William Collard died last week in the British village of Storrington, Sussex. He was 75, balding, a wool merchant. For 30 years he dreamed of a tunnel under the English Channel.
The Enthusiast.
Collard had it planned, on paper. There would be a broad-gauge line (he preferred the wider roadbed for safety at high speed) from London to Paris. The underchannel bore would be 24 miles long, between Dover and Calais. Electric locomotives doing 92 m.p.h. would pull trains carrying 508 passengers. The trip would take two hours, 45 minutes. The fare would be £2 ($8). There would be 22 trains daily....
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