B18 DUD Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hi.In the late 60`s ,On the Midland line from CHESTERFIELD To SHEFFIELD(Pond street),the line was closed with diversion via Barrow hill round onto the GC line then dropping down into Sheffield from the other direction and of course vice-versa. This was due to a tunnel being de-roofed and turned into a cutting on the main line...where?? .My memory is fading so has anyone got any pictures,info etc. I rode the diversion a couple of times most interesting as a young spotter as it was a freight line... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
2mm Andy Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hi.In the late 60`s ,On the Midland line from CHESTERFIELD To SHEFFIELD(Pond street),the line was closed with diversion via Barrow hill round onto the GC line then dropping down into Sheffield from the other direction and of course vice-versa. This was due to a tunnel being de-roofed and turned into a cutting on the main line...where?? .My memory is fading so has anyone got any pictures,info etc. I rode the diversion a couple of times most interesting as a young spotter as it was a freight line... Broomhouse Tunnel, near Unstone, removed circa 1969. The spoil from the tunnel removal was tipped locally, and cause problems last year when a cutting slope above the railway started to fail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broomhouse_Tunnel Andy (edit to add Wikipedia link) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 More info (mostly on the recent problems) here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82509-more-landslip-problems-unstone-between-sheffield-and-chesterfield/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Miles Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Changing tunnels to cuttings has happened elsewhere, for example Cofton which is just south of Longbridge south Birmingham on the line to Bristol - again an ex-Midland route. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted January 15, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 15, 2015 Changing tunnels to cuttings has happened elsewhere, for example Cofton which is just south of Longbridge south Birmingham on the line to Bristol - again an ex-Midland route. The Midland also daylighted a tunnel at Chevet just south of Wakefield when they four tracked the line from Wath to Normanton. Chevet cutting is often quoted as one of the deepest in the country. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Changing tunnels to cuttings has happened elsewhere, for example Cofton which is just south of Longbridge south Birmingham on the line to Bristol - again an ex-Midland route. This caused a serious collapse, for which there is a report on Railways Archive. Another one I came across was just east of Oldham Glodwick Road on the old line to Greenfield. Penmanshiel may not count, as the line was diverted round in a cutting when the tunnel collapsed. I'm sure there are others elsewhere. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B18 DUD Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Second pic down in the link is to another Sheffield area tunnel that was opened out in 1912 http://signalboxes.com/darnall-signalbox.php That is a great link, the picture of Catcliffe station is a surprise to the wife who was born there in the 50`s and didn`t know it had existed...keep the info coming.....cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 The Midland Old Road-GC route is still used regularly for diversions and some passenger services are routed this was to keep up driver's route knowledge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Arkleston tunnel, between Paisley and Hillington, was opened up as a cutting when the Glasgow and Paisley Joint was widened to 4 tracks in the 1880s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreedyHarry Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 St Anne's number one tunnel between Bristol and Bath was also made into a cutting. I think this was to allow the crossover for Bristol East Depot to be outside of a tunnel. It amazes me that the cutting doesn't cause problems as the sides are vertical and look like soft stone or mud. Added to that the park on one side of the cutting is currently ankle deep in standing water yet this doesn't seem to weaken the cutting side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Norfolk's only true tunnel.. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pwayowen/15545874953/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Tinsley marshalling yard and TMD was made possible in the crowded area SE of Sheffield in the 1960s by opening out the former Sheffield District Railway (GCR) tunnel. And with a link to Sheffield, Bugsworth tunnel on the old Midland mainline north of Chinley was opened out in the early 1900s. But what of the opposite: creating claustrophobic tunnel where previously there had been light? The worst example I can think of is Birmingham New Street - also from the 1960s. More acceptable environmentally was the re-routing of trains underground through Snow Hill tunnel, thereby eliminating the bridge across Ludgate Hill in front of St Paul's. dh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 And, of course, there are some examples of proposed tunnels that were actually constructed as cuttings - Talerddig on the Cambrian main line is the instance that comes to mind though I'm sure there are others. The North American term 'daylighting' is a useful one - I notice that a couple of posters have used it - and could perhaps be more widely adopted over here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 St Anne's number one tunnel between Bristol and Bath was also made into a cutting. I think this was to allow the crossover for Bristol East Depot to be outside of a tunnel. It amazes me that the cutting doesn't cause problems as the sides are vertical and look like soft stone or mud. Added to that the park on one side of the cutting is currently ankle deep in standing water yet this doesn't seem to weaken the cutting side. I believe it is old red sandstone, so not as soft as it looks, and it has survived over 125 years. Apparently the work was done without interupting traffic. There's a photo of the work in progress in Colin Maggs' GWR Bristol to Bath Line. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poor Old Bruce Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Another Midland Railway job was to open out Longlands Tunnel to allow the loops to go in between Broadholme and Ambergate South Junction. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
