Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone
Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone is an enterprise zone in Bristol, focused on creative, high-tech and low-carbon industries. Covering an area of 70 hectares, it is based around Bristol Temple Meads railway station, being redeveloped by Network Rail, it contains the area around the existing Temple Quay development, the Silverthorne Lane and Avon Riverside areas. It includes the site of the planned Bristol Arena, the site of the University of Bristol's planned Temple Quarter Campus; the creation of the zone was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the Budget of March 2011, it was launched in 2012. The zone offers reduced business rates. Rates generated by the zone are channelled to five other areas in the region, designated Enterprise Areas; these are Avonmouth, Emersons Green including Bristol and Bath Science Park and Weston-super-Mare. Development of the enterprise zone is coordinated by West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, Bristol City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency and Network Rail.
Network Rail is redeveloping the station, in conjunction with its electrification of the Great Western line which will cut the journey time from Temple Meads to London Paddington station to 80 minutes. Station Approach Road will be turned into a public square and the station's main entrance moved to the north side of the station. In January 2015, the council announced changes to the layout of the roads around the station, with the removal of Temple Circus roundabout and provision of better routes for pedestrians and cyclists. Across Station Approach from the station, the Temple Gate redevelopment by TCN UK is a creative and digital campus for small and medium-sized enterprises. Redeveloped buildings include Temple Studios; the latter opened in 2013. Engine Shed is a new use for part of the Old Station, Brunel's original building, in partnership with the University of Bristol. Opened in December 2013, it hosts business incubators, including SETsquared and WebStart Bristol, which support a cluster of hi-tech startup companies.
Engine Shed leases its office space to the incubators, who in turn sub-let space on more flexible terms to the companies, which are selected for their high growth potential, high expected benefits for the regional economy. In December 2015, with the building occupied, additional space was made available in the form of Boxworks, constructed by ForwardSpace next to Engine Shed using 20 shipping containers; this was intended to be a temporary solution. Public consultation for Engine Shed 2 took place in November 2016. In November 2016, the University of Bristol announced that it will build a £300 million Temple Quarter Campus for c. 5,000 students, directly to the east of the station. It will replace an empty sorting office building operated by Royal Mail but derelict since 1997; the campus, which will include a new business school, digital research facilities and a student village, is expected to open in 2021. It will host Engine Shed 2; the zone's biggest development site, sometimes known as'Arena Island', is south of the station and across the River Avon.
Occupied by the Bristol Bath Road depot, the site was acquired by the Homes and Communities Agency. In February 2014 Bristol Council agreed the financing of the arena, which including funding provided by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership totals £91 million; the winner of the competition to design the arena, the architectural firm Populous, was announced in March 2015. In the same month, the HCA gave the arena site to Bristol City Council. In 2013 the HCA agreed to fund an £11 million road bridge over the river, to link Cattle Market Road to the site of the planned arena. Construction of the 63-metre bridge took place from March to September 2015, it has lanes for cars and pedestrians. In March 2016, the bridge was named Brock's Bridge, after William Brock, a local builder and entrepreneur. Temple Quay is an area of mixed-use development on a site to the northwest of the station, where the station's goods yard was located; the development project was initiated in 1989 by Bristol Development Corporation, who called it Quay Point.
In 1995, the corporation transferred its rights on the site to English Partnerships, development started in 1998. The developer was Castlemore Securities. By 2002, the development south of Bristol Floating Harbour was complete and a new phase was started on the other side of the harbour, called Temple Quay North. Castlemore went into administration in 2009, but development continued in the hands of the administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2015, Entrepreneurial Spark, a UK-wide business incubator network, opened a hub on the top floor of the Royal Bank of Scotland's Trinity Quay building in Temple Quay North. Managed by NatWest, the hub provides free space and guidance for startups; the Avon Riverside area extends along the A4 Bath Road, Bristol's so-called'media mile', as far as the site of Paintworks, an existing mixed-use development by Verve. Phase III of Paintworks will be the development of a'creative skills hub' for digital and media businesses, in partnership with Creative Skillset.
