A Tale Of Tunnels (1)

Parcel Number 1

A chum from church on the Isle of Wight was having a tidy up. He "found" a selection of railway books which he posted to fbb.

Joyous.

One of the books was this ...

... not the sort of book fbb would normally buy. It is a selection of railway photographs taken by the author's father (grandfather?) in the late 1940s and 1950s. Three locations feature tunnels, one of which still carries trains today, but, obviously, very different trains for those reproduced in the book.

Glimpsed through the arch of the bridge is Bramhope Tunnel near Leeds. Here is a better picture of the southern portal

Bramhope Tunnel is on the Harrogate Line between Horsforth station and the Arthington Viaduct in West Yorkshire, England. Services through the railway tunnel are operated mainly by Northern. The tunnel was constructed during 1845–1849 by the Leeds and Thirsk Railway. It is notable for its 2.138-mile (3.441 km) length.

The north portal is far more lavish.

The task was expensive in terms of human life; 24 men perished during the construction. A memorial was installed in nearby Otley churchyard, a memorial using the shape of the tunnel portals.

The inscription is not easy to read but here it is (click on the picture to enlarge) ...

... a sad comment on the price of progress paid by "the unfortunate men who lost their lives in the construction".

The second picture is of the northern portal of Catesby Tunnel.

Here is in on an old map.

The road shown runs from Staverton (near Daventry) to a road junction leading to Priors Marston or Charwelton.

Catesby is a colossus, both in terms of length and gauge. Originally planned as a cutting, its existance is due entirely to Henry Arthur Attenborough, owner of the Catesby Estate, who did not want unsightly trains blotting his landscape. Despite his costly stipulation, he was rewarded with the naming of a bridge after him: the first crossing of the railway north of the tunnel is called Attenborough No.1.

The 2,997-yard structure was cut by Thomas Oliver & Son of Horsham as part of the Great Central's 'London Extension' construction contract No.4.

Looking at aerial views on Google Earth you might be forgiven for doubting that a railway line ever existed, let alone the famous Great Central main line. Here is the view of the north portal ...

... with Henry Arthur's pad nearby. The tunnel mouth is almost completely hidden in the trees.

And the south portal, looking north.

But Catesby Tunnel has a new life - or will have.

West Midlands construction and civil engineering firm Stepnell has started work on transforming the derelict Victorian Catesby railway tunnel into the new Catesby Aero Research Facility, a world-class aerodynamic efficiency vehicle testing centre in Northamptonshire.

The ground-breaking project in Catesby, for Brackley-based firm Aero Research Partners (ARP), will be the only testing facility of its kind available for hire and is expected to attract customers from cycling teams and major motorcycle and car manufacturers, to race car teams and road car enthusiasts.

It's a very long and genuine "wind tunnel" - for hire to whosoever wants to test the aerodynamics of their vehicles. Here is the tunnel mouth with its proposed development.

A tweet shows progress on the tunnel and the start of the "innovation centre".

You do wonder what the founding fathers of the "London Extension" would have thought had they known one of their tunnels would be used for testing motor cars!

Alan, our man in Northampton, opened this tunnelling topic by referring to a new neighbour who had just moved in.

The neighbour, Alan observed, had already created a tunnel through from next door into his garden.

The name of the visitor is not yet revealed!

Parcel Number 2

Plastruct is a company the produces plastic for building structures in an astoundiingly wide variety of shapes and sizes.

fbb normally obtains his plastic strip requisites from Peco, just along the road at Beer.

But their shop is closed for the duration, so postal supplies are the only option. One pack of 10 strips of 2.5mm "half round" ...

... duly arrived in a big box.

The precious cargo was protected by some garish blue wadnibs** which looked just like the faeces of some intergalactic alien which had settled as a useful pet in the remote model shop.

Why are all alien creatures drawn as horrible? Star Trek's Tribbles were delightful - if somewhat over enthusiastic in their reproductive cycle.

** wadnibs - a word coined by fbb's late No 2 Son to describe those expanded polystyrene "things" - wadnibs - used in the dark art of packaging.

 Next Tunnels blog : Saturday 6th June