Brief History
This railway tunnel was built by midland railway in 1863 when extending the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands junction railway from Rowsley to Buxton.
The tunnel was constructed to hide the railway from the view of a nearby duke whose land this was crossing as he didnt want to be able to see trains from his nearby estate crossing the land.
A major incident occurred during its construction in 1861 when there was a collapse from the loss of a single prop which left 5 workers dead as a result.
The railway paid £100 (equivalent to £9639 in 2019) compensation to each of the dead mens families.
The railway tunnel finished completion and opened later on the 1st August 1862 and ran up until 1968 when the last train from St Pancras to Manchester Piccadilly ran.
After the line closed the infrastructure was dismantled and the track bed reincorporated to the nearby estate, the tunnel still survives after all those years and there are rumors around it being re opened in the future to connect and extend a popular nearby walking trail in the Peak District
This railway tunnel was built by midland railway in 1863 when extending the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands junction railway from Rowsley to Buxton.
The tunnel was constructed to hide the railway from the view of a nearby duke whose land this was crossing as he didnt want to be able to see trains from his nearby estate crossing the land.
A major incident occurred during its construction in 1861 when there was a collapse from the loss of a single prop which left 5 workers dead as a result.
The railway paid £100 (equivalent to £9639 in 2019) compensation to each of the dead mens families.
The railway tunnel finished completion and opened later on the 1st August 1862 and ran up until 1968 when the last train from St Pancras to Manchester Piccadilly ran.
After the line closed the infrastructure was dismantled and the track bed reincorporated to the nearby estate, the tunnel still survives after all those years and there are rumors around it being re opened in the future to connect and extend a popular nearby walking trail in the Peak District