Official website
Bristol Arena
Bristol Arena was a planned 12,000-capacity indoor arena, next to Bristol Temple Meads railway station in Bristol, England. It was expected to be completed in 2020; the site, which has become known as'Arena Island', is to the south and across the River Avon from the station, lies within Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. The funding package for the arena scheme was approved by Bristol City Council in February 2014; the winning design, by Populous, was revealed in March 2015. With the opening of the First Direct Arena in Leeds in the summer of 2013, Bristol became the largest city in the United Kingdom without a large arena-style venue; as of late 2013, Bristol's two largest music venues are the Colston Hall and the O2 Academy, which both hold around 2,000 people each. Initial plans for Bristol Arena were announced in March 2003; the arena, to be built next to Bristol's largest railway station Temple Meads, was planned to have 10,000 seats and host music concerts as well as sports and conferences, was intended to open by 2008 to coincide with the city's bid to be the European Capital of Culture.
In June 2007, work had yet to begin on the arena despite around £13 million spent to purchase and clear the site. In late 2007, the plans were abandoned after developers announced that £40 million of public sector money would be required to fund the arena in addition to the £46m, committed by Bristol City Council and the South West of England Regional Development Agency. By 2009, plans for Bristol Arena were back on the agenda with two plans put forward. One plan, similar to plans for the site next to Temple Meads, was supported by the architect and future mayor, George Ferguson; the other plan, supported by Bristol City Council, was to build an arena next to Bristol City's proposed stadium at Ashton Vale. A number of legal challenges to Bristol City's proposed stadium caused the council to reconsider plans for an arena on the preferred site next to Temple Meads in 2012; the site, which used to be the location of the Bristol Bath Road depot, was owned by the Homes and Communities Agency. It is the biggest undeveloped site in Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, an enterprise zone launched in 2012.
In 2013 the HCA agreed to fund an £11 million road bridge over the River Avon, to link the site to Cattle Market Road and the railway station. The HCA transferred ownership of the arena site to Bristol City Council in March 2015. Construction of the 63-metre bridge took place from March to September 2015, it has lanes for cars and pedestrians. In March 2016, it was named Brock's Bridge, after a local builder and entrepreneur. Once elected mayor, Ferguson launched a competition to find the best design for a 12,000 seat arena that would be "the most environmentally-friendly venue of its kind" and pledged that the project would be up and running within four years; this was followed by a bid to win £80 million from the government's Regional Growth Fund to fund the project and pay for renovations at Colston Hall, which proved unsuccessful. In February 2014, the funding package for the arena scheme was approved as part of Bristol City Council's budget; the total cost of the arena, £91 million, would be funded by the council which would have provided £38 million with the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership funding the remaining £53 million.
In November 2014, the five shortlisted architects for the contract to design the arena were announced. The winning design by Populous, beating designs by Grimshaw Architects LLP, Idom Ingeniería y Consultoría, White Arkitekter and Wilkinson Eyre, was revealed in March 2015; the arena had been designed to achieve a BREEAM'Excellent' rating and would've been able to convert from a number of different layouts, with capacities ranging from 4,000 to 12,000. The preferred operators, SMG Europe and Live Nation, were announced in December 2014. In March 2016, the arena plans suffered a further setback when the City's planning committee described the proposals as "defective" and deferred making a decision on them until an appropriate level of supporting information could be provided. Public concern over parking and transport around the proposals had not been properly addressed and the committee were not confident in the detail submitted for approval. George Ferguson claimed the planning committee had put the entire project at risk and the decision was "not about planning, it was about politics."Following multiple updates to the transport plan, the arena was granted planning permission in April 2016 with the planning committee unanimously in favour of the updated plans.
