Report - Drewton railway tunnel - yorks - Nov 09

[Bugsuperstar]

I've visited Drewton tunnel before but all the pictures completely sucked, after being inspired by a fantastic shot by Bunk3r , i thought i'd re-visit along with chauffeur and runner and try again. Nice explore, thanks fella's, all went well with a classic "he's coming to get you barbara" moment for chauffeur and a comedy exit from me :.

a bit of history -
Drewton tunnel is the longest of three tunnels cut right through the wolds by Hull & Barnsley Railway, This 12 mile section contributed to the lines average cost of £59,000 per mile, the total cost of the 53 mile long line being £5.5 million. Built by 8000+ men living in nearby camps, the largest of which had a chapel and shops and was sited at Riplingham. The first goods traffic passed on 20th july 1885 and the passenger service shortly after. The 1 mile 354 yard long Drewton Tunnel was dismantled and closed in 1959.
It would seem that the tunnels main use now is for science experiments by leeds university.

portal

Tunnel

group shot

"refuge" arches run at regular intervals

Leeds university experiment

Chauffeur

me

exit

thanks for looking

 

[Runner]

Drewton had been on my list for ages; this was a real "got a couple of hours to kill this week" job. A couple of quick phone calls and we were off across the dark muddy fields of East Yorks.

A few lessons learnt here:
Wet muddy dark fields are slippery in wellies.
Big torch batteries never last as long as you need them to.
Underground photography is seriously addictive.

A few pics:

Up the vent

Brickwork

Internal Refuge