Standedge tunnels
The Standedge Tunnels ( Standege Tunnels [ ˈstænɪd͡ʒˌtʌnɫ̩s ]) pass under the Pennine Mountains in northern England. The approximately five kilometer long traffic route northeast of the city of Manchester comprises four tunnels , three of which are standard-gauge railway tunnels and one channel tunnel of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal . Two of the railway tunnels are closed. The Channel Tunnel is the longest and highest in the United Kingdom . The northern tunnel portals are near Marsden , the southern near the Saddleworth village of Diggle.
history
Canal tunnel
| Standedge canal tunnel | |
|---|---|
 South portal of the Standedge Canal Tunnel. The decoration of the gate shows the legging of a boat.
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| use | Canal tunnel |
| traffic connection | Huddersfield Narrow Canal |
| place | Standedge between Marsden and Diggle |
| length | 5029 m |
| Number of tubes | 1 |
| Coordinates | |
| South portal of the channel tunnel | 53 ° 34 ′ 5 " N , 1 ° 59 ′ 33" W. |
| North portal of the channel tunnel | 53 ° 36 ′ 14 " N , 1 ° 56 ′ 30" W. |
The first tunnel under the standedge was the canal tunnel built by the Huddersfield Canal Company . The 5029 meter long tunnel is 196 meters above sea level and the maximum overburden is 194 meters. The design came from Benjamin Outram , chief engineer of the Huddersfield Canal Company. Construction work on the tunnel began in 1795 and proved to be tedious. In 1798 the Huddersfield Narrow Canal reached the tunnel portals from both sides, although a year later only 910 meters of the tunnel had been excavated. In the same year, a flood devastated 25 km of the canal. The Huddersfield Canal Company had to borrow new money from shareholders to repair the damage. After the company hired a new surveyor, Outram left the project in 1801 without his position being filled.
In 1804, a commission visited the Harecastle Tunnel , the Butterley Tunnel and the Norwood Tunnel to gain the necessary knowledge of the operation of the tunnel . She proposed the construction of a towpath through the tunnel, which was rejected due to a lack of funds to finance the additional construction work and to cover the loss of income resulting from a delayed opening. In 1806 new money had to be borrowed and the Huddersfield Canal Company was granted the right to levy additional duties for the use of the tunnel.
1807 Thomas Telford was consulted; he developed a plan with the help of which the expensive building was finally completed. On June 9, 1809, the tunnel was pierced, but there was a setback when on 29 November 1810, the re- dam of Diggle Moss reservoirs broke and a flood triggered. The reservoir serves to hold water in the apex control . On March 26, 1811, the tunnel was declared completed. The grand opening took place on April 4, 1811. The construction costs amounted to 160,000 pounds , making the tunnel to the most expensive Channel Tunnel England.
The canal tunnel allowed the passage of a narrowboat without oncoming traffic. There was no towpath in the tunnel because the tunnel cross-section could be designed to be smaller. The horses used to pull the boats were therefore led over the mountain while the boats were moved through the tunnel with human power. The process known as legging (something like "moving with the legs") was used. One or more men pushed the boat forward by running against the tunnel wall or lying on the tunnel ceiling. The passage of an empty boat took about 80 minutes, that of a fully loaded three hours.
The canal has four passing points where boats can cross. With increasing traffic, there were always disputes between the boat crews about which ship had to return to the passing point. The canal company therefore decided that the boats could only be guided through the tunnel by their own leggers. Furthermore, the traffic was alternated for four hours in one direction and then for the same time in the other direction, so that crossings in the tunnel were no longer necessary. After the last boat had entered in one direction, the grille at the entrance of the tunnel was locked and the tunnel guard went with the towers of the boats over the mountain to the other tunnel portal to open the grille. In 1848 a new system was introduced in which the last boat received a document that identified it as the last boat, and also carried a red lamp. The tunnel guard at the other portal was able to reliably identify the last boat in the convoy and, after its arrival, clear traffic in the other direction.
The tunnel has four ventilation shafts, which were also used during construction to create an escape from the tunnel. They are at Pule , Flint Pit , Redbrook and Cote Pit .
Railway tunnel
| Standedge rail tunnel | |
|---|---|
 South portal of the Standedge railway tunnel from 1894
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| use | Railway tunnel |
| traffic connection | Huddersfield Line of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive |
| place | Standedge between Marsden and Diggle |
| length |
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| Number of tubes | 3 |
| Coordinates | |
| Railway tunnel south portal (1894) | 53 ° 34 ′ 11 " N , 1 ° 59 ′ 24" W. |
| North portal of the railway tunnel (1894) | 53 ° 36 ′ 12 " N , 1 ° 56 ′ 32" W. |
In 1846 the canal was acquired by the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway , which was taken over by the London and North Western Railway in 1847 . The railway company started building a single-track tunnel. The work was considerably simplified and accelerated by many cross tunnels and four larger cross tunnels leading to the canal tunnel, as the excavated material could be transported away by water. By the time the tunnel was completed in 1848, it had swallowed 201,608 pounds and was the longest railway tunnel in England at 4,803 meters. This record was only broken when the Severn Tunnel , more than two kilometers longer , was opened in 1886 .