In January 2017, the projected opening of the arena was delayed to 2020 after Bristol City Council and preferred construction firm Bouygues UK failed to agree on construction costs. Three months it was announced that Buckingham Group, the second preferred bidder, would carry out preliminary work on the site while negotiating a final price. Bristol City Council have commissioned an independent review into the project's value for money. In November 2017, the Bristol Post revealed plans to construct the arena within the Brabazon Hangar at the former Filton Airfield on the edge of the city's boundary. In September 2018, Mayor Marvin Rees scrapped the arena plans altogether in favour of a mixed use development, leaving the Brabazon Hangar as the only option, although this is unlikely. Criticism of the Temple Quarter arena plans had been aimed at the low number of dedicated car parking spaces on site. Initial plans revealed there would be just 245 spaces on site, 200 of which would be in a temporary facility which would be developed into offices and retail space.
George Ferguson defended the plans, saying "it would be mad
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world; the Irish Sea lies between Great Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world, it is the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017. The UK is constitutional monarchy; the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 1952, making her the longest-serving current head of state.
The United Kingdom's capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with an urban area population of 10.3 million. Other major urban areas in the UK include Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire conurbations, Greater Glasgow and the Liverpool Built-up Area; the United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries: England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh and Belfast, respectively. Apart from England, the countries have their own devolved governments, each with varying powers, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution; the nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation. The medieval conquest and subsequent annexation of Wales by the Kingdom of England, followed by the union between England and Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, the union in 1801 of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. There are fourteen British Overseas Territories, the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language and political systems of many of its former colonies; the United Kingdom is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It has a high-income economy and has a high Human Development Index rating, ranking 14th in the world, it was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power, with considerable economic, military and political influence internationally, it is sixth in military expenditure in the world. It has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.
It has been a leading member state of the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization; the 1707 Acts of Union declared that the kingdoms of England and Scotland were "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain". The term "United Kingdom" has been used as a description for the former kingdom of Great Britain, although its official name from 1707 to 1800 was "Great Britain"; the Acts of Union 1800 united the kingdom of Great Britain and the kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, which left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland within the United Kingdom, the name was changed to the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Although the United Kingdom is a sovereign country, Scotland and Northern Ireland are widely referred to as countries. The UK Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom; some statistical summaries, such as those for the twelve NUTS 1 regions of the United Kingdom refer to Scotland and Northern Ireland as "regions". Northern Ireland is referred to as a "province". With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice revealing one's political preferences"; the term "Great Britain" conventionally refers to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England and Wales in combination. However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole; the term "Britain" is used both as a synonym for Great Britain, as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Usage is mixed, with the BBC preferring to use Britain as shorthand only for Great Britain and the UK Government, while accepting that both terms refer to the United K
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotive have been developed, differing in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels. Early internal combusition locomotives and railcars used gasoline as their fuel. Dr. Rudolf Diesel patented his first compression ignition engine in 1898, steady improvements in the design of diesel engines reduced their physical size and improved their power-to-weight ratio to a point where one could be mounted in a locomotive. Internal combustion engines only operate efficiently within a limited torque range, while low power gasoline engines can be coupled to a mechanical transmission, the more powerful diesel engines required the development of new forms of transmission; the first successful diesel engines used diesel–electric transmissions, by 1925 a small number of diesel locomotives of 600 hp were in service in the United States. In 1930, Armstrong Whitworth of the United Kingdom delivered two 1,200 hp locomotives using Sulzer-designed engines to Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway of Argentina.
In 1933, diesel-electric technology developed by Maybach was used propel the DRG Class SVT 877, a high speed intercity two-car set, went into series production with other streamlined car sets in Germany starting in 1935. In the USA, diesel-electric propulsion was brought to high speed mainline passenger service in late 1934 through the research and development efforts of General Motors from 1930–34 and advances in lightweight carbody design by the Budd Company; the economic recovery from the Second World War saw the widespread adoption of diesel locomotives in many countries. They offered greater flexibility and performance than steam locomotives, as well as lower operating and maintenance costs. Diesel–hydraulic transmissions were introduced in the 1950s, but from the 1970s onwards diesel–electric transmission has dominated; the earliest recorded example of the use of an internal combustion engine in a railway locomotive is the prototype designed by William Dent Priestman, examined by Sir William Thomson in 1888 who described it as a " mounted upon a truck, worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes.".
