Gildersome Tunnel - April 2021
Constructed for the The Heaton Lodge & Wortley Railway Co. part of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in the late 1890’s early 1900’s the 1 in 70 Gildersome Tunnel at 1mile 571yds (2331yds) in length formed part of what became known during construction as the “New Leeds Line” which ran between Leeds and Huddersfield joining up with Leeds bound trains at Farnley Junction and connecting with traffic heading for Huddersfield at Heaton Lodge East Junction. Passenger Services ceased in the late 1950s with freight continuing until 1960 the tunnel closed in the early 1960’s. Since closure the northern end was infilled with approximately 30,000 cubic yards of local colliery waste as part of the M621 & M62 construction project only the southern portal remains long forgotten in woodlands and is normally well secured, DfT still access this tunnel for inspections how frequently I don’t know but they access via the soul remaining open air shaft using a crane and access cage... Why they don’t use the gate I really don’t know. Very little history on the tunnel itself have spent many hours trawling the internet.
Having been tipped off the gate was open again I made sure to get myself over there in quick time, having been once or twice to reccie the location I was familiar with the short walk down from the road through the woodland, initial relief getting to the portal seeing it was still accessible! Quickly got geared up squeezing through the gap in the gate, It became clear instantly that this was going to be hard going... water a few feet deep soon replaced by thick orange gloop.. was easy enough to navigate as was more slurry than actually mud, occasionally you’d feel like it was thinning out but then you’d be 3 or 4ft deep sometimes deeper! As mentioned before where the first two air shafts have been capped the debris discarded below they have created a dam meaning extremely deep slurry to wade through, I’ve never seen such a strong current of water flowing in any tunnel I’ve visited before I tired to capture it best I could, Air quality was dubious after passing Shaft 2 (Open) but not impassable made it to the now sealed up end plenty of tags and litter visible how many people make it up here I’ve no idea obviously a few although would seem odd if you’ve no real cause unless you’ve a passion for getting dirty.... Easy to loose all sense of time in Gildersome a real experience for sure, one I’ve had on my list for a long time. Hope you all enjoy the images I’ve selected 30 of my favorites to meet the group’s requirements out of the 100 odd I took lol.
Anyway hope you enjoy the images below
Thanks Guys..
Constructed for the The Heaton Lodge & Wortley Railway Co. part of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in the late 1890’s early 1900’s the 1 in 70 Gildersome Tunnel at 1mile 571yds (2331yds) in length formed part of what became known during construction as the “New Leeds Line” which ran between Leeds and Huddersfield joining up with Leeds bound trains at Farnley Junction and connecting with traffic heading for Huddersfield at Heaton Lodge East Junction. Passenger Services ceased in the late 1950s with freight continuing until 1960 the tunnel closed in the early 1960’s. Since closure the northern end was infilled with approximately 30,000 cubic yards of local colliery waste as part of the M621 & M62 construction project only the southern portal remains long forgotten in woodlands and is normally well secured, DfT still access this tunnel for inspections how frequently I don’t know but they access via the soul remaining open air shaft using a crane and access cage... Why they don’t use the gate I really don’t know. Very little history on the tunnel itself have spent many hours trawling the internet.
Having been tipped off the gate was open again I made sure to get myself over there in quick time, having been once or twice to reccie the location I was familiar with the short walk down from the road through the woodland, initial relief getting to the portal seeing it was still accessible! Quickly got geared up squeezing through the gap in the gate, It became clear instantly that this was going to be hard going... water a few feet deep soon replaced by thick orange gloop.. was easy enough to navigate as was more slurry than actually mud, occasionally you’d feel like it was thinning out but then you’d be 3 or 4ft deep sometimes deeper! As mentioned before where the first two air shafts have been capped the debris discarded below they have created a dam meaning extremely deep slurry to wade through, I’ve never seen such a strong current of water flowing in any tunnel I’ve visited before I tired to capture it best I could, Air quality was dubious after passing Shaft 2 (Open) but not impassable made it to the now sealed up end plenty of tags and litter visible how many people make it up here I’ve no idea obviously a few although would seem odd if you’ve no real cause unless you’ve a passion for getting dirty.... Easy to loose all sense of time in Gildersome a real experience for sure, one I’ve had on my list for a long time. Hope you all enjoy the images I’ve selected 30 of my favorites to meet the group’s requirements out of the 100 odd I took lol.
Anyway hope you enjoy the images below
Thanks Guys..
Need to replace some items of my equipment as the time spent sitting idle seems to have not done them any favours! Still it’s nice to just get out again
:
