One of my favourite micro-instances of Brunel's engineering are the brick arches of Moulsford Railway Bridge on the Thames near Wallingford, Oxfordshire. The ra

One of my favourite micro-instances of Brunel's engineering are the brick arches of Moulsford Railway Bridge on the Thames near Wallingford, Oxfordshire. The railway has to cross the river at an angle, so a plain perpendicular bridge wouldn't work. The solution is simply explained if you take a piece of paper, draw some "brickwork" lines on it it, bend it into an arch, then twist it so that the arch and the thing it is crossing are at an angle. You'll see how the lines of bricks are angled vertically instead of being straight horizontal. That is exactly how they are at Moulsford. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulsford_Railway_Bridge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulsford_Railway_Bridge