In 1894, a 20 hp two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers. In 1896 an oil-engined railway locomotive was built for the Royal Arsenal, England, in 1896, using an engine designed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart, it was not a diesel because it used a hot bulb engine but it was the precursor of the diesel. Following the expiration of Dr. Rudolf Diesel's patent in 1912, his engine design was applied to marine propulsion and stationary applications. However, the massiveness and poor power-to-weight ratio of these early engines made them unsuitable for propelling land-based vehicles. Therefore, the engine's potential as a railroad prime mover was not recognized; this changed as development reduced the weight of the engine. In 1906, Rudolf Diesel, Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing Diesel engines since 1898; the Prussian State Railways ordered a diesel locomotive from the company in 1909, after test runs between Winterthur and Romanshorn the diesel–mechanical locomotive was delivered in Berlin in September 1912.
The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railroad in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. During further test runs in 1913 several problems were found. After the First World War broke out in 1914, all further trials were stopped; the locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through the mid-1920s. Adolphus Busch purchased the American manufacturing rights for the diesel engine in 1898 but never applied this new form of power to transportation, he founded the Busch-Sulzer company in 1911. Only limited success was achieved in the early twentieth century with internal combustion engined railcars, due, in part, to difficulties with mechanical drive systems. General Electric entered the railcar market in the early twentieth century, as Thomas Edison possessed a patent on the electric locomotive, his design being a type of electrically propelled railcar.
GE built its first electric locomotive prototype in 1895. However, high electrification costs caused GE to turn its attention to internal combustion power to provide electricity for electric railcars. Problems related to co-coordinating the prime mover and electric motor were encountered due to limitations of the Ward Leonard current control system, chosen. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp, a GE electrical engineer and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system. Lemp's design used a single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, was the prototype for all internal combustion–electric drive control systems. In 1917–18, GE produced three experimental diesel–electric locomotives using Lemp's control design, the first known to be built in the United States. Following this development, the 1923 Kaufman Act banned steam locomotives from New York City because of severe pollution problems; the response to this law was to electrify high-traffic rail lines.
However, electrification was u
British Rail
British Railways, which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. A trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in 1962 designated as the British Railways Board; the period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the national railway network. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, by 1968 steam locomotion had been replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway. Passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, one third of the network was closed by the Beeching Axe of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies. On privatisation, responsibility for track and stations was transferred to Railtrack and that for trains to the train operating companies.
The British Rail "double arrow" logo is formed of two interlocked arrows showing the direction of travel on a double track railway and was nicknamed "the arrow of indecision". It is now employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations, as part of the Rail Delivery Group's jointly-managed National Rail brand is still printed on railway tickets; the rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, there were four large railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area: the Great Western Railway, the London and Scottish Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway and the Southern Railway. During World War I the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, the Railways Act 1921 is sometimes considered as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected. Nationalisation was subsequently carried out after World War II, under the Transport Act 1947.
This Act made provision for the nationalisation of the network, as part of a policy of nationalising public services by Clement Attlee's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four. There were joint railways between the Big Four and a few light railways to consider. Excluded from nationalisation were industrial lines like the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway; the London Underground – publicly owned since 1933 – was nationalised, becoming the London Transport Executive of the British Transport Commission. The Bicester Military Railway was run by the government; the electric Liverpool Overhead Railway was excluded from nationalisation. The Railway Executive was conscious that some lines on the network were unprofitable and hard to justify and a programme of closures began immediately after nationalisation. However, the general financial position of BR became poorer, until an operating loss was recorded in 1955.
