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We would of course appreciate the results of your research feeding back into the forum, if there is content not already covered here.

You might even credit our site and its members in your project :rolleyes:

Of course i will place any findings i make into the forum. Anything new that is! and yes the website will get credited.

Okay so it looks like getting accessed to this tunnels is a no go area. So what about how some of the past railways have been re-used to fit modern day society? What do people think about this?

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Ashley, by messing around with various bits, I've got it in a format where the world can see it.

Weekday Cross Great Central Mainline

neither do the people of Hyson Green, Beeston or Clifton! (in my opinion)

Cheers

Some of the original track routes now make pleasant summer walks?

Shame some were not left as it would have been great for the trams.

Not a big tram user so perhaps they have been used?

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Although it's not Nottingham you can walk through an old railway tunnel in Ashbourne Derbyshire (sorry) it's now been made into a pedestrian walkway, there are lights the full length and a proper foot path, at the side of the path is the original track ballast, it's part of the old Tissington railway track and well worth the visit to see the original brickwork, at the Tissington end there is a series of audio speakers that when you pass them replicate the sound of an old steam loco passing through the tunnel just to add a bit of atmosphere, I think the tunnel is about 300-400 yards long and leads you to the town,

Rog

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I never knew of that tunnel Rog , thanks , I used to visit/ drive through Ashbourne regularly in the 80s to a quarry on the Buxton Road

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At Ratcliffe on Soar there is a 3rd tunnel to the east of the railway tunnels.

Maybe to link the power station to the Trent, any ideas?

It contains water pipes between the Power Station and the River Trent as you suggest. I am guessing that there may also be high-voltage electrical cables in or close, as the overhead transmission line across the river ends right by the north end of the water tunnel.

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f this link works Tunnel the tunnel is under the crossroads in the middle.

Other people on here may know more, but.........I think the eastern entrance may be on a farmer's field (private land) and the western entrance is effectively in someone's back garden in the space between the roads marked Cambridge Gardens/Gedling Road

I used to live near there and I've wandered around a few times looking for remains of that line, but it's pretty well disappeared

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The Eastern end is virtually level with the "A" of Arnold Lane between the 2 A6211 labels, see the wooded bit near the farm? that is where the tunnel mouth is, looks like there is a path to it along side a hedge? The Western end is in back of a Scouts/daycentre Complex on Weaverthorpe Road just to the right of Woodford Rd on google map. in reality virtually opposite the underpass on Arno Vale Rd. A few years ago I went in the cutting down to the now covered entrance, the staff at the complex were quite willing re access, if you go take wellies as very boggy! Walked through the tunnel in 1960's. If feeling fit, from there you can walk without hardly going on the roads all the way to site of former GNR bridge over Cinderhill Road, it's all various footpaths, cut through's or waste land apart from Vernon Rd (site of Basford and Bulwell Station) to new footbridge over the Robin Hood/Tin Box lines.

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The Eastern end is virtually level with the "A" of Arnold Lane between the 2 A6211 labels, see the wooded bit near the farm? that is where the tunnel mouth is, looks like there is a path to it along side a hedge? The Western end is in back of a Scouts/daycentre Complex on Weaverthorpe Road just to the right of Woodford Rd on google map. in reality virtually opposite the underpass on Arno Vale Rd. .

That'll teach me to not look at the full width of the Google map. It's pretty obvious on there.

I've seen quite a few photos of the eastern end of the tunnel but I don't think I've ever seen one of the western end (the Arnold end).The closest I've got is these two from an old railway book. Apparently they were both taken mid-1950s. The top one is a train approaching the western end of the tunnel - so Arnold is in the background - and the lower one is a train coming out of the western end.

In modern terms, I reckon the train is on what is now Weaverthorpe Road. The only reference point on the top photo is where you can see houses on the skyline ; Sandfield Road might fit. And on the lower photo there's a house on the hillside next to the telegraph pole.

mapperley.jpg

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The Eastern end is virtually level with the "A" of Arnold Lane between the 2 A6211 labels, see the wooded bit near the farm? that is where the tunnel mouth is, looks like there is a path to it along side a hedge? The Western end is in back of a Scouts/daycentre Complex on Weaverthorpe Road just to the right of Woodford Rd on google map. in reality virtually opposite the underpass on Arno Vale Rd. A few years ago I went in the cutting down to the now covered entrance, the staff at the complex were quite willing re access, if you go take wellies as very boggy! Walked through the tunnel in 1960's. If feeling fit, from there you can walk without hardly going on the roads all the way to site of former GNR bridge over Cinderhill Road, it's all various footpaths, cut through's or waste land apart from Vernon Rd (site of Basford and Bulwell Station) to new footbridge over the Robin Hood/Tin Box lines.

Super, I have found it now. :D Thanks to the power of Google Street View and Bing Birds eye views. I noticed that just around the area you can see the ventilation's shafts that run along. Some very interesting feature. Anyway hopefully go explore soon. (with my mate) haha

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Hopefully a map scan of gedling end of tunnel copied at Angel Row Library as described in Old 1677 Map posting SWScan00036mapper2.jpg the original 3 air shafts are shown, climbed the one to the left of Mapperley Plains in 1960's, the sidings/wharf at top of page were from Gedling Pit

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Those 2 photos would have been taken from the Arnold Road bridge that crossed just this line, in the second one the houses would I think have been on Harmston Rise and Heathfield Rd, bet any lads living there had the back bedrooms! The embankment to the right in 2nd pic carried the GCR main line with in it's heyday over 200 trains a day

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Yes it was slightly busy! at one time 216 (sometimes more) trains passed through Basford & Bulwell Station every 24 hours, that's an average of 6 trains an hour over that time period, of course a lot less would run middle of the night but even so? then of course there was the Great Central Mainline and The Midland not that far away!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Anyone know if the tunnel still exists that ran under under Main Road / Watnall Road at the junction of Newdigate Road - which was part of the Bennerley Branch? I walked through it in the mid '70s and bits of the lining had collapsed then. You can still make it out on Google maps http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.002967,-1.249196&spn=0.001553,0.004128&t=h&z=19 .

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I used to live on Sandfield Rd as a child and played on the railway line leading from Daybrook Station to Gedling tunnel. When the line was open we would place 6" nails on it as a train was coming and it would flatten them out into daggers which we could sell at school for 1d. (they were the days)! We regularly used to play on the embankments at the tunnel. When the line was closed they used to store goods waggons on it and we had many dens. As a teenager I used to attend Arnold & Carlton college on Digby Ave (now pulled down)? and used to go on cross country runs through the tunnel. Not been back for years but I'll bet all the land on the Woodthorpe side has been built on now.

I often used to wonder who lived in the house shown on the photo and if the trains going through the tunnel would make the house shake.

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yep the watnall tunnel was on the great Northern...and is well filled....its just around the corner from us and we walk down there quite often when its dry ( so i s'pose thats not that often really )

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sorry, when I said "Watnall" was referring to the area not a title, it was indeed the Midland being on the Bennerley line, am not sure where the exit in kimberley was? have seen the banked up area in the old kimberley (MR) station yard, was that it?

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