Queensbury Tunnel now.

My thanks to the daring intrepid Photographers who entered the tunnel to get these pics. They went under the title 'pdtnc' of the Northwest Exploration Group.  Brave lads, the tunnel looks to be in quite good order but a bit spooky for me. I remember it in a nice warm carriage pulled by a loco and the journey through was about two and a half min

My thanks also to

The UK UE Urbex Urban Exploration Forums.

Who may be responsible for some of the above pictures and the following text

Construction began on the Queensbury railway tunnel on May 21st 1874. Carried out for the Great Northern railway company, the boring of the tunnel through the sandstone of West Yorkshire was done by 300 men under the charge of the Diamond Rock Boring Company.

Nearly 4 years later the tunnel was finally completed on July 21st 1878. The length of the tunnel is 2501 yards, or 1 mile and 471 yards. It had 5 ventilation shafts ranging from 112ft to 379ft. In other words it is one of the deepest railway tunnels in the UK. 8 construction shafts were used in the construction. Much of the work was done by blasting.

To summarise the above, it is big.

One worker was killed during the construction when a metal cage used in one of the construction shafts was overwound at the top of the shaft, breaking the rope. The cage fell to the bottom of the shaft, through the wooden doors and landed on 3 workers, killing one. His father was also working in the tunnel. (To put that in context 22 men were killed during the construction of the Bramhope tunnel north of Leeds).

Being so deep the tunnel had its own problems. Many locos were damaged by huge icicles forming on the roof of the tunnel. Engines were sometimes left running in the tunnel to prevent their formation. Sometimes, smoke and steam would linger so densely in the tunnel that drivers failed to realise they were nearing the end of the tunnel at Queensbury station. To alert them to this a huge gong was installed, the arm of which was struck by the front of the train ! Amazingly the remnants of this fitting are still there in the tunnel.