Glenfield Tunnel, Leicester

[Goldie87]

The Leicester and Swannington Railway was one of England's first railways, being opened on July 17, 1832 to bring coal from pits in West Leicestershire to Leicester. The building of the line necessitated the construction of Glenfield Tunnel, which at 1 mile 36 yards long was at the time the world's longest railway tunnel. A trio of contractors lead by Buxton’s Daniel Jowett sealed the deal to excavate the tunnel on 26th November 1830. But they soon fell behind the ambitious schedule. Trial borings, upon which estimations had been made, pointed to the presence of solid rock and no requirement for a lining. Reality was proving different. Towards the western end, running sands extended for 500 yards. Twenty thousand bricks were despatched to site each week in the vain expectation that 36 yards of tunnel could be completed before the next batch arrived. Three working shafts became four in an effort to catch up. It was down one of these that Daniel Jowett fell to his death.

Closure of the line came in 1966, the tunnel was then purchased by Leicester City Council for £5! There were various suggestions put forward for new uses, such as a mushroom farm or a nuclear shelter. In recent years a £500,000 project was started on the construction of 38 concrete supporting arches to strengthen the structure.

I must apologise for the rubbish pictures in this report, I was using a lens that I had dropped and bust!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt8.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt6.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt7.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt5.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt3.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt2.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/rt06/gt4.jpg

[wevsky]

maybe the camera man had a remote ;)