Piss easy local explore! Decent mooch if you're sat at home bored. Been visiting this place since I was about 10 or 11, although the pics don't date back that long!...
"tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Airedale Line from Leeds to Shipley then on to Bradford or Skipton. Built in 1844/5, the tunnel is approximately 1200m long and cut through the prominent Thackley Hill to reduce travel time. The contractor chosen to build the Tunnel was James Bray, an iron and brass founder from Leeds who later contracted the construction of Bramhope on the Leeds to Thirsk main line.
Originally there was just one Tunnel bore but in 1900 the line was increased to four tracks and a second tunnel bore was built, one carrying the Fast lines from Leeds and the other the Slow lines. The Southern tunnel was closed in 1968 co-inciding with the final closure of the Great Northern Branch Line from Shipley to Laisterdyke via Idle and Thackley. At the Western mouth of the Tunnel stood the original Idle station (albeit closer to Thackley than Idle), which opened in 1847 and closed the following year in 1848.
In 2003 Russel Trueman - Councellor of thackley decided to errect a fence round the sourrounding area of the tunnel to stop people climbing onto the train tracks."
(nicked from wikipedia)
"tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Airedale Line from Leeds to Shipley then on to Bradford or Skipton. Built in 1844/5, the tunnel is approximately 1200m long and cut through the prominent Thackley Hill to reduce travel time. The contractor chosen to build the Tunnel was James Bray, an iron and brass founder from Leeds who later contracted the construction of Bramhope on the Leeds to Thirsk main line.
Originally there was just one Tunnel bore but in 1900 the line was increased to four tracks and a second tunnel bore was built, one carrying the Fast lines from Leeds and the other the Slow lines. The Southern tunnel was closed in 1968 co-inciding with the final closure of the Great Northern Branch Line from Shipley to Laisterdyke via Idle and Thackley. At the Western mouth of the Tunnel stood the original Idle station (albeit closer to Thackley than Idle), which opened in 1847 and closed the following year in 1848.
In 2003 Russel Trueman - Councellor of thackley decided to errect a fence round the sourrounding area of the tunnel to stop people climbing onto the train tracks."
(nicked from wikipedia)