The single-track tunnel tube soon proved to be a bottleneck, so another tunnel was tackled. The parallel tunnel of the same length was completed in 1871. Its construction cost was £ 121,500.
In 1894, due to the growing traffic, a third tunnel tube was put into operation, which was built on two tracks. It is north of the canal tunnel, although the portals are south of those of the canal. This means that this railway tunnel crosses the canal tunnel immediately behind its portals, the ceiling of which is reinforced in this area. The length of the tunnel is 4806 meters. It was used to build additional ventilation shafts at Brunn Clough , Redbrook and Flint Pit .
In 1963, the four-lane line between Huddersfield and Stalybridge was reduced to two tracks as part of the Beeching Ax , a program to downsize the railway network . This enabled the two older railway tunnels to be closed and the Diggle station to be lifted.
Todays use
The Channel Tunnel was officially closed in 1944; the last commercial boat passage had already taken place in 1921. The facility was falling into disrepair. The Canal Tunnel was restored at a cost of five million pounds. It had the sludge at the bottom of the tunnel to be removed, the mortar of the masonry to be repaired with rock bolts to stabilize loose rock and some sections with shotcrete are treated. The renovated building was opened in 2001.
Initially, the recreational boats were only allowed to drive through the tunnel in the tow of an electric boat, with towing units with up to four boats being put together. A floating spacer was installed between the boats to prevent the stern and bow of two boats in a row from being damaged.
Since 2009, pleasure boats with a companion from British Waterways have been allowed to enter the tunnel under their own power, British Waterways ceased operations on July 2, 2012, their tasks being taken over by the non-profit foundation Canal & River Trust . A gap of 45 minutes is maintained between the individual boats so that the exhaust gases from the boat in front can be diluted sufficiently. Sometimes the operator of the tunnel also allows boats to be pushed through the tunnel in the traditional way by legging.
At the south portal at Tunnel End near Marsden, a tourist center and an exhibition have been set up in the former canal packing house. Before the tunnel was completed, the building was used to load goods onto horse-drawn vehicles. The sightseeing trips by electric boat also start from here.
All three railway tunnels are still in place, but only the two-track one is currently in operation. The oldest tube was set up for rescue vehicles and serves as an emergency exit via the still existing transverse tunnel. For the expansion of the railway network in the north of England , recommissioning of the disused tunnels was considered.
photos
One of the four transverse tunnels that connect all standedge tunnel tubes with one another.
Visitor Center in Marsden
literature
- Ellis, Trevor: The Standedge Tunnels. Huddersfield Canal Society, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5272-1554-2 .
- Charles Hadfield, Gordon Biddle: The Canals of North West England. Volume 2. David and Charles, Newton Abbot 1970, ISBN 0-7153-4992-9 , pp. 241-496.
- LTC Rolt: The Inland Waterways of England. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London 1950, ISBN 0-04-386003-6 .
Novel inspiration
- Chris McGeorge: The tunnel - only one comes back , Knaur Verlag, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-426-22709-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c History of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on December 21, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Charles Hadfield, Gordon Biddle: Canals of North West England . David & Charles, 1970, ISBN 978-0-7153-4992-2 .
- ↑ a b The canal. (No longer available online.) Marsden History Group, 2008, archived from the original on September 5, 2010 ; accessed on December 24, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Owen Ashmore: The Industrial Archeology of North-west England . Manchester University Press, 1982, ISBN 978-0-7190-0820-7 , pp. 131-.
- ^ Standedge Tunnel History. In: Pennine Waterways. Retrieved December 24, 2013 .
- ↑ Steve Lanham: Little Book of Canal Boats . Demand Digital Limited, ISBN 978-1-909768-19-2 , pp. 92-.
- ↑ a b c d Noteworthy LMS tunnels. In: Forgotten Relics of an Enterprising Age. Retrieved December 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Phil Spencer: Trans-Pennine Standedge Tunnels. In: David Hey's Collection. Retrieved December 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Restoring Standedge Tunnel. In: Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Retrieved December 23, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Boats Using Standedge Tunnel. In: Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Retrieved December 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Disused Standedge Rail Tunnel Could Re-Open. February 16, 2010, accessed December 24, 2013 .
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