Blea Moor Tunnel

Blea Moor Tunnel is a 2,629 yd (2,404 m) railway tunnel located between Ribblehead Viaduct and Dent railway station in England. It is the longest tunnel on the Settle-Carlisle Line, being almost twice as long as the second longest tunnel, Rise Hill Tunnel.[1]

Blea Moor Tunnel
The southern portal of Blea Moor Tunnel
Overview
LineSettle to Carlisle Line
LocationCumbria
Coordinates54°14′24.72″N 2°21′29.88″W
Start1872
End1875
Operation
OwnerNetwork Rail
Technical
Length2,629 yards (2,404 m)
The northern entrance to the tunnel
Sign at tunnel entrance
The isolated Blea Moor signal box, near the tunnel entrance

History

Built by the Midland Railway, it took more than four years to complete. Construction started in 1872, with dynamite transported from Carlisle and Newcastle in carts to the construction site. The wages on offer to the miners who dug the tunnel were 5s (equivalent to £22.49 in 2019) to 5s 6d (equivalent to £24.37 in 2019)[2] per day.[3]

It was completed in 1875 at a cost of £109,000[4] (equivalent to £10,330,000 in 2019).[2]

It passes some 500 feet below the moor after which it was named, and was built with the aid of seven separate construction shafts sunk from the moor above. This permitted sixteen separate gangs of workers to be used during construction (one from each open end and two from the foot of each of the shafts).[5] Four of these were subsequently filled in but three were retained for ventilation purposes and are still used as such today (with occasional ice accumulation problems: ). At one point of the track's history, steam locomotives were tested for their worthiness by driving them through this tunnel.[6]

Traffic

Any train that goes the full length of the Settle & Carlisle line goes through the Blea Moor Tunnel. This includes passenger trains, all run by Northern (seven each way per day in the 2016-17 timetable),[7] various special excursions (some hauled by stream locomotives) and the many goods trains.

Train simulators

You can go through the Blea Moor Tunnel either with Microsoft Train Simulator, Trainz Classics 3 or Train Simulator 2015.

Location

References
  1. Garrat, Colin; Matthews, Max-Wade (2003), Illustrated Encyclopedia of Steam And Rail, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, ISBN 0-7607-4952-3
  2. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  3. "Midland Railway. Settle to Carlisle. Contract No. 1". Knaresborough Post. England. 4 May 1872. Retrieved 5 November 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "The Midland New Line from Settle to Carlisle". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. England. 27 April 1876. Retrieved 5 November 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. Houghton, F.W & Foster W.H (1965 2nd Ed)The Story of the Settle-Carlisle Line, Advertiser Press Ltd, Huddersfield, p.30
  6. Microsoft Train Simulator Information Booklet
  7. Table 42 National Rail timetable, December 2016
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