28XX Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Not keen on "daylighting". Part of a regettable trend of making nouns into verbs by brute force. Eg. To podium. "Racing driver X has podiumed in the last four races." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
62613 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Another one I came across was just east of Oldham Glodwick Road on the old line to Greenfield. Where, exactly? When Manchester - Crewe was electrified, the tunnel to the South of Edgeley Station was opened out into a cutting; except for where the roundabout is on top. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B18 DUD Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 The Midland Old Road-GC route is still used regularly for diversions and some passenger services are routed this was to keep up driver's route knowledge Yes I now see this,however when i did it I am sure the overhead gantry/wires were still up from Woodhouse into Sheffield,or was that on an earlier trip?......I left Chesterfield in 1971..... ....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Another one I came across was just east of Oldham Glodwick Road on the old line to Greenfield. Where, exactly? I take it you're asking me, as that was my quote. According to the Goddard and Wells book it was immediately beyond the station an unspecified distance towards the Lees Road overbridge, later a retained cutting. It probably wasn't the whole way to Leeds Road as that was over a non-retained cutting. It's now filled in again, with something pretty unpleasant judging by the methane vents! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Yes I now see this,however when i did it I am sure the overhead gantry/wires were still up from Woodhouse into Sheffield,or was that on an earlier trip?......I left Chesterfield in 1971..... ....... The Woodhead route, whose wires you would have seen closed in 1981, the wiring was removed fairly quickly, (how much is miles of 1'' plus diameter copper worth?). The gantries were left in position for a good many years, there are still odd ones left and many of the bases can still be seen. When we were looking for a suitable location to model around 1984 the engineering staff were building a compound a short distance from Sheffield Vic using the masts as fence posts, cutting them down as they needed them. Proper recycling! Once we had decided on Deepcar we made several trips to take photos, measurements, etc. I took my son with me one day and took a photo of each mast as he stood underneath to give a scale, he was about 7 at the time, so 1987 or so. Only thing was I forgot to measure his height until we came to build the masts a couple of years later Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Another opened out tunnel is on the CLC Manchester-Liverpool line, half way up the bank from Farnworth and Widnes, now just Wines, station. You can see the bottoms of the tunnel sides, where a concrete bridge now goes over the line. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Richard_A Posted January 17, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2015 Didn't the gc open out the tunnels at hattersley into cuttings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 The Lancashire Union Railway built a tunnel through the Plantations in the grounds of Haigh Hall, Wigan, the home of the 7th Earl of Balcarres. This was made for the sole purpose of hiding the railway and was constructed by the ‘cut and cover’ method. It was 374 yards long and 19ft from rail level to the crown of the arch. Within weeks of opening, the Haigh Tunnel was giving trouble from an ornamental pond above and on January 29, 1870 the order was given to have this puddled at a cost of £150 to prevent seepage into the tunnel. Unfortunately it suffered from subsidence damage, due to the working of coal seams below it, and in 1882 the tunnel was opened out and a bridge built across it, 50ft in width, to carry the 16ft wide carriage drive with shrubberies on each side.The line, latterly the LNWR Whelley Loop Wigan avoiding line closed in the early 70's. The bridge is still there, and the lower walls of the tunnel still visible, the cutting (former tunnel) is now a walkway / cyclepath / bridlepath. Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted January 17, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2015 Didn't the gc open out the tunnels at hattersley into cuttin Hattersley No1 Tunnel - 100 yards Hattersley No2 Tunnel - 264 yards Opened out 1930 Information taken from this site http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/index.shtml Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Corbridge Tunnel was replaced with a cutting in the 1950's and the spoil used for Tyne Yards foundations, the tunnel remains though! Richmond Hill tunnel in Leeds was replaced by a four track cutting, some of the stonework remains at the East End at Neville Hill, the current tunnel is only really an overgrown bridge! Mark Saunders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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