engineers to produce a good lasting solution to Heathrow instead of sticking plaster solutions.

[Doctor Gollum]

The trouble is that there was no foresight involved...

The South Terminal at Gatwick should have been flattened and rebuilt as soon as the North Terminal opened. Instead it has been extended and tweaked and decorated to the point of stupidity... No direct access to the new domestic baggage hall so everyone has to be bussed to it For example. 

Heathrow is no better, and both are too busy to be partially shut down for significant development...

[Lizzie Zoom]

Shame we havent more Victorian engineers to produce a good lasting solution to Heathrow instead of sticking plaster solutions.

In fairness the Victorian engineers had vision, had foresight, but also had the gift of a time when there was little to no regulation, no planning restrictions, no health & safety and no human rights. There was also, most importantly, no pesky environmentalists to stop the likes of Telford, Stevenson or Brunel.

They could almost just do what they wanted to in a country with still a low population compared to today.  Only consideration was necessary to keep the canal or railway away from the stately homes and lands of the arostocricy, who could block their plans in Parliament. But they could just bulldoze their way through rows and rows of the common folks houses, as they did when building the railways in London (that is East End, not posh West London) especially, in the interests of the country as a whole.