Annesley Great Central Railway Tunnel


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There are TWO railway tunnels at Annesley the one that the Robin Hood line uses and the much longer and deeper tunnel which was used by the Great central Railway.

Little is known about GCR tunnel It was excavated, I think, between 1894 and 1904, possibly by the Great Northern Railway.

I have been trying to find photographs, scale drawings and information on this tunnel for several months.

There are some very good construction photographs of the Great Central Railway being built but nothing on the tunnel.

Can any one help.

Peter 

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The tunnel was constructed by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway the forerunner to the Great Central. I will have to look up the date.

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The map is much appreciated

The opening date of 24 Oct 1892 and was 1000 yards long seems out of sequence.

The Tunnel was for use by the Great Northern Railway, if the Northern line didn't opened on 1 November 1901.

The tunnel stood disused for several years?

The Great Central Railway didn't need it untill they built the London Extension line to London about 1897?

Peter

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The Great Northern South of the tunnel was earlier this was the Leen Valley Railway. The MS&LR built the line to Annesley before the London Extension was planned. It linked to the GNR line south of the tunnel and allowed the MS&LR access to collieries and to Colwick. The GNR north of the tunnel was the Leen Valley Extension Railway. The MS&LR ran passenger trains from Staveley Town to Nottingham London Road Low Level. The tunnel was much in use before the GNR needed it and before the line through the Vic was built.

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The map is very interesting. I used to think that the Midland (shorter) tunnel crossed the GCR one at a higher level.

This map shows that the two tunnels were parallel (although at different levels) with a short distance between the two.

It also shows that the Midland did cross the GCR line (whilst the latter was still in tunnel) I'm guessing somewhere near where the Kingsway pub is.

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Reading a bit more about the MS&LR Annesley line apparently the LNWR ran goods from Colwick to Sheffield via the GNR Leen Valley line then the MS&LR.

Railway Companies often had "running powers" over other companies lines, these were legal agreements some times included in the parliamentary act for building the line. The situation around Nottingham was simplified when the GCR and GNR both became part of the LNER in 1923.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The chairman of the MSLR was a real action man.

While he was building the London Extension line he was also excavating a Channel Tunnel he got about 1 mile under the channel before the government ordered the works stopped. the were worried about invasion through the tunnel.

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The days when you couldn't move in north Nottinghamshire for railway lines. The present Robin Hood Line is the curvy track going from the bottom of the map to the top.

tunnel14-52-55.jpg

Sorry for the late comment, but I have only just noticed this topic.

The Robin Hood line actually follows the northern edge of the Great Central and then Great Northern lines round to the present Kirkby station. The trackbed of the old Midland line beyond where the Midlan crossed the MS&L tunnel is now a footpath most of the way to Kirkby town centre. This section of the Rbin Hood line was a brand new railway, built specifically for the Robin Hood extension from Newstead to Mansfield Woodhouse. Just south of Kirkby station it joins the former GNR line bypassing Kirkby town centre.. Just before Sutton Parkway it takes a sharp S bend to rejoin the old Midland route to Mansfield.

The area just to the west of the map shown here is far more complicated, with 7 railway lines and several colliery sidings all intertwining. The Midland and Great Northern lines were linked in the 1970s to provide a route towards Pye Bridge for coal trains avoiding the notorious Midland level crossing in Kirkby.

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  • 6 months later...

Hi, the tunnel you asked about had a cutting for its approach on both ends which are now filled in. On the warren side (south east portal) the scar on the landscape is still easily visible all the way to where the tunel portal is buried, I could take you straight to it! Below is a link to a photo which shows it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93970256@N04/10140267783/

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  • 6 years later...

Hi,

looked at the 1914 OS map and the tunnel is clearly shown,  however the satellite image shows that its been completely filled in.  There might still be an airshaft  (might be worth an explore) as shown on both the 1968 and 1914 OS maps, unfortunately I'm to stupid to include an image with the coordinates.  Feel free to look on the National Library of Scotland georeferenced maps.  The other less deep tunnel nearby is called the "Kirkby Tunnel".

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If you can find the tunnel.. or any remaining shaft, on Google Maps satelite view, simply zoom in as close as you can without losing too much definition. Then copy the address in the address bar at the top and post it here.

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