‘No doubt the exertions of those three years, though they laid the foundation, or rather built the fabric, of his reputation, also undermined his constitution, and eventually shortened his life. Everything for which he was responsible he insisted upon doing for himself. I doubt whether he ever signed a professional report that was not entirely of his own composition; and every structure upon the Great Western, from the smallest culvert up to the Brent viaduct and Maidenhead bridge, was entirely, in all its details, from his own designs.’ In the press of work and the altered circumstances under which he superintended the construction of his later railways, many changes inevitably followed. The open britzska gave place to a close travelling carriage, which in its turn became useless; and no time was left for fun or practical jokes; but the same energy of mind and the same kindliness of heart remained uninfluenced by increasing occupations or advancing years. CHAPTER V. _THE BROAD GAUGE._ ORIGIN OF THE ORDINARY GAUGE OF RAILWAYS--ADOPTION BY MR. BRUNEL OF THE BROAD GAUGE ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY--REASONS FOR ITS ADOPTION--THE PERMANENT WAY--REPORTS OF MR. NICHOLAS WOOD AND MR. JOHN HAWKSHAW, 1838--EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF DIRECTORS OF GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY (DECEMBER 20, 1838)--EXTENSION OF THE BROAD GAUGE SYSTEM--BREAK OF GAUGE--ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE GAUGE OF RAILWAYS, 1845--LETTER OF MR. BRUNEL ON THE BROAD GAUGE (AUGUST 6, 1845)--GAUGE ACT OF 1846--THE MIXED GAUGE--REPORT OF RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS, 1847--NORTHERN EXTENSIONS OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY--ADVANTAGES OF THE BROAD GAUGE--PARTIAL ABANDONMENT OF THE BROAD GAUGE. The railways designed by Mr. Brunel were, with a few exceptions, distinguished from those in all other parts of England by a peculiarity in the width between the two rails forming each line of way, or in what is called the _gauge_. In most railways, the distance between the internal edges of the rails is 4 feet 8½ inches, being what is termed the _narrow gauge_; on Mr. Brunel’s railways, it was seven feet, or what is termed the _broad gauge_. * * * * * The gauge of the earlier railways, which were but a modification of the old wooden tramway, was made that of the tram plates which they superseded; and this had been originally fixed to suit the distance between the wheels of the country carts in the north of England.