Industrial siding/branchline tunnels

[Fang]

I'm in need of a tunnel for my railway to disappear into.  It is going to be a 1930's era quarry, and I'm thinking of a bridge to carry the access road to the quarry over the railway, which would be in a cutting.  I'm trying to find some photos of either small tunnels or bridges for such purpose, being 1930's based obviously lorries would have been quite small, and I'm guessing that being on an industrial line in a quarry it would not be to the same standard as other structures on the main rail network.  It is for a standard gauge track, had it been for narrow gauge a piece of concrete pipe buried in the ground would have sufficed

 

Many thanks 

[ikcdab]

Have a look at Everard Junction latest video on YouTube. He did just this, shows you how to build a bridge for scenic break.

https://youtu.be/9LWGSWavKus

Edited November 8, 2021 by ikcdab

[Tom Burnham]

Very characteristic of Kent cement works railways, where as chalk nearer the works was used up, new pits were dug and linked to the old ones by tunnels under roads and other stuff that had to be left 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Tom Burnham
Word added by auto complete removed.

[Wickham Green too]

Also in Kent, Golgotha Tunnel on the E.K.L.R. is very characterful : designed for double track but only excavated to track level for one !

[Compound2632]

On 08/11/2021 at 21:35, Fang said:

I'm guessing that being on an industrial line in a quarry it would not be to the same standard as other structures on the main rail network.  

 

Don't underestimate such things:

 

 

Bridge carrying the Mounsorrel Quarry lines over the river Soar, Leicestershire, built 1860.

[billy_anorak59]

As inpiration, how about a bridge along the lines of the one over the Lever Brothers (Port Sunlight) internal railway at Bromborough, Wirral? Built in the '20s, I believe, and carries a two lane road over. I took the photo in 1987.

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by billy_anorak59

[Nearholmer]

Here you are:

 

 

This archetypal image of Thomas was drawn from a photo of an E2 tank on the branch that ran from Hassocks station yard to a sand quarry SW of the village. If I can find a copy of the photo on-line, I’ll link to it.

 

Here we are, I’ve flipped the image to match what the artist did. The ‘tunnel’ is actually a bridge.

 

Ive never been able to discover whether the branch was owned/built by the LBSCR or whoever owned the quarry, but it certainly connected like a private siding, so I think the latter.

 

Heres a photo of it long-abandoned, which calls it a tunnel ……. so, it was either s very long bridge, or a very short tunnel!

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Nick Holliday]

16 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I've never been able to discover whether the branch was owned/built by the LBSCR or whoever owned the quarry, but it certainly connected like a private siding, so I think the latter.

 

According to the Goods Working Book, this was Hudson's siding - On the up side of line at Hassocks, leading from Goods Yard, and extends for a distance of about ½ mile west of main line.  Shunted by the Goods Shunting Pilot, and averaging 6 loaded wagons outbound every day.

[Grizz]

16 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Here you are:

 

 

This archetypal image of Thomas was drawn from a photo of an E2 tank on the branch that ran from Hassocks station yard to a sand quarry SW of the village. If I can find a copy of the photo on-line, I’ll link to it.

 

Here we are, I’ve flipped the image to match what the artist did. The ‘tunnel’ is actually a bridge.

 

Ive never been able to discover whether the branch was owned/built by the LBSCR or whoever owned the quarry, but it certainly connected like a private siding, so I think the latter.

 

Heres a photo of it long-abandoned, which calls it a tunnel ……. so, it was either s very long bridge, or a very short tunnel!

 

 

 

 

A link to the above location at Hassocks, pages 13 -15....

 

http://sias.pastfinder.org.uk/sias_news/SIAS-NEWS_137.pdf

[Nearholmer]

2 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

According to the Goods Working Book, this was Hudson's siding -

Yes, Hudson owned the sand quarry, and I think by deduction the branch/siding, making it a genuine “industrial”, even if shunted by a main-line loco. The way it was laid-out at the station, I wonder whether it might have been horse-worked originally.
 

Many years ago, when I worked on BR(S), I had access to the old “Siding Agreements”, which are probably somewhere in an archive by now. They showed who owned what, who had paid for the original connection, and whether the owner had sub-leased the siding to someone else, which was quite common it seems. Some, but not all made clear the operating arrangements, but they were better described in Sectional Appendices. I wished I’d looked this one up!

[Andy Kirkham]

Here is the NCB shed at Bargoed with a tunnel through the embankment carrying the Brecon & Merthyr.

 

 

[Kris]

Whatley Quarry has a tunnel. 

 

There was also a tunnel on the line to Fowey from St Blazey. This is now used for china clay lorries rather than trains. 

[Andy Kirkham]

And there was the famous "Big Arch" which cut through the embankment of the GWR branch to Abersychan & Talywain

 

By Gordon Edgar

 

By John Wiltshire C/O Peter Brabham

 

 

 

[Northmoor]

The East side of Milford Haven docks and the branch to Newton Noyes Naval Depot, were accessed from a connection just outside the station and which almost immediately passed through an unlined tunnel.  GWR/BR locos didn't pass through this as it was within the Dock Co. boundary.

[Fang]

Interesting photos, thanks for those.  It looks like more of a proper road bridge would actually be suitable

 

Many thanks 

[Dava]

The Hepworth iron works above Hazlehead off the GCR Woodhead route was served by a branchline across the moors which included quite a long (450 yards) tunnel. This montage shows maps and photos though not of the tunnel.

 

 

One of the Fox/King Industrial Steam Albums (no.2 I think) includes a photo of the tunnel mouth under the moor.

I visited the works in the 1990s but the branch was long gone. IRS will have information on this line. 
 

Dava

[Dava]

Here is a photo of the tunnel on the Hepworth branch from Hazlehead.