History
Haddon Tunnel is 1058 yards long, and sits on the former Midland Railway route from Rowsley through to Manchester. Construction commenced in 1860 and a tunnel was built to pass Haddon Hall, as John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland didn't want to see trains passing from his estate.
Following the beeching report the line closed to freight and passenger services in 1967. The final trains to use this line ceased the following year.
In recent years proposals have been made to open the tunnel as a footpath, and as an extension of the Peak Rail heritage line. However neither of these plans have advanced in recent years.
The Explore
After doing my usual trick of parking a rather long distance away from where I actually needed to be, I found myself following the old trackbed south from the coombs road viaduct. In theory it was pretty straight forward, just keep walking until I came across a tunnel, but on the way I happened to walk straight through a makeshift shooting range, past someones house, and past some old guy sitting in a JCB. Blagged my way past him and carried on going... onwards to the tunnel that appeared just around a bend. Getting in was a little interesting, but fortunately my tripod also doubles as an 'access tool'.
The rest is pretty self explanatory.... through the tunnel to the end and back... easy.
Thanks for looking!
Haddon Tunnel is 1058 yards long, and sits on the former Midland Railway route from Rowsley through to Manchester. Construction commenced in 1860 and a tunnel was built to pass Haddon Hall, as John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland didn't want to see trains passing from his estate.
Following the beeching report the line closed to freight and passenger services in 1967. The final trains to use this line ceased the following year.
In recent years proposals have been made to open the tunnel as a footpath, and as an extension of the Peak Rail heritage line. However neither of these plans have advanced in recent years.
The Explore
After doing my usual trick of parking a rather long distance away from where I actually needed to be, I found myself following the old trackbed south from the coombs road viaduct. In theory it was pretty straight forward, just keep walking until I came across a tunnel, but on the way I happened to walk straight through a makeshift shooting range, past someones house, and past some old guy sitting in a JCB. Blagged my way past him and carried on going... onwards to the tunnel that appeared just around a bend. Getting in was a little interesting, but fortunately my tripod also doubles as an 'access tool'.
The rest is pretty self explanatory.... through the tunnel to the end and back... easy.
Thanks for looking!