The Executive itself had been abolished in 1953 by the Conservative government, control of BR transferred to the parent Commission. Other changes to the British Transport Commission at the same time included the return of road haulage to the private sector. British Railways was divided into regions which were based on the areas the former Big Four operated in. Notably, these included the former Great Central lines from the Eastern Region to the London Midland Region, the West of England Main Line from the Southern Region to Western Region Southern Region: former Southern Railway lines. Western Region: former Great Western Railway lines. London Midland Region: former London Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England and Wales. Eastern Region: former London and North Eastern Railway lines south of York. North Eastern Region: former London and North Eastern Railway lines in England north of York. Scottish Region: all lines, regardless of original company, in Scotland; the North Eastern Region was merged with the Eastern Region in 1967.
In 1982, the regions were abolished and replaced by "business sectors", a process known as sectorisation. The Anglia Region was created in late 1987, its first General Manager being John Edmonds, who began his appointment on 19 October 1987. Full separation from the Eastern Region – apart from engineering design needs – occurred on 29 April 1988, it handled the services from Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street, its western boundary being Hertford East and Whittlesea. The report, latterly known as the "Modernisation Plan", was published in January 1955, it was intended to bring the railway system into the 20th century. A government White Paper produced in 1956 stated that modernisation would help eliminate BR's financial deficit by 1962, but the figures in both this and the original plan were produced for political reasons and not based on detailed analysis; the aim was to increase speed, reliability and line capacity through a series of measures that would make services more attractive to passengers and freight operators, thus recovering traffic lost to the roads.
Important areas included: Electrification of principal main lines, in the Eastern Region, Birmingham to Liverpool/Manchester and Central Scotland Large-scale dieselisation to replace steam locomotives New passenger and freight rolling stock R
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated d/b/a OCLC is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services. OCLC maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system. OCLC began in 1967, as the Ohio College Library Center, through a collaboration of university presidents, vice presidents, library directors who wanted to create a cooperative computerized network for libraries in the state of Ohio; the group first met on July 5, 1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization, hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, to design the shared cataloging system.
Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The plan was to merge the catalogs of Ohio libraries electronically through a computer network and database to streamline operations, control costs, increase efficiency in library management, bringing libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the world's information in order to best serve researchers and scholars; the first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26, 1971. This was the first online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data. Between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the governance structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States.
As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with "networks", organizations that provided training and marketing services. By 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on the OCLC Members Council. During 2008, OCLC commissioned two studies to look at distribution channels. In early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic and full-text information to anyone. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from private libraries worldwide; the Open WorldCat program, launched in late 2003, exposed a subset of WorldCat records to Web users via popular Internet search and bookselling sites.
In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. WikiD was phased out; the Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988. A browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013; until August 2009, when it was sold to Backstage Library Works, OCLC owned a preservation microfilm and digitization operation called the OCLC Preservation Service Center, with its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users; this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. Starting in 1971, OCLC produced catalog cards for members alongside its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, such as CONTENTdm for managing digital collections.
It offers the bibliographic discovery system WorldCat Discovery, which allows for library patrons to use a single search interface to access an institution's catalog, database subscriptions and more. OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications; these publications, including journal articles, reports and presentations, are available through the organization's website. OCLC Publications – Research articles from various journals including Code4Lib Journal, OCLC Research, Reference & User Services Quarterly, College & Research Libraries News, Art Libraries Journal, National Education Association Newsletter; the most recent publications are displayed first, all archived resources, starting in 1970, are available. Membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding. Newsletters – Current and archived newsletters for the library and archive community.
