Standedge Tunnel Diggle Saddleworth 19/02/2011

[legoff]

Standedge Tunnel Diggle
There are three railway tunnels, running parallel to each other and the canal tunnel. The rail tunnels are level for their whole length providing the only section of level track on the line where water troughs could be installed to provide steam locomotives with fresh water supplies without the requirement for the train to stop.

The 1848 (central) tunnel
The central tunnel at Standedge was completed by the London and North Western Railway, having acquired the former Huddersfield and Manchester Railway in 1847. This was a single line tunnel with a length of 3 miles, 57 yards (4803 m). The tunnel is located immediately to the south of, but at a slightly higher level than, the canal tunnel.

The 1871 (south) tunnel
The 1848 tunnel soon proved to be a bottleneck for rail traffic between Huddersfield and Manchester, and in 1871 a second parallel tunnel was opened. This tunnel was also a single line tunnel with a length of 3 miles, 57 yards (4803 m), and was situated to the south of the first rail tunnel.


Diggle portal of the 1894 tunnel[edit] The 1894 (live) tunnel
The 1894 double bore tunnel was opened by the London and North Western Railway with double track, and a length of 3 miles, 60 yards
(4806 m). For most of its length, it is situated to the north of the canal tunnel, but passes over the canal tunnel just inside each tunnel entrance. This tunnel is the fifth longest rail tunnel in Britain after the new High Speed 1 tunnels, Severn Tunnel and the Sheffield to Manchester route's Totley Tunnel.

The rail tunnels today
Today only the 1894 rail tunnel is still used for rail traffic, although all three rail tunnels are still maintained. The 1848 tunnel is used to provide an emergency escape route for the other tunnels, and has been made accessible to road vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances.

Future proposals
Network Rail have proposed the reinstatement of rail traffic through the 1871 and 1848 tunnels to increase capacity on the trans-pennine route.





Peter Pan







Exiting the vortex















Santas Grotto





















Thanks for Viewing

[Nicola]

Wow - loving the light painting - especially the "entering the vortex" shot!

[legoff]

Wow - loving the light painting - especially the "entering the vortex" shot!

thanks Nicola

[ERNIE99_UK]

Thats great stuff, youve lit it up very well.

[MJS]

Very nice, been meaning to check this out for a while. Went through on a boat a few years back!

[sidsabbath]

I went through last weekend. My pictures were not worthy of a report though
It's a fantastic explore anyways. Did you stand under any of the air shafts??? Once you have run through the water running down the sides it isn't too bad in the middle

[KingElvis]

Those are great, good to see inside.

[legoff]

had a look at the air vents but the water was pouring in would have got drenched

[MJS]

^^^ Let us know if you come up for it mate, it's right by my pa's house. We can crash at his place