Sandsend Railway Tunnel - June 08 - ARCHIVED

Another Whitby holiday explore and a nice walk along the cliff top old rail track too...
The tunnel arch has about a 7 foot wall to climb, which is pretty easy for me but it was more fun for Tinypixi and I had to toss over a piece of wood for her to use as a first step while I pulled her up untill she could get a hold of the wall top and a foot on the steel hatch :)
We stuck to the left hand side of the tunnel as it seemed the driest, its amazing how the natural light disappears, the air is thick with moisture gently blowing toward us and caught in the torch beams.
Here is the Wiki History of the railway line:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitby_..._Union_Railway
The tunnel is the Sandsend to Kettleness stretch of the line.
The length of the Sandsend Tunnel is, 1652 yds = 1.51 km

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdtnc/ - The selected shots.
http://picasaweb.google.com/pdtnc123...orkshire120608 - the full shoot, not that big.

Coming up on the arch:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/...8b723c91bf.jpg
The Bricked up bit: Tp had fun with this! ;)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3130/...297f3d60fb.jpg
The first bit of Torch action and long exposure:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3092/...7e3bdb30b5.jpg
Some nice slime:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/...991ae27435.jpg
We had to sign the 'Must take Skeleton shot' list before entering:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/...5f23b40f0c.jpg
Its dark in here:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/...bbdb0bfca5.jpg
Now its a bit lighter with a couple of torches:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/...828c4e546e.jpg
Check this, one of my favs, lucky I noticed Tp flashing at me and I told her to keep at it while I exposed for about 2 minutes!:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/...bdbda56134.jpg
Wellies were going to be needed to pass this rubble from the ventilation shaft as there was a large puddle just after it and we didn't have the right attire for the job. Maybe next time, and Tp isn't that keen on the whole Tunnel and darkness thing, not to mention I had only mentioned the rumors of ghosts 'after' we had exited back into the sunshine:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/...cf84a9cd4c.jpg

Even if you think ghosts dwell in the darkness, you've got to think that that tunnel is used to having trains going through it, its got all that compounded mechanical memory of steam, fire, and steel, blood and sweat... Who would blame the tunnel for sending through the occasional train?? :w00t

Equipt:
Camera - Canon 400D
Lens - Sigma 10-20mm
Exposures - 90 to 150 seconds approx
Aperture - f8
ISO - 100
Torches - Fenix TK10, Maglite 3D with Terralux upgrade, crappy UV headtorch
Tripod & Cable release.
*I have now ordered more torches from ebay... are we going to see a pattern forming here????