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pioneer Robert Stephenson, who recommended him for employment on another project.
The original route for the Birmingham to Gloucester railway proposed by the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was deemed to be prohibitively expensive, so Moorsom was tasked with finding a cheaper alternative. The new route went across country, avoiding towns and villages where land was more expensive and involved scaling the Lickey Hills near Worcester. The prevailing view at the time was that the gradient was too steep for a railway but, undeterred, Moorsom purchased powerful locomotives from the USA and the whole project was completed under budget.
Moorsom’s method of crossing the River Avon at Tewkesbury involved a three-span iron viaduct. This was anchored by the first use of concrete-filled iron caissons and resulted in the award of the prestigious Telford Medal by the Institute of Civil Engineers. No sooner had he finished this railway than he was contracted to build the West Cornwall Railway, and further contracts followed throughout the South of England and in Ireland during the railway boom of the 1840s.
However, by 1852, the boom was slowing and Moorsom embarked on a failed attempt to conduct profitable gold mining in the UK. He then travelled to Ceylon to survey the Kandy to Colombo railway but, under pressure to complete the survey before the monsoon season, some of his findings were later found to be faulty. By 1862, his best days behind him, Moorsom had acquired a reputation for taking on too many projects and cutting corners, and he retired to write a history of his regiment. He had six sons, one of whom also became a railway engineer, with the remainder following their father into the army, with one being killed at the siege of Lucknow in 1858.
Moorsom’s contribution to the transport system of England and Ireland should not be underestimated and, indeed, the Lickey Incline remains the steepest mainline gradient in the UK. William Moorsom, railway pioneer, died at his home in London on 3rd June 1863.
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