Sonning Cutting facts for kids
Sonning Cutting is a special part of the original Great Western Railway. This railway was built by the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The cutting is located in Berkshire, England. You can find it between the towns of Reading and Twyford, close to the village of Sonning.
A "cutting" is like a big ditch dug through a hill. It allows a railway or road to pass through instead of going over or around the hill. Originally, the railway was planned to go around the north side of Sonning Hill. However, people living nearby had concerns. So, the railway was built through the hill instead. This made the route between Twyford and Reading much straighter. The cutting is over a mile long and up to sixty feet deep.
Building the Cutting
The Sonning Cutting was a huge project. Workers dug it by hand, using no machines at all. They used simple tools like shovels and picks. The soil and rocks they dug out were moved using wheelbarrows and carts pulled by horses.
This difficult work took two years to finish. Sadly, several people died while building the cutting. The railway line finally opened on March 30, 1840.
Widening the Railway
The original Great Western Railway used a special wide track called "broad gauge." In 1892, this broad gauge was changed to a standard, narrower size used by most railways. After this change, the railway line at Sonning Cutting was made wider.
To make the railway wider, the cutting had to be rebuilt. This included changing the slope of its sides to make them less steep. This allowed for four tracks instead of the original two.
Images for kids
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View of Sonning Cutting in 1846.
See also
Would you like to read about Sonning Cutting in Spanish? Check out: Desmonte de Sonning para niños
