Bygone era

It will be very interesting to read material from old editions of The Engineer throughout this year, your 150th anniversary (

, 16 January).

I have often thought that back copies of magazines such as yours must contain a wealth of history of the type that is rarely taught in schools or even talked about in the media.

I am referring particularly to the achievements of the British engineers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in building much of the infrastructure of our former empire. This is a subject that is rarely discussed, probably because it is viewed as ‘bad form’ to mention the fact that this country once ruled large areas of the world.

But whatever your views on that, the engineering achievements of our predecessors were considerable.

L Sharp
Plymouth
Devon