Presentations – Presentations from both guest speakers and OCLC research from conferences and other events. The presentations are organized into five categories: Conference presentations, Dewey presentations, Distinguished Seminar Series, Guest presentations, Research staff
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with the Great Western Railway, which built its main line between London and Bristol, in time formed part of a through route between London and Cornwall, it became involved in the gauge wars, a protracted and expensive attempt to secure territory against rival companies supported by the London and South Western Railway which used the narrow gauge referred to as standard gauge. At first it contracted with the GWR for that company to work the line, avoiding the expense of acquiring locomotives, but after that arrangement expired in 1849, the B&ER operated its own line, it opened a number of branches within the general area it served: to Clevedon, Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Chard and Tiverton. The B&ER was financially successful but amalgamated with the GWR in 1876, the combined company being called the Great Western Railway.
The Great Western Railway obtained its authorising Act of Parliament in 1835, to build its line between London and Bristol. The merchants of Bristol were anxious to secure a railway route to Exeter, an important commercial centre and a port on the English Channel, giving easier shipping connections to continental Europe, they promoted the Bristol and Exeter Railway and when they issued a prospectus on 1 October 1835, they had little difficulty in securing subscriptions for the £1.5 million scheme. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed engineer—he was engineer to the GWR—and his assistant William Gravatt surveyed the route, leading to presentation of a Parliamentary Bill for the 1836 session; the Bill had an easy passage and was enacted on 19 May 1836. The Act did not specify the gauge of the track. Notwithstanding the apparent family connection to the neighbouring GWR, none of the B&ER directors was a GWR director at this time; the GWR was still under construction. The early euphoria turned to great difficulty in raising finance for construction.
4,000 of the 15,000 subscribed shares were forfeited for non-payment of calls before the line was built. A contract was let for the first part of the line, from a temporary terminus at Pylle Hill, west of the New Cut; the position improved somewhat in 1838, indeed the Company obtained Parliamentary powers for four short branches: of these only one, to Weston-super-Mare, was built. It was not until 5 March 1839 that the Company adopted the broad gauge, having observed the practical results of its use on the GWR. In the autumn of 1839, the Directors informed the half-yearly meeting of shareholders that it was now planned to make a priority of forming the line from Temple Meads to Bridgwater, Somerset, in order to generate some income. Five locomotives were ordered from Roberts & Co for the purpose. By the end of 1839 the Directors had decided to avoid the capital outlay by arranging with the GWR—by now in operation—to operate the line for them. By this time three Directors were directors of the GWR, the alliance was beginning to strengthen.
The proposal to lease the line to the GWR was ratified by shareholders at a special meeting in September 1841. The lease was to commence on the opening of a double line from Bristol to Bridgwater and Weston-super-Mare, at a rent of £30,000 annually and a toll of a farthing per passenger-mile and per ton-mile of goods and coal; the rent was to increase proportionally with the completion of the system, the lease was to remain in force for five years after completion of the line to Exeter. The first section of the line was opened between Bristol and Bridgwater on 14 June 1841, just before the GWR completed its line from London to Bristol, it was 33 1⁄2 miles in length and double track, with a 1 1⁄2-mile single-line branch to Weston-super-Mare. There was no B&ER station at Bristol; the stations on opening were Nailsea, Clevedon Road, Weston Junction and Bridgwater on the main line. In 1841 money was a little easier to come by, contracts were let for the completion of the line, opened onward from Bridgwater in stages: Bridgwater to Taunton on 1 July 1842 Taunton to Beam Bridge on 1 May 1844.
The Exeter station was at the site now known as Exeter St Davids station. The opening to Exeter completed the B&ER main line, with the GWR formed a combined broad gauge line from London to Exeter with a mileage of 194 miles, far longer than any other line at the time; the Directors were able to report that the whole construction had been carried out for the £2 million authorised, "a most unusual experience in those days". On 4 July 1844 the South Devon Railway obtained its authorising Act of Parliament: the broad gauge would soon be continuous from London to Plymouth; the rival London and South Western Railway had its main line from London to Southampton, was planning to extend to Exeter. The GWR wished to prevent this by promoting its own lines in the region. At this period Parliament considered that only one line was appropriate to serv
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